Remove Staysafedownloads.com Hijacker (Chrome, Firefox)

Staysafedownloads.com isn’t a program that you would want to deal it. This is just another sneaky, misleading and dangerous browser hijacker. The Staysafedownloads.com Virus takes over your entire online experience. It also does so completely behind your back. You see, the parasite modifies your browser settings without any permission. You have to tolerate numerous unauthorized changes which expose you straight to malware. After all, this is a parasite. A vicious infection developed by hackers to serve their purposes. It goes without saying that hackers’ purposes greatly mismatch your own. Staysafedownloads.com is only on your computer to generate web traffic. The hijacker adds an extension/plugin to all your browsers. It also messes with your default search engine and browser homepage. Both get replaced with the parasite’s domain. As a result, you can’t get rid of the hijacker. Its stubborn presence brings along a huge pile of sponsored, potentially unsafe web links. You couldn’t have expected honesty out of hackers, could you? Staysafedownloads.com will not provide you accurate search results. If anything, it provides unsafe, unreliable links. It alters your browsers to force itself on you every single time you surf the Web. The parasite redirects you and even generates fake commercials. That is what a hijacker does. Staysafedownloads.com effectively demolishes your everyday browsing activities. This nuisance injects your browsers with potentially dangerous search results and pop-ups. Keep that in mind and stay away from ANYTHING the hijacker generates. Chances are, it’s immensely harmful. If you click the wrong pop-up, you might automatically download more parasites. Are you actively trying to install malware? No? Then restrain yourself from clicking and uninstall the hijacker instead. Even your privacy may get jeopardized thanks to the parasite. This program collects all your browsing-related information. That includes IP addresses, search queries, passwords, usernames, email addresses. Your browsing history is being constantly spied on as well. Can you tell where your data ends up? Into the hands of greedy cyber criminals who won’t think twice before they sell it. To prevent privacy issues, keep on reading.

How did I get infected with?

You certainly didn’t agree to install this parasite. Hackers are aware that not many people would voluntarily compromise their safety. Hence, they rely on lies to spread infections. The number one technique at the moment is called freeware/shareware bundles. It is just as easy and effective as it sounds. All that is needed is for you to download a bunch of programs off of the Internet. If you go for unverified software, you might install more than what you originally wanted. Crooks attach all kinds of malicious programs to such bundles. Then they wait for you to get the job done by skipping installation steps. Rushing provides you absolutely no security whatsoever. You end up oblivious to what you download. Remember that if you’re not the one controlling the process, it could be hackers. Opt for the Advanced or Custom option in the Setup Wizard. Also, check out the Terms and Conditions of the programs you install. The same thing goes for the EULA (End User License Agreement). Do not rush because rushing is what brought Staysafedownloads.com to you. Next time you might download something much more harmful and problematic. It should be enough to mention ransomware and Trojan horse which also travel the Web bundled. Don’t underestimate hackers’ creativity when it comes to infiltration methods.

Why is this dangerous?

You now cannot browse the Internet. Staysafedownloads.com takes over all your favorite and once trusty browsers. Yes, it works with Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer. None of those are reliable due to the parasite’s presence. Your PC speed is significantly slowed down as well. The machine starts crashing and/or freezing like nobody’s business. As mentioned, you might come across sponsored pop-up ads too. No commercial generated by this pest is to be trusted. That means you have to avoid the seemingly harmless advertisements. Do not let hackers harass you and do not click their dubious web links. You’re one click away from installing more infections so don’t be naive. Staysafedownloads.com also redirects you to unknown, potentially dangerous pages. It even monitors your personal information so crooks could sell your details. Identity theft and financial frauds are two horrifying scenarios you must avoid. To delete the hijacker manually, please follow our detailed removal guide down below.

How to Remove Staysafedownloads.com virus

The Staysafedownloads.com infection is specifically designed to make money to its creators one way or another. The specialists from various antivirus companies like Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton, Avast, ESET, etc. advise that there is no harmless virus.

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the Staysafedownloads.com infection. Please, follow the procedures in the exact order. Please, consider to print this guide or have another computer at your disposal. You will NOT need any USB sticks or CDs.

WARNING! Stopping the wrong file or deleting the wrong registry key may damage your system irreversibly.
If you are feeling not technical enough just use Spyhunter Professional Malware Removal Tool to deal with the problem!
>>Download SpyHunter – a Professional Remover.

Please, keep in mind that SpyHunter’s scanner tool is free. To remove the Staysafedownloads.com infection, you need to purchase its full version.

STEP 1: Track down Staysafedownloads.com in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Staysafedownloads.com startup location

STEP 3: Delete Staysafedownloads.com traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Staysafedownloads.com in the computer memory

• Open your Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys simultaneously
• Carefully review all processes and stop the suspicious ones.

• Write down the file location for later reference.

Step 2: Locate Staysafedownloads.com startup location

Reveal Hidden Files

• Open any folder
• Click on “Organize” button
  
• Choose “Folder and Search Options”
• Select the “View” tab
• Select “Show hidden files and folders” option
• Uncheck “Hide protected operating system files”
• Click “Apply” and “OK” button

Clean Staysafedownloads.com virus from the windows registry

• Once the operating system loads press simultaneously the Windows Logo Button and the R key.

• A dialog box should open. Type “Regedit”

• WARNING! be very careful when editing the Microsoft Windows Registry as this may render the system broken.

Depending on your OS (x86 or x64) navigate to:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

• and delete the display Name: [RANDOM]

• Then open your explorer and navigate to: %appdata% folder and delete the malicious executable.

Clean your HOSTS file to avoid unwanted browser redirection

Navigate to %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/host

If you are hacked, there will be foreign IPs addresses connected to you at the bottom. Take a look below:

STEP 3 : Clean Staysafedownloads.com traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the Staysafedownloads.com by clicking on the little recycle bin
• Reset Google Chrome by Deleting the current user to make sure nothing is left behind

• Open Mozilla Firefox

• Press simultaneously Ctrl+Shift+A
• Disable the unwanted Extension
• Go to Help
• Then Troubleshoot information
• Click on Reset Firefox

• Open Internet Explorer

• On the Upper Right Corner Click on the Gear Icon
• Click on Internet options
• go to Toolbars and Extensions and disable the unknown extensions
• Select the Advanced tab and click on Reset

• Restart Internet Explorer

Step 4: Undo the damage done by Staysafedownloads.com

This particular Virus may alter your DNS settings.

Attention! this can break your internet connection. Before you change your DNS settings to use Google Public DNS for Staysafedownloads.com, be sure to write down the current server addresses on a piece of paper.

To fix the damage done by the virus you need to do the following.

• Click the Windows Start button to open the Start Menu, type control panel in the search box and select Control Panel in the results displayed above.
• go to Network and Internet
• then Network and Sharing Center
• then Change Adapter Settings
• Right-click on your active internet connection and click properties. Under the Networking tab, find Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). Left click on it and then click on properties. Both options should be automatic! By default it should be set to “Obtain an IP address automatically” and the second one to “Obtain DNS server address automatically!” If they are not just change them, however if you are part of a domain network you should contact your Domain Administrator to set these settings, otherwise the internet connection will break!!!

You must clean all your browser shortcuts as well. To do that you need to

• Right click on the shortcut of your favorite browser and then select properties.

• in the target field remove Staysafedownloads.com argument and then apply the changes.
• Repeat that with the shortcuts of your other browsers.
• Check your scheduled tasks to make sure the virus will not download itself again.

How to Permanently Remove Staysafedownloads.com Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

Please, have in mind that once you are infected with a single virus, it compromises your system and let all doors wide open for many other infections. To make sure manual removal is successful, we recommend to use a free scanner of any professional antimalware program to identify possible registry leftovers or temporary files.