How to Remove Websearchthis.com Redirect

Can’t Remove Websearchthis.com hijacker virus? This page includes detailed Websearchthis.com Removal instructions!

The appearance of the Websearchthis.com website is never a good sign. This website is associated with a browser hijacker. If your homepage was replaced by Websearchthis.com and it wasn’t you the one who set it as such, be sure, you have a browser hijacker on board. Don’t panic! We are here to help. The Websearchthis.com hijacker is a relatively easy to tackle type of infection. There is, of course, a catch. You must act promptly if you want to remove this pest with ease. If you decide to ignore the problem, however, you will most definitely regret your decision. The hijacker will turn your browsing experience into a nightmare. It will bombard you with tons of advertisements. You will get yourself redirected to a shady website every few minutes. This can be a pain in the neck. The malicious tool will annoy and distract you. You won’t be able to get any work done. Don’t waste your time. You don’t need to suffer. Simply, track this intruder down and delete it on the spot. Besides, you can’t ignore the problem forever. The longer this parasite runs on your computer, the more aggressive the ads will become. You can’t hide from them. Ad-blocking applications are useless against the hijacker. Furthermore, the malicious tool has infected all installed web browsers. If you download a new one, it will also get affected. As we said, no hiding. Literally. The Websearchthis.com hijacker is monitoring your online activities. It is collecting data on you. Why? For marketing purposes, of course. The furtive tool will not expose you to just any ads. It will display only the appealing ones. You will see coupons and discounts for items that you actually need. Yet, you should not trust these commercials. Dodgy websites pay hefty sums for their adverts to be displayed. You can never know where the ads may lead you to.

Remove Websearchthis.com

How did I get infected with?

The Websearchthis.com hijacker needs your approval to operate. This doesn’t mean that the app will ask you openly. This furtive tool used trickery to lure you into allowing it access to your machine. Don’t be too harsh on yourself. You were cleverly tricked. This app may have arrived as a bundled program to some freeware or shareware you downloaded off the web. The bundling method is quite common nowadays. The Internet is bursting with free programs bundled with malicious extras. Therefore, it is extremely important to be always vigilant. You never know where an infection may come from. When you start the installation of any program, opt for advanced setup option. It may be a button or tab. Don’t hesitate to use it. The process is not complicated. Under it, you will be presented with a list of all additional tools that are about to be installed. Deselect them. You don’t need so many apps. If you did, you would have downloaded them by yourself. Only your caution can spare you problems. Other malware distribution methods include torrents and fake software updates. Trust your instincts. If something looks suspicious, there probably is a good reason for that.

Why is this dangerous?

The Websearchthis.com hijacker should not be tolerated. This program will turn your browsing experience into a nightmare. It will bombard you with ads. You will hate to use your slow computer. Oh, yes. Your machine will slow down. To a crawl, actually. The hijacker was never meant to be a light program. This tool consumes an enormous amount of computer resources. The more ads you see, the slower your machine will become. Your comfort, as important as it is, is not the main problem you should concern yourself with. Your privacy is! The Websearchthis.com hijacker is designed to monitor all your online activities. All of them. This means that it knows which websites are your favorite, which ads you click on, etc. This may not sound dangerous, but if you think about it, you will realize that the tool can also “see” your usernames, passwords and email addresses. If you use your PC to pay the bills or for online purchase, the hijacker can record your credit card details and billing address. This information won’t be used for marketing purposes only. The hijacker will make your data available for sale to third parties. If a hacker buys your information, the consequences may be devastating, they may steal a lot of money from your banking account, or, they may also blackmail you. You can prevent this. The sooner you remove the hijacker, the better. You have options. Use our guide or a trustworthy anti-virus application. Remove this infection for good!

How to Remove Websearchthis.com virus

The Websearchthis.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 Websearchthis.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 Websearchthis.com infection, you need to purchase its full version.

STEP 1: Track down Websearchthis.com related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Websearchthis.com startup location

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

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Websearchthis.com related processes in the computer memory

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

end-malicious-process

  • Write down the file location for later reference.

Step 2: Locate Websearchthis.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 Websearchthis.com virus from the windows registry

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

win-plus-r

  • A dialog box should open. Type “Regedit”

regedit

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]

delete backgroundcontainer

  • 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:

hosts-redirect-virus

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

  • Open Google Chrome

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

disable Websearchthis.com from chrome

  • Open Mozilla Firefox

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

remove Websearchthis.com from 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

remove Websearchthis.com from ie

  • Restart Internet Explorer

Step 4: Undo the damage done by Websearchthis.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 Websearchthis.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.

safebrowsing-biz-shortcut-removal

  • in the target field remove Websearchthis.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 Websearchthis.com Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

Please, have in mind that once you are infected with a single virus, it compromises your whole system or network 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.

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