Remove Zquirrel.com Hijacker from Chrome/Firefox/IE

Suddenly Zquirrel.com took over your homepage and you cannot remove it.

Zquirrel.com is something you do NOT want to see on your PC screen. Even if you’re optimistic enough to think this program would enhance your browsing experience, trust us when we say you will very soon change your mind for good. Zquirrel.com can’t enhance anything. What it can do, however, (and it will if you allow it) is efficiently infect your computer with malware. The Zquirrel.com parasite falls into the browser hijacker category even though its creators would love to convince you that this nasty thing is a legitimate search engine. To be honest, looking at its official website may create the illusion that Zquirrel.com is a decent program. If you take a closer look at the Terms of Use, though, among all rules and restrictions, you will also learn that the parasite “may collect personal identifiable information such as your name, address, email address and telephone number”. Do we need to tell you that in this case “may” actually means “will”? And do we need to explain how incredibly dangerous it is to have all your personal information into the hands of crooks? Zquirrel.com collects as much data as possible so its developers could use it mainly for marketing purposes. However, you can never be sure what exactly could happen to your sensitive information. The entire Zquirrel.com program is extremely money-oriented and it was NOT designed to be beneficial. It was designed to harass you.

How did I get infected with?

The most popular (and also the most effective) infiltration method at the moment is the so-called freeware bundling. So if you ended up with the Zquirrel.com hijacker on your machine, you probably downloaded some software package that you didn’t check. Remember, hackers take advantage of every bad habit PC users tend to have so they obviously cannot ignore the fact that almost nobody reads the Terms and Conditions. It’s entirely up to you what enters your own computer and what does not so if you notice something suspicious, don’t hesitate to deselect it. To do so you have to opt for the Advanced/Custom option every time you install freeware and it’s highly recommended that you trust legitimate websites only.

Why is this dangerous?

Like all computer infections of its kind, Zquirrel.com hijacks your browser the minute it gets successfully installed. Then the parasite modifies the settings of Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer so it could replace your default homepage and search engine with its own. What about your preferences, you may ask? Well, the hijacker doesn’t bother asking for permission so if it compromises your computer, your opinion is no longer relevant. The worst part of it all is that Zquirrel.com is an extremely unreliable search engine because it constantly redirects you to unknown and often corrupted websites. Of course, they have nothing to do with the search results you originally wanted; as long as the Zquirrel.com developers get paid to display you certain pages, they will. Once again, your browsing preferences and your consent aren’t important. If you don’t appreciate such a nasty behavior, you will definitely not enjoy what’s about to follow – Zquirrel.com makes sure every website you visit comes covered in sponsored third-party commercials that could lead to numerous infections and cyber issues. You need about as much as one careless click to install malware and infect your already infected device much further. Our advice is to avoid absolutely everything that was brought to your PC screen by the parasite till you delete the virus itself. In addition, the Zquirrel.com monitors your browsing activities and also slows down the entire PC system making it practically unusable. To sum up, it’s quite clear that Zquirrel.com is something you do not need in your life so if you device to remove the parasite manually, you can follow the comprehensive removal guide that we’ve prepared for you down below.

How to Remove Zquirrel.com virus

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the Zquirrel.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.

The Zquirrel.com adware is specifically designed to make money. It generates web traffic, collects sales leads for other dubious sites, and will display advertisements and sponsored links within your web browser.

STEP 1: Uninstall Zquirrel.com from Add\Remove Programs

STEP 2: Clean Zquirrel.com from Chrome Firefox or Internet Explorer

STEP 3: Permanently Remove Zquirrel.com leftovers from the System

STEP 1 : Uninstall Zquirrel.com from your computer

Simultaneously press the Windows Logo Button and then “R” to open the Run Command Window

 

Type “regedit”

 

navigate to HKCU\software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

Modify the string with a value data and set it to google.com for example.

STEP 2 : Remove Zquirrel.com homepage from Chrome, Firefox and IE

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the Zquirrel.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

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

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.