Stimafigu “Virus” Removal

Can’t Remove Stimafigu hijacker virus? This page includes detailed Stimafigu Removal instructions!

Do you feel like drowning in a sea of adverts. Every website you visit, every video you load, everything is flooded with adverts provided by Stimafigu? You cannot get a simple task done without an adverts interrupting you. And the browser redirection. It is the most irritating thing. Your browser seem to be possessed. It opens numerous questionably-looking websites, doesn’t it? Well, you have a reason to be worried. These issues are all symptoms of an infection. Your poor browser harbors a parasite. The Stimafigu hijacker has managed to enter your computer unnoticed and is now wreaking havoc. This intruder is so intrusive that it is often referred to as a “virus.” Luckily, the Stimafigu hijacker is not a full-fledged virus. It is an ad-generating application. The hijacker does not corrupt your system. It limits its influence to your browsers. If you have more than one installed, be certain, the hijacker got them all. This intruder is programmed to generate ad-revenue. It injects various adverts on every website you open and redirects your web traffic to sponsored pages. When you click on a sponsored content, the owners of the parasite get paid. So, they instructed the hijacker to flood its victims with adverts. The Stimafigu can ruin your browsing experience. But it may do more than that. The parasite is often used by cyber-criminals. The nasty parasite turns you into a target. Do not put up with this situation. Remove the hijacker before it lures you into an online trap! The sooner this intruder’s gone, the better!

How did I get infected with?

The Stimafigu hijacker is not an ingenious virus that can hack your computer. No, this parasite is a simple app. And just like any other application, it needs your (the user’s) approval to get installed. What it has no need of is straightforwardness. This trickster knows how to steal your approval. It usually lurks behind software bundles, fake updates and torrents. One second of carelessness is all it needs you infect your browser. Don’t make its job easier. Choose caution over carelessness. You can prevent such infections. All you should do is to pay attention to the fine print. Download your software from reputable sources only. Do not rush through the installation processes. If available, always select the Advanced/Custom installation option. Under it, you will be presented with a list of all changes that are about to be made to your OS. If additional programs are about to be installed, deselect them. You do not need these extras. If you truly wanted or needed such software, you would have downloaded it by yourself. This is your computer, you decide what to be uninstalled on it. Don’t let others make this decision for you. Make sure you know what you are giving your approval to. Read the terms and conditions/EULA. If you don’t have the time to do so, use an online EULA analyzer to scan the document. If you detect anything out of the ordinary, abort the installation immediately. Only you can keep your computer virus-free. Don’t be negligent, always do your due diligence!

Why is this dangerous?

Do not underestimate the Stimafigu hijacker. This parasite is extremely intrusive and annoying. It is also quite dangerous. The hijacker does not display random adverts. It uses surveillance to determine your presences and bases its adverts on the collected data. In other words, the parasite spies on you and uses the collected information against you. This intruder knows your every online step. Which websites you visit, what search inquiries you make, what videos you watch. Even the Incognito mode of your browser cannot hide you from the intruder. Your every online step is recorded and analyzed. The collected data may not strike as too sensitive, but a capable advertiser needs very little to successfully target you. What if this capable advertiser has bad intentions? The Stimafigu hijacker has no security mechanism. It cannot protect you from online frauds. Quite the contrary, the hijacker may lure you into an online scheme. Numerous crooks use the hijacker and its resources to reach potential victims. They show you what you want to see, but when you click on their ads, bad things happen. The hijacker is more likely to redirect you to scam and potentially infected websites than to legitimate ones. Don’t risk it! Remove this parasite as soon as possible!

How to Remove Stimafigu virus

The Stimafigu 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 Stimafigu 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.

STEP 1: Track down Stimafigu related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Stimafigu startup location

STEP 3: Delete Stimafigu traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Stimafigu 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.

• Write down the file location for later reference.

Step 2: Locate Stimafigu 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 Stimafigu 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 Stimafigu traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the Stimafigu 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 Stimafigu

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 Stimafigu, 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 Stimafigu 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 Stimafigu 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.