Winsecurity “Virus” Removal

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Winsecurity is definitely not a program you want to cross paths with. This adware-type infection is immensely irritating as well as tricky. Has it managed to slither itself onto your machine? Then you’re in for trouble. The Winsecurity virus gets activated as soon as the installation is complete. Hence, this infection doesn’t waste any time and neither should you. Once you realize your PC has been infected, take measures and uninstall the parasite. Winsecurity begins to modify your favorite browser settings without bothering to seek permission. That means your very own browsing experience is no longer up to you. It is up to hackers who are more than willing to expose you to further threats. Why are hackers so stubborn to alter your browser settings? Because the Winsecurity virus was developed to help crooks gain revenue. The scheme is actually very simple. This pest adds a malicious, extremely unwanted extension to your browsers. Neither your authorization nor consent was required. Adware-type programs do not need your help. Instead, these parasites work behind your back. Winsecurity might proceed to alter your browser settings even further. Hence, you may notice modifications in your search engine or homepage or some additional toolbars. What you will notice are the pop-ups. After all, Winsecurity is a classic adware infection. It installs a plugin just so it could flood your PC screen with ads. As you could imagine, the commercials we’re talking about are sponsored and potentially corrupted. Clicking such a pop-up would be a terrible idea because you may land on dangerous websites. Thanks to the adware, you’re one click away from compromising your safety further. To prevent it, you have to avoid all advertisements and pop-ups Winsecurity generates. The virus is only displaying those so hackers could use the pay-per-click mechanism. Long story short, hackers are taking advantage of your computer to gain profit online. Are you going to become a sponsor of their illegal business and click these questionable ads? If you’re unlucky, you’ll get redirected to dangerous pages and automatically install more parasites. Keep in mind that you already have an infection on your device. You don’t really need to download any more nasty programs developed by cyber criminals.

How did I get infected with?

No, you didn’t voluntarily download this program. Such infections rely on various tricks and lies instead. Winsecurity must have done the same thing. The number one technique malware applies is called freeware/shareware bundling. It is about as effective as it is simple. All that hackers do is attach a certain parasite to a program bundle. You do the rest by rushing the installation process. Next time you download bundles, watch out for any additional programs. The bonuses crooks may have added to any bundle must be deselected. However, you need to spot the potential intruder first. That is why you have to be paying attention instead of skipping steps. Opt for the Custom option in the Setup Wizard so you don’t accidentally install malware. Check out the entire bundle thoroughly and be cautious. It goes without saying that your care will pay off in the long run. Therefore, don’t skip steps and put your safety first.

Why is this dangerous?

Winsecurity makes surfing the Web impossible. All your browsers get modified and begin to generate unsafe commercials. Before you know it, the adware might trick you into clicking a corrupted ad. In other words, you may cause your PC further damage. The question is, why trust the sponsored commercials brought to you by a pesky cyber infection? Winsecurity allows its creators to boost web traffic and make effortless money. It also exposes you to cyber threats and lies to your face. The infection might serve as a back door to more viruses too. In addition, you should know Winsecurity spies on your private data as well. That includes your browsing history, IP addresses, usernames, passwords and other details. To prevent some serious privacy issues, you have to tackle the intruder right away. The stubborn Winsecurity virus jeopardizes your privacy and causes trouble on a daily basis. Please follow our detailed manual removal guide. You will find it down below.

How to Remove Winsecurity virus

The Winsecurity 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 Winsecurity 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 Winsecurity in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Winsecurity startup location

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

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Winsecurity 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 Winsecurity 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 Winsecurity 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 Winsecurity traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

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

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 Winsecurity, 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 Winsecurity 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 Winsecurity 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.