Hey, now I meet some situation like browser hijacker. It seems that my Mozilla Firefox is hijacked by some virus or malware, actually I don’t know what exactly it is; I’m always redirected to somewhere I don’t know. It is ridiculous that my default search engine has been changed to be another one called Istsearch.com. I didn’t use it before and this search engine doesn’t give me any correct search result. I want to delete it and set it back to Google, but I don’t know how to do it. Can anyone help me, please?
Description of Istsearch.com Hijacker
Well, Istsearch.com is a fake search engine and has been listed as a web browser hijacker. At first sight, it looks like a generic search as Google. This search tool presents the regular Web, Images, Video and News searches, and its interface is not offensive anyway. However, if it becomes your default search engine, you will find that it is useless. Like other browser hijacker, this hijacker can invade your browsers such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google chrome, etc. and changes your default search engine to Istsearch.com webpage. If you try to perform a web search via this browser hijacker’s homepage, you would notice that it cannot even process your search query and just show you the wrong or unrelated search results, besides it displays different kinds of ads like coupon, discounting sales, fitness, movie, video and so on. If you click on those ads, you will be further redirected to a new tab of this website and this new tab is about those ads mentioned above. Those webpages are full of malware, viruses, sometimes those malware or viruses can automatically activate and install on your computer without your notice once you visit. Gradually, your computer will be weaken and performs slowly; even your operating system will be crashed down. Therefore, once you find Istsearch.com on your computer, please take prompt action to kick it off your machine, otherwise this browser hijacker or other threats would damage your computer.
Istsearch.com hijacker even can threat your personal information security, because it is created by hackers to spy on your internet activities and use cookies to collect your online traces and then steal personal sensitive information, especially like banking details. You may suffer from financial loss due to this hijacker especially when you make shopping online. Technically, Istsearch.com is a kind of aggressive add-on or extension not a virus. Therefore, it cannot be detected and removed by any security tools. That is the reason why you don’t know how it sneaks on your computer and your antivirus cannot remove it at all. The most effective way to completely kick it off from your computer is manual removal. Browser hijacker is distributed online by cyber criminals and usually comes from suspicious websites about porn, music, video, game, shopping etc. A good habit to surf on the Internet is a good and effective way to avoid bringing this browser hijacker to your computer. You should be cautious when clicking links online. It can point your browser to download threats or visit malicious web site. Don’t download unknown free software and avoid opening unknown e-mail attachments. As those browser hijacker and other malwares, Trojan, or viruses are usually distributed on the Internet, and nowadays we also usually works on computer and depend on network, thus it increases the high risk of being infected with one or more threats. So to have a good knowledge of computer and virus is an important way to protect your PC.
Main Traits of Istsearch.com Hijacker
-Can change your homepage or the default search engine to Istsearch.com and it totally prevents you from changing them back
-Can always redirect you to other websites
-Can pop up various advertisements and sponsored links randomly to interrupt your online activities
-Can create many junk files which occupy a lot of space in hard drive
-Can download other malicious programs into computer, which make further damage.
-Can collect and send data concerning your search history and other browsing activities.
-Your sensitive information can be tracked and stolen by hacker who can access to your computer with the help of this browser hijacker.
NOTE: If you find any of these symptoms on your computer, that proves your PC is under attack and seriously infected with Istsearch.com hijacker. If you are not a computer savvy, Please contact YooSecurity Online PC Experts to remove this browser hijacker virus for you.
The Screenshot of This Web Page
Manual Removal Guide of Browser Hijacker (For Computer Literate)
There is a removal guide of Istsearch.com hijacker provided here; however, expertise is required during the process of removal, please make sure you are capable to do it by yourself.
Step 1: Find Ctrl, Alt, and Delete these 3 keys and then press them together to open task manager to end the process related to this hijacker, the name of the process of it is random.
Step 2: Try to find Folder Options in Control Panel, select the View tab, and then tick Show hidden files and folders and non-tick Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) and then click OK.
Step 3: Click on Start button at the right lower corner, then click on Control Panel
Then you will come to the Control Panel windows, click on Add and Remove Programs
Then try to find the program which relates to Istsearch.com hijacker, highlight it and choose Remove, the program’s name is random.
Step4: Change your homepage in your browser (Take Internet Explorer as an Example)
From the Navigation toolbar in Internet Explorer, click Tools and select Internet Options.
Then type the URL you want into the Home page box and then click OK
Similar video on browser hijacker removal:
Conclusion:
If you find your homepage or default search engine is changed to Istsearch.com, it is very likely that your browser is hijacked by a redirect. Browser hijack aims at attacking your website and modifying homepage or default search engine, and at the same time preventing you from visiting some websites about malware removal software, security websites and other legitimate sites that would provide you with virus removal help. Thus it can redirect you to the sites you don’t want to access. Among those sites there may be several or more malicious websites that try to deceive you into purchasing such fake commodity as fake antivirus program, coupon and so on. What’s worse, it can steal your important and sensitive information, which will lead to your financial loss. Therefore, it is better to remove it as quickly as possible.
Suggestion: To follow removal guide that mentioned above, a level of computer knowledge is needed. Still can’t get out of Istsearch.com hijacker? Contact online experts for help now!
Published by Tony Shepherd & last updated on September 22, 2014 1:45 pm
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