subject: How To Completely Clean Your PC Of The "Google Redirect Virus" [print this page] How To Completely Clean Your PC Of The "Google Redirect Virus"
The Google Redirect Virus is a new virus is installing itself onto 100's of computers around the World every day in an attempt to get you to buy fake products that the infection will promote through hijacking your redirects. Although this virus is relatively benign (it won't destroy your PC or anything), it's highly annoying and needs to be removed in the most effective way to ensure the continued security of your system. The good news is that this tutorial is going to show you an effective way to remove the virus from your PC. Here's what you need to be able to do...
What Is This Virus?
If you're reading this, I'm guessing you know about what this virus can do... in that it will just take your search engine results to some fake websites, and show continual fake popups on your website. Although the infection is well documented, the fact is that it's not that well understood. The truth is that this virus is a lot different than most viruses, making it extremely difficult to remove.
The redirect virus is basically a program that's been designed by hackers to try and get you to buy some fake products from the websites that you'll be redirected to. The way it works is to change the files that your computer will use to transfer you to various websites online - making it a highly difficult infection to remove from your PC. Typical viruses just have a small file / setting which will be easily detectable by anti-virus programs... however because this infection will typically just change a small number of files on your PC, it's very difficult to remove unless you have the correct programs.
How To Remove The Google Redirect Virus
This infection basically works by changing a small number of important Windows files - which means that you need to be able to repair the files that it will have been damaged. This cannot be done by using traditional antivirus applications, as these will just look at any rogue programs that your computer may have - and then get rid of them. Because the redirect virus will have just changed a few Windows settings, and will now have disappeared - it makes your job even more difficult unless you're able to use the correct tools that are going to remove the virus properly.
There are two programs which the virus will not be able to avoid. These are "Hitman Pro" (Trojan Horse virus removal) and "ComboFix" (Windows file cleaner) - obscure, but highly effective, programs which can work to fix your system. You can get rid of the virus you have by first downloading "Hitman Pro" from the Internet (it's free to use for 30 days), and then letting it clean out any of the errors / problems that you may have on your system. After that, you need to be able to use a program called "ComboFix" which can be used by downloading it from the Internet, and then letting it run with a special "script" which tells it which Windows files to fix.
