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Browser hijackers use similar techniques to get you to download their software, but more often
than not the ‘optional extra software offer’ is more difficult to find and involves searching the
page further. This encourages people to download and install the browser hijacker without
knowing they are doing so.
How to remove a browser hijacker. Removing such virus can be a difficult task as it installs
multiple files around different section of your hard drive. The first thing to do is to check your
‘Control Panel’ and go to our ‘Programs and Features’ section.
There you can find the unwanted software and uninstall it. But it will still remain on your hard
drive, so the next thing you have to do is to uninstall any unwanted extensions from your
browser.
Furthermore, you need to download and run programs such as Malwarebytes Anti Malware and
AdwCleaner to delete any other files related to the browser hijacker.

How to avoid infection from a browser hijacker. The best practice is to ensure you only
download software from reputable sources, as browser hijackers installers can mostly be found
by installing software with low online reputation.

Furthermore, following every step of installing a new software and ensuring that no boxes are
ticked agreeing to install another software is the best practice. Those boxes are often already
ticked by default, and sometimes using the option: ‘custom install’ will reveal those to us.

How to save your data from a browser hijacker. The best practice is to keep a spare copy of
your files on a secondary hard drive and using cloud services such as Dropbox.

That way if the browser hijacker won’t uninstall itself, you have spares of your files and worst
comes to worse you can just re-install a fresh copy of windows without losing all your precious
data files.

This sounds a bit extreme but sometimes a fresh re-install can take less time than solving a
virus issue, just make sure you’ve backed up all your important files.

Syndrome 2: Windows cannot run the latest updates.

This syndrome can come from your hard drive being infected by a piece of malware called a
rootkit. A rootkit is typically an unwanted code which is added to your operating system in order
to gain control of your computer.

By hiding itself within the operating system, it provides access to your private data and system
files to a remote user who can then use the info and access for many illicit purposes.

How to catch a rootkit: rootkits often get into your system by traditional viral techniques via
infected web content or even by sharing data via infected drives. The infected web content often
comes from downloading movies, music and other media files illegally using torrent and P2P file
sharing sites.

Here some files will be disguised as real media files (.avi, .mp3) or even software (.exe) but
upon clicking on them, they serve as an installer for spreading the rootkit to your computer.

33 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – July 2015 Edition
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