9likesg.com “Virus” Removal

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Welcome to our 9likesg.com “Virus” removal guide. The following instructions will aid you in removing the unwanted software from your PC.

The information that we are about to present to you with in the following article revolves around a program called 9likesg.com “Virus” which is considered potentially unwanted due to its invasive behavior. The software is known to latch onto the user’s IE, Firefox or Google Chrome browser and take control over the program adding a new toolbar/search engine, replacing the previous homepage and causing frequent redirects to websites that are being promoted by 9likesg.com “Virus”. All of those symptoms are typical for a software type known as Browser Hijackers, which is why we believe that 9likesg.com “Virus”, too, falls under that same category and should be treated as a Hijacker. If you are one of the many users that have had the nagging piece of software installed onto their machines, you’d be relieved to learn that we can offer you a removal guide that can help you uninstall the Browser Hijacker without leaving behind any trace of it on your PC. However, our advice for you is to first read the following few paragraphs in order to get to know the unwanted program better before you move on to having it removed.

Browser Hijackers are not viruses

Many people believe that if their computer has been invaded by a Hijacker, they are in big trouble. Most of the time, this isn’t really the case, since most programs similar to 9likesg.com “Virus” are not all that harmful. For starters, unlike actual malware threats the likes of Trojan horses and Ransomware, Browser Hijackers are actually not used for harmful purposes. Instead, their main goal is to advertise different websites, online services or other software products. As far as the marketing techniques employed by most Hijackers are concerned, there is no doubt that they can be quite aggressive and frustrating, but this is not to say that the unpleasant software, on its own, is threatening to your computer.

Potential dangers and negative effects

A typical Hijacker will probably not try to lock your files like a Ransomware virus would, but it should still be treated as a potential security threat for a number of reasons. The changes you see on your browser are by far not the biggest issue that you might have with an application the likes of 9likesg.com “Virus”.

• Apart from messing with your browser settings, Hijackers can also go as far as to modify your system’s Registry. This can lead to your machine getting exposed to hacker attacks and should certainly not be allowed to happen.
• In addition to to the page redirects that 9likesg.com “Virus” is prone to cause, it might also be capable of generating fake warning messages as a yet another form of aggressive advertising. For example, a pop-up might get displayed in your browser telling you that your machine has been attacked by some harmful piece of malware and that the only way to get rid of it is to download and install a certain security/anti-malware tool. In fact, your computer is most likely safe and there’s no malware on it. Keep in mind that such warnings are more often than not a nasty ruse used to promote some other obscure program that is oftentimes owned by the Hijacker’s developer.
• Apart from what we’ve listed so far, many Hijackers are also capable of tracking one’s online activity and scanning through their browser history. This shady technique is used in order to obtain data with high marketing value thus earning high revenue for the Hijacker’s creator after the user data gets sold to third-party advertising companies.

System protection tips

Software the likes of 9likesg.com “Virus” is everywhere and there are numerous ways through which such a program can get installed onto your PC. Many users are rather careless regarding the safety and security of their PC and this is one of the main reasons why such unwanted programs seem to be so successful. Awareness is the key to avoiding Browser Hijackers and other, more dangerous and problematic software. Read the following PC protection rules and tips and be sure to utilize them in future in order to fend off any form of undesirable programs.

• Make your browser settings safer by making sure that the browser always asks for a permission when it is about to download something. Very often, Browser Hijackers get automatically downloaded onto the user’s PC and since they are usually not bigger than a few megabytes, the user hardly ever has enough time to cancel the downloading process even if they realize that the file that is getting downloaded is an unwanted Hijacker.
• Spam e-mails are something we’ve all encountered at a certain point. They are annoying and always seem to find their way to your e-mail. However, apart from being extremely nagging, they could also fill your machine with all sorts of bloatware and even sometimes malware, if you are not careful and accidentally open one such letter. Therefore, always be vigilant and thoughtful when checking your inbox or you might end up landing some unwanted and potentially harmful piece of software.
• File-bundling is a well-known software distribution method and Browser Hijacker developers oftentimes use that technique to spread their products. With that in mind, from now on, you should always check all available settings and options within the setup wizards of programs that you are about to install. If there are advanced/custom settings, be sure to use them and if you ever see that there are indeed added installs to the main program, carefully research them to see whether or not they are safe. In case the bundled applications turn out to be shady and potentially unwanted, uncheck them so as to leave them out before proceeding with the installation.

9likesg.com “Virus” Removal

I – Safe mode and revealing hidden files

1. Boot your PC into Safe Mode /link/
2. Reveal hidden files and folders /link/

II – Uninstallation

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1. Use the Winkey+R keyboard combination, write Control Panel in the search field and hit enter.
   
2. Go to Uninstall a program under Programs.
   
3. Seek the unwanted software, select it and then click on Uninstall

If you are unable to spot 9likesg.com “Virus”, search for any unrecognized programs that you do not remember installing on your PC – the unwanted software might disguise itself by going under a different name.

III – Cleaning all your browsers

1. Go to your browser’s icon, right-click on it and select Properties.
   
2. Go to the Shortcut tab and in the Target make sure to delete anything written after “.exe”.
   
3. Now, open your browser and follow the instructions below depending on whether you are using Chrome, Mozilla or IE.

• Chrome users:

1. Go to your browser’s main menu located in the top-right corner of the screen and select Settings.
   
2. Scroll down, click on Show Advanced Settings and then select Clear browsing data. Just to be sure, tick everything and clear the data.
   
3. Now, in the left pane, go to Extensions and look through all extensions that are integrated within your browser. If you notice any suspicious add-on, disable it and then remove it.
   

• Firefox users:

1. Similarly to Chrome, go to the main menu and select Add-ons and then Extensions.
2. Remove any suspicious browser extensions that you may have even if they do not have the name 9likesg.com “Virus” on them.

• IE users:

1. Go to Tools and select Manage add-ons.
   
2. Click on all add-on types from the left pane and check if there is anything suspicious in the right panel. In case you find anything shade, make sure to remove it.

IV – Removing Shady processes

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1. Go to your start menu, type Task Manager in the search field and from the results open View running processes with Task Manager.
   
2. Thoroughly look through all processes. The name 9likesg.com “Virus” might not be there, but if you notice any shady looking process that consumes high amounts of memory it might be ran by the unwanted program.
3. If you spot the process ran by 9likesg.com “Virus”, right-click on it, open its file location and delete everything in there. Then go back to the Task Manager and end the process.
   

V – DNS check

1. In the start menu search box write View Network Connections and open the first result.
   
2. Right-click on the network connection you are using and go to Properties.
   
3. Select Internet Protocol Version (TCP/IPv4) and click on Properties.
   
4. If Obtain DNS server addresses automatically is not checked, check it.
   
5. Go to Advanced and select the DNS If there is anything in the DNS server addresses field, remove it and click OK.
   
6. Click OK on the rest of the opened windows.