Doseofhealthy “Virus” Removal (Chrome/Firefox)

[bannerTop]

In this article we are going to try and help you remove Doseofhealthy “Virus”. Our instructions cover all Windows versions as well as most browsers – Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer etc.

What can you do if your browser has been hijacked by Doseofhealthy “Virus”? If this is the question that brought you here, then we may be able to help. The chance is that your Chrome, Firefox or other browser you use is invaded by a new homepage, strange search engine and dozens of ads, pop-ups and page redirects, and the reason for that is a browser hijacker called Doseofhealthy. It may be a bit frustrating to face this program and all its undesired changes to your computer, but once you understand the way it works, you will be able to effectively deal with it. That’s why our team has prepared a detailed description below, which will give you some useful information about the methods of distribution, operation, and removal of this type of software. Apart from that, at the end of this article, you will find a detailed guide with instructions on how to manually detect and remove all the Doseofhealthy “Virus” related files from your system and successfully save yourself from its intrusive behavior. But first, let’s familiarize you with the Browser hijackers and their typical features.

Doseofhealthy – a mere annoyance or a virus?

Speaking about Browser hijackers like Doseofhealthy, you may find many different opinions about the level of disturbance of these programs and the concerns they may cause. It pretty much depends on the users’ tolerance to invasive and unwanted browser changes and quite intrusive ads that get displayed on their screen. Some people may refer to browser hijackers as merely irritating, while others may call them viruses or even compare them to malware of the rank of Ransomware. However, the truth is that such programs cannot be considered dangerous or malicious, but they can surely fall into the category of potentially unwanted programs.

According to security experts, browser hijackers do not represent a security risk to your system. The reason is that they differentiate from malicious software like Trojans, Spyware, Ransomware and other viruses which contain malicious scripts designed to corrupt your system, destroy your files or blackmail you.  Compared to that, what a program like Doseofhealthy may do is far from anything that could be called harmful. At its worst, it may only cause you some online interruption and disturbance by constantly redirecting you to new popping boxes, tabs and sponsored web pages. However, even this harmless disturbance may be a reason for some people to uninstall the software instead of tolerating its activity on their screen. The good thing is that in most cases they can do this on their own, especially if they follow some detailed instructions like the ones in the removal guide below.

Despite not being malicious, however, browser hijackers still have some traits that may be potentially unwanted. There are a few questionable activities that may happen while such a program is operating on your system and we would like to warn you about them. What Doseofhealthy may do is it may collect some data, mostly related to your browsing history, latest searches, and website visits. This data may later be transmitted to the developers and be analyzed in order to display more ads that are relevant to your searches or it may be sold to third parties as valuable marketing information. Another thing, which is not directly related to the browser hijackers, but rather to the ads, pop-ups, and pages they display, is the malvertising. This is a delusive method used by unscrupulous hackers who sneak fake ads or misleading links among the real ones and this way try to infect users. If you have the misfortune of clicking on a compromised ad, you may get redirected to illegal pages or directly catch a malware infection. That’s why clicking on the ads is not really a good idea, mostly because it is really hard to detect which ad or pop-up is fake among the dozens you are exposed to.

How to prevent Browser Hijackers from getting installed on your PC?

You have probably ended up with Doseofhealthy without notice and now you may feel tricked by the program that unknowingly got installed on your computer. But the truth is that you put it there yourself. The way a browser hijacker gets installed has a lot in common with your software installation habits. If you usually download software from file sharing platforms, direct downloads, installation managers, free software sites, torrents or spam emails, you may get a bundle packed with potentially unwanted software. Once you run the wizard, you should click on the advanced/custom/manual option to see what is in the bundle and manually uncheck the check boxes of the programs you don’t want to install. If you skip that option, you will inevitably install the entire bundle as is and may end up with a bunch of undesired programs together with the one you willingly installed. That’s why it is important to always pay attention during the setup process of any new software you are getting and opt for the most detailed installation option. This is surely quicker and easier than removing the browser hijacker later.

Doseofhealthy “Virus” Removal

Many types of malware will restrict your access to their core files. It is highly recommended that you reboot your PC in safe mode before attempting to use this guide.

• To enable Safe Mode reboot you PC, then hit F8 repeatedly. When the corresponding menu opens please select Safe Mode with Networking.

WARNING! If you are using Windows 8,0 or later and/or your operating system is installed on a fast SSD drive this may fail to work. In this case click here to see how to start your PC in Safe Mode.

#1: Uninstall the malicious program from your control panel

[bannerMiddle]

Enter control panel to look for any suspicious programs, which may have installed on your PC. To do that:

1. Navigate to your Desktop
2. Press simultaneously the Win button together with the R button (Win+R)
3. In the Run window that just opened type appwiz.cpl

4. Go through the list of programs and find Doseofhealthy or anything else that may seem suspicious. Right-click on it and choose the uninstallation option

WARNING! Carefully read any confirmation messages that may be created in the process. Sometimes you may get offers to download more Adware applications and this can be linked to either the Yes or the No answer depending on the wording!

• Optional:

Go through the list of programs again and check online for any potentially unwanted programs. We have an article that covers this awesome free software that makes sure that your computer is free from bloatware and programs that you don’t need.

#2: Remove Doseofhealthy From Chrome

Now we’ll remove the extensions that the malware has attached to your browser.

1. Open your Google Chrome browser.
2. Type chrome://extensions/  in the URL address bar and press Enter.
3. Click on “Developer Mode” on the top right and look for the extension installed by Doseofhealthy and anything that might be related to it. Copy their IDs (the string of letters), then remove them by clicking on the trash bin icon.

1. Type Regedit in the Windows Start Menu and press Enter. Go in : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\Chrome\Extensions and delete the entries corresponding to the suspicious IDs you recorded.

#3: Remove Doseofhealthy From Firefox

1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. Type “about:support” in the URL address bar and press Enter.
3. Click on the “Refresh Firefox” button on the right and confirm.

#4 Remove Doseofhealthy From Internet Explorer

1. Open your Internet Explorer internet browser.
2. Click on the Gear icon on the up right, then on manage add-ons.
3. Go through the list disable any suspicious extensions.

#5 Remove any leftover parasitic processes

[bannerMiddleSecond]

From the task manager:

1. Use Ctrl + Shift + Esc and open the Task manager, then click on the Processes
2. Go through the list of processes and look for unknown or otherwise suspicious entries.
3. If you see anything suspicious right click on the process and shoes Open File Location, then terminate the process and delete any files you find in the directory.

WARNING! If the directory you open from this menu has no files inside of it it’s probably because the malware has hidden them. You need to reveal hidden files and folders in order to be able to see them. Click here if you don’t know how to do that.

From the start menu:

1. Press simultaneously the Win button together with the R button (Win+R)
2. In the Run window that just opened type msconfig
3. Click on the Startup tab.

This menu controls which programs are loaded when windows starts after a reboot. Disable anything that seems suspicious. Optionally you can also disable any program that you don’t need and also has a high impact on your startup time.

Feel free to write to us in the comment section with any questions that you may have. Also if we have been helpful to you please share this article to help us reach more people like you.