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Welcome to our Launch Page “Virus” removal guide. The following instructions will aid you in removing the unwanted software from your PC.
If you landed on this page, you are probably already angered by the constant annoyance that Launch Page “Virus” creates when you’re browsing the web. Intrusive ads, strange pop-ups, unstoppable redirects, changes in your browser’s homepage or search engine, new toolbars and tabs – all this could be initiated by a browser hijacker like the one that we are discussing here. The chance is that you probably want to get rid of all that annoyance and here we are going to show you how to do that. The only effective way to fully remove the nagging ads and changes from your Chrome or Firefox browser is to uninstall Launch Page “Virus” and the removal guide below is dedicated to that. It contains step-by-step instructions, which can show you how to detect the browser hijacker files and manually delete them from your system. Before you scroll down to them, however, we suggest you read the information that we have provided in the next paragraphs. It will give you a better idea about the nature of the browser hijackers and the ways to prevent them in the future.
What is the actual purpose of a program like Launch Page?
If you’ve been bombarded by intrusive ads and strange sponsored web pages, you might be wondering what their purpose is. Are they malicious? Are they generated by some nasty virus? Or some dreadful malware is trying to trick you into clicking on them? Well, fortunately, it is none of the above. When it comes to computer threats, browser hijackers like Launch Page are not among them. The programs of this type are basically developed as advertising tools and they have nothing in common with computer viruses and malware like Ransomware, Trojans, Spyware, etc. What is more, they don’t even contain malicious scripts to do harm to your system and, in fact, this is not their aim.
Usually, browser hijackers are used by the online marketing industry to advertise specific products, services, offers or web pages. They do that directly in your browser by modifying its settings, replacing its homepage or search engine, installing a new toolbar or constantly redirecting the users’ searches to some sponsored ads. This, however, is a quite aggressive marketing approach, driven by desire for more profit from Pay-Per-Click advertisements. It does not pose a threat to your system and security, but can certainly be very irritating and can severely interfere with your overall browsing experience. That’s why, it is not uncommon that some of the people affected by a browser hijacker like Launch Page would prefer to uninstall it.
Why you should consider removing Launch Page from your PC?
Indeed, Launch Page may not be that fatal for your system the way that a Ransomware or a Trojan horse infection would be, but it could still cause some potentially unwanted consequences, which may give you a good reason to remove it. For instance, you may not be really aware of it, but this program may track down your online activity. This is usually done with marketing purposes but still could be considered a privacy invasion to an extent. Thanks to the collected data, the advertisers behind the program could gain a better idea about your preferences, and based on them, they can show you more of their intrusive ads. With time, it may become really difficult to deal with all the popping messages, offers and page redirects – they may constantly interrupt your browsing or they may land you on websites and locations where you never intended to be. The problem is that you can never be sure how safe these ads and pages are. With the rising popularity of infection methods like malvertising, which the criminal hackers frequently use to infect online users with viruses and malware, you should always be attentive when you interact with such randomly displayed sketchy content, or totally remove their source for the sake of your safety.
How to protect your system form browser hijackers?
We always say this to our readers – prevention is the best protection, so if you want to stay safe, here are some tips for you. If you want to keep browser hijackers away from your system, try to avoid websites, which are not trusted or are flooded with aggressive and suspicious ads, pop-ups and links. Spam, email attachments and too aggressive offers are also not to be trusted. Another thing is to have control over your downloads and disable the automatic download function in your browser. This can save you from automatic installers and direct download kits which may contain some potentially unwanted software. And last, but not least, always use the “Advanced/Custom/Manual” option when running a new setup on your system, because this is where you can customize the installer and prevent the automatic installation of a program like Launch Page.
Launch Page “Virus” Removal
I – Uninstallation
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- Use the Winkey+R keyboard combination, write Control Panel in the search field and hit enter.
- Go to Uninstall a program under Programs.
- Seek the unwanted software, select it and then click on Uninstall
- If you are unable to spot Launch Page, 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.
II – Safe mode and revealing hidden files
III – Cleaning all your browsers
- Go to your browser’s icon, right-click on it and select Properties.
- Go to the Shortcut tab and in the Target make sure to delete anything written after “.exe”.
- Now, open your browser and follow the instructions below depending on whether you are using Chrome, Mozilla or IE.
- Chrome users:
- Go to your browser’s main menu located in the top-right corner of the screen and select Settings.
- Scroll down, click on Show Advanced Settings and then select Clear browsing data. Just to be sure, tick everything and clear the data.
- 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:
- Similarly to Chrome, go to the main menu and select Add-ons and then Extensions.
- Remove any suspicious browser extensions that you may have even if they do not have the name Launch Page on them.
- IE users:
- Go to Tools and select Manage add-ons.
- 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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- Go to your start menu, type Task Manager in the search field and from the results open View running processes with Task Manager.
- Thoroughly look through all processes. The name Launch Page 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.
- If you spot the process ran by Launch Page, 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
- In the start menu search box write View Network Connections and open the first result.
- Right-click on the network connection you are using and go to Properties.
- Select Internet Protocol Version (TCP/IPv4) and click on Properties.
- If Obtain DNS server addresses automatically is not checked, check it.
- Go to Advanced and select the DNS If there is anything in the DNS server addresses field, remove it and click OK.
- Click OK on the rest of the opened windows.
