How to remove Lucky Starting Virus

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Welcome to our Lucky Starting Virus removal guide. The following instructions will aid you in removing the unwanted software from your PC.

Lucky Starting Virus is a software, which may take control of any of the browser apps, installed on your PC – Chrome, Explorer and/or Firefox (and most other popular browsers); and might result in some extremely annoying modifications of these apps:

• You may be constantly redirected to unknown websites while you are surfing the web. As a result, your browsing experience as a whole might be affected in a negative way.
• Your browsers could launch the production of too many online ads. Banners, pop-ups and bright boxes may appear all over your browsers, every time when you try to surf the Internet.
• Lucky Starting Virus could even substitute your default browser homepages and search engines with new ones – often very different and unknown.

This software’s category is known as browser hijacker. The good aspect of such an infection is that, in general, all such programs are not among the most dangerous threats. Nevertheless, the quite unpleasant news is that the possible changes such a program could inflict may seriously get on your nerves. Browser hijackers are characterized as a kind of software, which is mainly oriented towards browser apps. Indeed, no other aspect of your PC might be modified by such a product. This version of software could simply and only access and change your browsers.

What you probably haven’t heard about Lucky Starting Virus:

It’s possible that you don’t know that all of the programs from the hijacker category are normally acting in favor of the online marketing industry. The mutual efforts of product manufacturers, service providers and software developers to provide online means of advertising (because of the increasingly online-based communication) have resulted in the development of such software. Actually, the redirecting and ads such programs may cause should be regarded as equal to the promoting campaigns, which we see on the TV, and hear on the Radio. This business strategy is called PPC (pay per click) and its alias perfectly describes the way it functions. The more advertisements you are exposed to and the more redirecting you experience, the more productive the advertising process is considered to be and the more money both parties make. 

Is this program just irritating or really harmful?

It’s more than certain that Lucky Starting Virus is NOT linked to any malware version. This program is a simple advertising instrument and will not do you or your system any real harm. However, let’s point out the notable difference between any browser hijacker-based program and any common computer virus. The first illustration of the differences lies in the used distribution methods. While most malicious programs we are aware of today (Ransomware, Trojans, etc.) can automatically self-install on your computer, Lucky Starting Virus and its sibling products will ALWAYS need your knowing or unknowing approval to activate the installation process. Another example describes how differently hijackers and a random version of Ransomware may affect your system:

• Whereas any typical hijacker could just “take over” your browser apps and slightly change them, a Ransomware-based program can in fact access all your regularly modified/used data, and stop you from reaching it, and demand a ransom payment in exchange for the implementing a decryption process.

Normally, browser hijackers get distributed through:

When we talk about Adware and/or hijackers, the most used source is a process known as bundling. Bundling means assembling various games and apps and spreading them in combos, called bundles, typically free of charge. These bundles are normally harmless if you know how to install them properly. Mastering the skill of performing a sensible installation process will let you benefit from the free software inside them, but at the same time avoid the advertising programs which may be lurking there. Actually the secret is: whatever you incorporate into your PC, do it in a slower,  but more detailed manner, i.e. by choosing the ADVANCED ( CUSTOMIZED/ CUSTOM)  installation feature.

How to solve your hijacker-related problem once and for all:

We have to say that the best way to deal with an infection of any kind is not to catch it in the first place. The only always efficient way is to always avoid the source of a possible infection. In case your machine has already caught Lucky Starting Virus, check out the Removal Guide we have designed below.

SUMMARY:

Name	Lucky Starting
Type	Browser Hijacker
Danger Level	Medium (nowhere near threats like Ransomware, but still a security risk)
Symptoms	Irritating ones such as ad broadcasting; page redirections and homepage/search engine substitution.
Distribution Method	They may greatly vary from torrents to spam, but the main one is via program bundles.

Lucky Starting Virus Removal

I – 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
   1. If you are unable to spot Lucky Starting 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.

II – Safe mode and revealing hidden files

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

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 Lucky Starting 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 Lucky Starting 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 Lucky Starting 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.