Your computer has been locked “Virus” Removal

Welcome, to our Your computer has been locked “Virus” removal guide. The following instructions will aid you in removing the unwanted software from your PC.

The strange changes that have taken place on your Chrome, Firefox, IE or another default browser you are using may be the probable reason that you landed on this page. Homepage replacements, search engine changes, page redirects and tons of ads – the source of all these may be a browser hijacker called “Your computer has been locked” “Virus” and in this guide, we are going to talk about how to remove it. This program is a common reason for a browsing-related disturbance and many users, who feel heavily irritated by its intrusive activity, may be looking for ways to uninstall it from their PC and bring their browser back to normal. Fortunately, this is possible without the help of computer experts and expensive fees, and the removal guide that we have prepared below will help you in dealing with that task effectively. For best results, we suggest you read the information that follows and then proceed to the detailed steps.

Is “Your computer has been locked” a dangerous virus?

Now, to dispel the possible doubts that you may have about this strange program, we will say that, fortunately, you are not dealing with a virus or some kind of nasty malware.  “Your computer has been locked” is a browser hijacker – a program developed to hijack your browser by imposing some changes on your search engine and homepage with the sole idea to redirect you to different ads, pop-ups, sponsored web pages and links. This activity, at first sight, may seem quite alarming to some users, who may wrongly refer to the browser hijacker as a virus infection, but in fact, such ad-generating programs have nothing in common with malicious programs from the rank of Ransomware, viruses, Trojans, and other harmful online threats. The great difference between them is the way they operate and the purposes they have when they invade your PC.  Everyone knows that malware is created to perform some criminal deeds or destructive actions. A browser hijacker, on the other hand, is developed to bring profits for its developers through the clicks on sponsored advertisements, or the so-called Pay-Per-Click method. This is a common remuneration model for some online businesses, which use tools like “Your computer has been locked” to gain some profits from ads. However, some users may find the constant flow of ads and page redirects as annoying, thus, they may wish to uninstall the program that is causing them.

How may “Your computer has been locked” affect the performance of your PC?

Generally, browser hijackers are not considered as a serious threat, since they do not initiate any harmful actions nor they attempt to corrupt your system, delete your files or encrypt them like a Ransomware infection would do, for example. But, still, they may cause some unpleasant disturbance to your normal browsing, mess up with your browser settings, redirect your searches, monitor your browsing history and manipulate the pages you visit in order to expose you to more ads. As a result of that, the affected browser may become sluggish and load the pages you want slower than usual, or flood your screen with intrusive pop-ups that don’t want to go away. And if this is not enough to make you consider removing “Your computer has been locked”, we need to warn you that bumping into some nasty virus or malware is a rare, but possible scenario if you keep such ad-generating software on your machine. Sometimes, misleading ads or threats that spread through malvertisements may sneak among the real ads that the browser hijacker generates and this way infect you without you realizing it. That’s why it is best to avoid clicking on the redirects and randomly generated pop-ups, or to totally get rid of them by uninstalling the hijacker.

How “Your computer has been locked” usually gets on the people’s computer

To keep such annoying software away, you should know how it spreads. Usually, “Your computer has been locked” could be found in software bundles distributed through free program installers, spam emails, torrents, file sharing sites, freeware platforms, or direct downloads from the web. To avoid installing it on your PC, you should always check the setup of any program you intend to install on your system. When you run the installer, there are usually two major options you can choose from – “Standard/Quick” or “Advanced/Custom”. The first will install the whole setup as it is, without giving you much control over the programs that may be bundled with it. That’s why, we advise you to opt for the second one, because this is where you can manually select whether to disable or enable the browser hijacker, in case that there is one, packed inside the installer. 

Your computer has been locked “Virus” Removal

I – Uninstallation

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 “Your computer has been locked”, 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 “Your computer has been locked” 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

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 “Your computer has been locked” 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 “Your computer has been locked”, 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.