Thursday, January 8, 2015

Smartprofits.org Redirect Virus - How to Remove



Professional Guide for SMARTPROFITS.ORG Removal
I am encountering a problem that my homepage has been changed to SMARTPROFITS.ORG without my knowledge and consent. I have tried resetting Google as my homepage but failed. It drives me mad. I don’t want to see SMARTPROFITS.ORG popping up on my browser anymore. How to fix this problem? Anyone advice will be appreciated.

Description of SMARTPROFITS.ORG

SMARTPROFITS.ORG is notorious for its deception tactics created by cyber hackers to obtain commercial gains from infested computer. It pretends to be a useful platform by showing a search box in the middle of the web page and gives some icons like Facebook, Yahoo and Twitter. However, in fact it’s only a scam that cheats users to click the links on the website and download its useless and malicious program. If you analyze the page more carefully, you will find out that it is actually designed to bombard pops- up to promote undesirable things on the computer. If you try to search something on this fake search engine, but all you can get are unwanted results including advertisements and porn. With this hijacker infection, it is impossible for you to reach websites you want and you are taken to SMARTPROFITS.ORG or other unwanted web pages. Besides, this redirect virus will constantly pop up sorts of advertisements on your browsers, urging you to download some unknown files, toolbars, or security software. Even if just one click may drop further dangerous malware.
Once your computer has been infested by SMARTPROFITS.ORG, it starts to modify default search engine’ setting immediately, disrupt browsers like Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and reduce the performance of the whole system. More seriously, it slows down the computer performance and attach undesirable plug-in, add-on, toolbar onto the browser without asking user’s permission firstly. If you have failed to log on the account of Yahoo mail, Facebook, the browser may have been seriously corrupted. Furthermore, it can take over the local DNS and prevent it from any modification with the purpose of control the browser even if you have re- installed it hundreds of times. Since the browser hijacker can change the homepage and search engine and slow down the computer performance, it is suggested that you get rid of it as soon as possible to prevent further damage.
Don’t hesitate to get rid of SMARTPROFITS.ORG as it’s so annoying, and it especially affects the proper running of browser and system applications. Please refer to the removal guide given below if you don’t know how to perform the removal of this threat.

Effects of Being Infected by the Redirect Virus

1. SMARTPROFITS.ORG modifies the browser settings without your permission and it doesn’t allow you to change the settings back.
2. There are lots of advertisements popping up on the browsers, which badly affects your surfing experience.
3. The annoying pop-ups and suspicious links may bring more and more other malware on your PC.
4. The browser performance is drastically slowed down since many ads are downloaded and displayed on the web pages.
5. Your online activities are monitored and the important data like usernames, passwords and other confidential information can be stolen by cyber criminals.

Manual Removal Instructions:

Step 1: Set the default homepage back
For Internet Explorer:
Click on Browser Tools
Select Manage Add-ons on the tools window
Click Search Provider
Here you can see many kinds of search engine option as Bing and Google, select your favorite one to be a default homepage.
Choose Search Results and click on Remove icon to eliminate it
Click Tools, select Internet Options and then the General tab. Here you can option a website you like and save it.
c. Select ‘Search Results’ and click ‘Remove’ to remove it;

For Google Chrome:
Open Customize and control
Click on Settings
Select on Basic Options icon
Here you can reset your homepage (e.g.Google.com

Once you choose a default homepage, click on Manage Search Engines and then click Google to be your default search engine.
Remove it from the browser by clicking Search Result and then the X’ mark

For Mozilla Firefox:
Click Manage Search Engine
Select Search Results and then click Remove option, click OK
Open Tools, under the General tab, set Google.com as default homepage

Step 2: Locate related files of SMARTPROFITS.ORG and remove them from the computer
%AllUsersProfile%
%AllUsersProfile%\Programs\{random letters}\
%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\~r
%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\~dll

Step 3: Remove cookies on all browsers
Internet Explorer:
Click options on the browser and then choose Internet Options
Open General tab, click Delete Browsing History to remove all related cookies
Select cookies and click Delete

Firefox:
Click option
Select Privacy and then click on Remove Individual Cookies icon
Delete relevant cookies list on the box

Google Chrome:
Click option
Open Under the Bonnet tab
Select Privacy and then click Clear browsing data
Delete all cookies

Step 4: Remove malicious registry entries
Open Registry Editor on the start menu
Type in Regedit and click OK
Remove all the following registry entries
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “CertificateRevocation” = ‘1’
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Attachments “SaveZoneInformation” = ‘0’


If the antivirus software or antispyware cannot detect or delete the browser hijacker, you can choose to remove it manually step by step. In general, the manual removal task needs the user to have much computer experience. Luckily here we organize the manual method into 4 steps, by following them manual method will become much easier (The entries and files maybe different according to different operating system):

Conclusion

SMARTPROFITS.ORG is a stubborn hijacker threat that causes users’ headache. Once it invades the computer, it is able to add unnecessary add-ons, plug-ins and toolbars and inject scripts to the browsers and make the web browsers cannot function normally. You might have tried to use manual way to get rid of it or you have to restore system to its previous state. You would not be able to make the favorite website as your homepage even you reset the browser settings or re-install your browser. Even worse, it can harvest your privacy, including personal identifiable information, online shopping account information, online bank information and credit card details. To get rid of such annoyance, you can follow the guide provided above or simply use a powerful malware removal tool.
Note: The manual removal requires certain levels of computer skills. If you are not expert at computer, we highly recommend downloading and using an advanced malware removal tool to get rid of the redirect virus safely and effectively.

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