Effective Methods to Get Rid of Terra.im Browser Hijacker

How to Completely Remove TERRA.IM Virus?

TERRA.IM is a redirect virus designed to infect users’ browsers and controls their browsing direction. Once the redirect virus breaks into the target computer, it alters s the browser settings without permission and never allows users to change them back. It is able to sneak into the affected computer via exploiting system security holes, p2p, spam emails, attachments,online chats and other unprotected networks. When users open their affected browsers to surf online, this virus will force them to unknown but malicious webpages. What is bad, the PC users can not access their frequently used sites since this TERRA.IM redirect virus will offer irrelevant results without authorization.

Most of the time, TERRA.IM redirect virus may redirect users to some ad-based websites, whether any of them wants to visit them or not. If users are taken in by the browser hijacker, cyber criminals can make use of it to make illegal profits. The advertisements appear tempting so that numerous computer users are attracted by them and cannot help clicking on pop-up ads or sponsored links. The information on the TERRA.IM redirect virus can not be trusted at all, PC users should pay attention to this fake search engine to avoid further damage from the cyber criminals.

Though TERRA.IM redirect virus is not as malicious as a Trojan horse, it should not be left on the infected computers for a long time. Most users would mistakenly think that if they do not click on the pop-up ads or sponsored links from the website TERRA.IM, they could keep their computers safe. However, it’s not as simple as that. The system has been already under the total permanent control of TERRA.IM in case it is permitted to get installed on the system. Any vital modification on system settings may lead to unimaginable consequences, take an example, the system security level may lower and many other unwanted programs, including malware, can break into the compromised PC. In order to bypass the scanning of security software, it can not only alter its name and location, but also can disable the executable programs and block you to access reputable websites. The situation will get worse, it you don’t take any measures to stop it. Consequently, the best choice to save the infected computer is to eliminate TERRA.IM virus and reset the default settings.

How to Remove TERRA.IM Hijacker Completely

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 TERRA.IM 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’
Conclusion

It is not easy for users to find out when TERRA.IM redirect virus came into their machines. Most users’ computers are infected mainly because that they don’t do a good job of the precautionary and thus create opportunities for the redirect virus to invade their computers. The weakness of computer users can be easily utilized by cyber hackers to make benefits. Thus, users should pay more attention to their computer performance and run their advanced antivirus programs to scan the PCs once some weird symptoms show up in order to prevent more damages caused by hidden viruses. Since the redirect virus often comes bundled with free third-party applications, users need for careful when they free download some programs because some freeware may be malware or embedded in suspicious applications and do harm to the computer systems once installed. Users need to take notice of their computers’ performances and run antivirus software to scan the entire systems regularly in an effort to ensure the computer security. If you have difficulty in manually removing the redirect virus, then you can try using an advanced malware removal tool to perform an automatic removal of this threat.