The Redirect Virus – What It Is, And Why Virus Protection Won’t Get Rid Of It
The redirect virus is one of the most annoying things on the planet. You enter a search into the search engine. You get your results. You click on one of them. And suddenly you’re taken to a web page that doesn’t have anything to do with what you thought you clicked on. Guess what happened? Your computer has been infected with the redirect virus.
What is the redirect virus?
Essentially the google redirecting virus is exactly what it says it is: it’s a virus that is redirecting you to a different webpage. Everything looks normal when you are performing searches. You wouldn’t even suspect that you have a virus on your computer. But when you don’t end up on the page you expected, it can drive you crazy!
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If you’re like me, when you encountered the Google redirect virus you actually had to back up and make sure that you didn’t enter some crazy search into the search engine on accident. And since everything looked fine, I clicked the link again. Only to be redirected to some other webpage! So of course I thought I had a virus. And my virus protection was running. But it wasn’t catching a thing.
The redirecting virus can be one of two things. It’s either changing the code within your browser set up, or it’s a trojan virus. If it’s a trojan, your virus protection might detect it — at first. But if it’s type of virus that’s only affecting the code in your web browser, then as soon as you think you’ve gotten rid of it, it comes BACK.
Infamous Redirect Virus Symptoms
The only way to even get around the search engine virus is to copy and paste the URLs you really want to go to. You can’t click them in the search engine, or the redirecting virus will do it’s thing and send you somewhere else. Plus then it pops up all sorts of annoying pages in the back ground, and sometimes that will be enough to give you the dreaded blue screen. Or it will redirect you to a site that has other annoying viruses on it. Before you know it you’re chasing your tail, trying everything you can think of to get rid of the darn thing.
See, the redirect virus is affecting your browser. But it can also be affecting the DNS settings in your router. And it rarely leaves a trail. That’s why the virus protection isn’t picking it up. You can try all sorts of different ones too — AVG, Norton, Avast, even Malwarebytes — none of them will get rid of it on their own. Even if they detect it, as soon as you open up your browser it will start up again.
Are there ways to get rid of the redirect virus manually? I think so. But it involves resetting a bunch of things on your computer that I wasn’t exactly comfortable with doing by myself. So I just got the removal tool that helped me get rid of it. It changes all of the settings for you so that you don’t make a mistake and shut your computer down totally. Plus no more fighting with different things over and over that didn’t work.
So if you want to get rid of the browser hijacking virus FAST, check it out. It’s cheap, quick, and easy. Plus if you ever run across that stupid redirect virus again you can just run it and get rid of it immediately. No more worries. And no more running around trying to find other virus removal programs to get rid of the redirect virus problems.
For More Info About The Redirect Virus:
What is the Google redirect virus?
Is The Google Redirect Virus Harmless?
If the redirect virus is making you bang your head against the computer screen, you aren’t alone. One search around the ‘net, and you’ll see tons and tons of people who are having the same problems you are. They tend to say things like this:
I have the browser hijacking virus. My virus detection didn’t catch it. I can’t seem to find it and remove it. Help?
Even when my antivirus or malwarebytes looks like it removes the google virus, it comes back as soon as I try to search. What is going on?
Why can’t I just remove the redirecting virus by using antivirus? Why won’t Kaspersky get rid of it? Why do the online virus removal tools detect the virus but they don’t remove it?
I’ve tried everything. I’ve uninstalled my browser and reinstalled it. I’ve run antivirus. I’ve run spyware detectors. Nothing is getting rid of this thing. What should I do?
The more of these questions you read, the more you have to be wondering why the redirect virus is so hard to remove. It seems pretty simple doesn’t it? It’s a virus. Virus protection should protect you from it, and antivirus software should remove it. But it doesn’t. So what gives?
Here’s the bottom line: Antivirus software can’t remove everything. It’s a reactive software that’s designed to clean up problems after they’ve happened. But, not every virus is created equal. Which is the point of them, really. They’re designed to break through your computer security and spread like wildfire before anyone catches on. And with so many sites being unprotected, and so many computers without antivirus, well, you can see how the problems keep occurring.
But since the redirect virus has been around for a while (years, actually), why can’t antivirus remove it by now? What’s the big deal?
Of course one of the reasons is that the google redirect virus mutates. The 2012 version is different from the 2011 version. The 2011 version is different from the 2010 version. And sometimes it mutates in just a few months, so even in 2012 there could be several different versions of it floating around the internet.
Plus the google virus doesn’t replicate the same way that other viruses do. Instead of latching onto files, deleting them, and replicating itself, it only affects your browser. Then it bypasses your antivirus, and leads you to other sites that install malware and other spyware programs. Those programs are usually what your antivirus programs detect. So when you think you’ve deleted the redirect virus, you’ve really just deleted the other programs that the google virus led you to. Not the original virus.
I’m not sure I’d even call the browser hijacking virus a virus. It’s more like a modification to your browser. It exploits a vulnerability on your computer, and then once it’s on your computer, the rest of the shenanigans begin. And usually it installs itself in the background of your computer, through a popup or a program that you install without knowing it’s infected. This can change frequently, so it’s not something that antivirus programs can easily detect and warn you about.
See, it’s fairly logical that it’s hard to remove the hijacking malware. But that doesn’t really help you when you’re in the middle of it. It’s not going to help you remove it, and it’s not going to solve your problems. But at least it helps you feel better that it isn’t your fault your computer is infected (and still infected). You can try all sorts of things and still not remove it.
Be sure to check out the following articles for more information that will help you:
How Did My Computer Get Infected With The Redirect Virus?
Redirect Virus – A REAL Solution!
I have a pretty good idea why you’re here right now.
You were in Google (or maybe even Yahoo or Bing) doing some kind of search. You clicked on a link in the search engine, and instead of going where you wanted to go, you got routed to some other page instead. At first, you just said, “Huh?” and figured you must have clicked the wrong link or something. So, you hit the ‘Back’ button so you can go where you really wanted to go the first time.
But you see that you clicked the correct link!
“Whatever”, you think, and click it again. And again, you get sent somewhere else! You check the url to make sure you’re not at the right page and just don’t realize it. Sure enough, you’re someplace completely random. So, you try again. And it happens…again.
You manually type in the url and see the site you wanted to go to works just fine. At this point, you figure your search probably just went haywire for some reason, so you head back to Google to try a different search…and AGAIN you get sent to some random site! Only now, things are getting *really* strange, because you’re getting oddball popups, new sites opening up (sometimes in the background, sometimes in the foreground), and if it gets really bad, you might even get that dreaded ‘blue screen’. Is there really anything worse than the dreaded ‘blue screen’?
“WHAT IN THE…???” you wonder.
You, my friend, have just been slammed by the Redirect Virus. And you need a solution – pronto.
What is the Redirect Virus?
Simply put, the search engine redirect virus is a virus that totally messes up your search engine activity. When you do a search in Google, the virus will more or less get in the way of that search and send you where it wants you to go instead.
So, you could be doing a search in Google, and tell Google that you want to find a site about “blue houses”. Google gives you a list of sites about “blue houses”. You decide you want to go to a site, and click on the link. Normally, this is when you’d be taken to the site about blue houses. Only this time, the Redirect Virus gets involved.
Instead of going to the site about blue houses, the search engine redirect steps in and sends you where it wants you to go instead!
Think of it like this – ever driven through road construction, and been forced to take a detour? Well, imagine if that detour took you to a totally different part of town than you wanted to go, wouldn’t let you get off the detour, and was instantaneous (i.e. – you didn’t know anything was wrong until it was too late). That’s how the Redirect Virus works.
Is the Redirect Virus Harmful?
You bet your life the Google virus is harmful!
At first glance, it might seem as if the redirecting virus is just more of a pain than anything really harmful. And you’d be wrong. See, the Redirect Virus sending you to a random site other than what you wanted is just the beginning. Most of the time, hackers will program the virus not to just send you to a random site, but to a site they *want* you to go to. And THAT is where all hell breaks loose.
Ever have one of these weird redirects go on, and all of a sudden all these other pages and pop-ups start opening up all over? That’s because the site the hijacking virus sent you to had code in it to do that. This is no longer just an irritation – this can completely lock up your computer.
You just went from “Man, this sucks” to “Holy cow, my computer is fried!”
And that’s if you’re lucky.
The Redirect Virus could not only send you to a site that will infect your computer with other virus or malware, but it could very well send you to a site that could potentially give hackers access to your information via the internet. Your browser history, passwords, anything stored on your hard drive…you name it, they could get it.
Will My Anti-Virus Fix the Redirect Virus?
Yeah, I really hate to tell you this…but probably not.
See, the Redirect Virus isn’t the massive virus that does all the major damage. That stuff is hidden and coded on the sites the virus sends you to without you knowing. So in and of itself, the Redirect Virus is pretty small and hard to detect.
But the real kicker is that the redirecting virus doesn’t attack your computer – it attacks your BROWSER (i.e. – Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc).
This means that every time you close the browser, you effectively shut down the virus. And every time you open the browser back up, you start it again. It doesn’t leave a trail for your anti-virus software to find (no matter the brand), so this is why they don’t find it. And it could even goof with your DNS settings.
All in all, the virus is bad news.
How Do I Get Rid of the Redirect Virus?
Trust me, you’re not alone in this – I got nailed by the hijacking virus myself. It started out just aggravating, but the longer it was on my computer, the worse it got. The worse it got, the more trouble it caused. The more trouble it caused, the madder I got.
In fact, had my daughter not walked in one fateful night (I calmed down because she was looking at me like I was crazy), the neighbors very well might have seen my laptop flying out into the front yard…
I knew at that point that I needed a solution…and NOW.
I dug around and ended up finding the Google Redirect Virus Fix by Richard Peck from the UK. This product claimed it could knock the Redirect Virus off my computer in a hurry and fix all the trouble I’d been having. I was interested immediately.
Now, I honestly had no idea who this guy was, and had never heard of his product. I didn’t want to get swindled (the virus was causing me enough grief, I didn’t want to add any more to it), so I did some searching around on a few forums and tech ‘Q&A’ sites. The product was getting good review from people that were having the same trouble I was, and seemed to be the solution I was looking for.
I decided to give the Google Redirect Virus Fix a shot as it was only 30 bucks. It was worth that to me to get this darn redirecting virus off my computer, and if nothing else, there was a 2-month money back guarantee. If it didn’t work, I’d just get my money back.
Lucky for me – and you – I never had to use that guarantee.
I downloaded the Google Redirect Virus Fix and put it to work right away. The software was fairly intuitive and easy to use. I clicked a few buttons, hit a few keys on my laptop, and followed directions. Not long after, the virus was gone and off my computer. YAY!
I decided then I wanted everybody to know about the Google Redirect Virus Fix as I know I’m not the only one suffering from this insane problem. If you’ve got the Redirect Virus on your computer, you NEED to go check out the Google Redirect Virus Fix right away!
Please be sure to use the links provided here to go to the Google Redirect Virus Official Site – I’ve seen some fake scam and virus-infected ‘free download’ redirect virus sites that could not be safe to click on.
FILED UNDER – REDIRECT VIRUS
Is your browser redirecting all of your searches to a site you didn’t click on? Are some of the sites you used to frequent no longer working when you try to go to them? Do you suspect you have a virus on your computer but none of your virus scans are picking it up? Do you think you have a virus redirecting searches on your computer? If so, your computer is most likely infected with the redirect virus.
What does the redirect virus do?
The google virus is a nasty little program that alters your browser. Usually it will take any search you make on google and redirect it somewhere else. You can do a search, and think it is showing correct results, click on a site, and then suddenly you’re not taken to the site you thought you would be taken too. And sometimes those sites have hundreds of popup browsers that start taking over your screen. It is extremely annoying.
At first you might think the redirected search results are a mistake. So you try again, which only seems to make the browser redirect virus worse. Pretty soon, half of the sites you used to go to are no longer working. And any site you try to visit that would tell you about the redirect virus — well, good luck! The virus is blocking searches, virus alert sites, and even malwarebytes. It has attached itself to every program on your computer, so pretty soon you can’t do anything. Unless you want to sit there and look at popups all day! So how do you get rid of the redirect virus?
Why can’t you remove the redirect virus with antivirus software?
Well, you have to recognize that 99% of virus protection won’t detect the google redirecting virus. It isn’t like a typical virus, which will start running programs in the background so virus protection can detect it. Instead, it is altering the code of your browser. Sometimes it even affects your modem, so even if your virus protection or malware scans detect it, it will reinstall itself the moment you start using your browser again. That’s part of the reason removing the redirect virus is so difficult.
This is what makes the redirecting virus so effective — it is always waiting in the wings to install itself again. Just when you think you’ve gotten rid of it, there it is. And it leaves your computer wide open to other infections, too. So even though it just seems like a nuisance, it can get much, much worse over time.
How do you get rid of the redirect virus? Well the problem is that once you’ve gotten it, it tries to prevent you from uninstalling it. You really need a program that will get the code at its source, like this one. It’s just easier than having to fight this thing over and over and coming up short. The faster you can get rid of it, the sooner you can move on with your life and not worry about it anymore.
Even if you are technologically savvy, sometimes it’s just easier to get the tool and get rid of the virus. That way you don’t spend hours and hours of time, thinking you’ve gotten rid of the redirecting virus, only to find out you’re still infected.
If you’ve logged into your computer recently and found that all of your search engine results are hijacked, you’ve encountered the Google Redirect Virus. It’s a sneaky little bugger, and guess what? Almost none of the virus protection out there will stop it.
Why is the Google redirect virus not found by antivirus?
Because it is actually changing code within your internet browser. It’s not leaving a trace behind. That means your antivirus software isn’t catching it because it isn’t leaving files behind on your PC. It’s also not changing settings on your computer, so the typical trails used to catch viruses aren’t there. Instead, it’s only activated when you complete a search. This is why the google virus is also called the browser hijack virus.
Google Redirect Virus Trap
Once you’ve started searching, the redirecting virus will change your results. Then it will start popup windows and send you to fake sites. These sites are not only annoying, but they can also implant other viruses or malware onto your computer. But the biggest issue with the virus is that it’s just plain irritating. It can be next to impossible to perform an internet search when the redirect virus is on your computer. You can’t click on any of your results and expect to be sent to the page you wanted. You’re stuck looking at whatever the redirect virus hijacker wants you to see.
Plus the Google redirect virus will eventually disable your antivirus protection. That leaves your computer open to all sorts of other attacks. Especially because you keep getting redirected to spam and malware sites. So even though on the surface the virus looks somewhat harmless, it’s just as horrible as any other malware program out there. It’s designed to let hackers control your computer and steal your information as well as make surfing impossible.
So how do you get rid of the Google redirect virus? It can be next to impossible to remove the redirect virus by hand, because it’s changing code within your web browser. Instead, it’s easier to get a cheap, separate piece of software that will remove it for you. Be sure to check out the other articles on this site for more suggestions about Google redirect virus removal tools, as well as tips to remove the redirect virus on your own.
The Google redirect virus is one of those things that a lot of people have to deal with at some point or another. Anyone who surfs the internet frequently can be exposed to it.
Here are three things that most people don’t know about the Google redirect virus:
1. It really is on your computer. Because the virus really only attacks your search results at first, a lot of people call it the Google redirect virus. And sure, it does affect your Google searches. But the virus is actually on your computer, not on Google. If you used a different search engine, chances are really good that you will have the same redirecting problem.
2. The redirect virus is a gateway virus. It was created so that other viruses can make their way onto your computer system. Once your computer has the virus, it will be left open to other attacks. It will disable your antivirus protection and then redirect you to sites that contain malware, spyware, and other viruses.
3. Your information is NOT safe when your computer is infected with the redirecting virus. Sure, it might seem more annoying than malicious. But we’re still talking about a piece of malware that is designed to take control of your computer. It is important to get rid of the virus right away. Don’t wait weeks to deal with it. By then your computer could be so full of other viruses that you’ll never be able to clean it without wiping your hard drive completely clean and starting over.
So the Google redirect virus is bad. Now what?
The bottom line is that the redirecting virus was created by hackers. They never create something that is truly harmless. They want control over your computer, and they want to steal your personal information and sell it. It might sound ridiculous to think that a virus that is affecting your search results can lead to identity theft, but it’s absolutely true.
Don’t be fooled. If your computer is infected with the redirecting virus, you need to get rid of it ASAP. No matter which method you use, removing the redirect virus fast should be your first priority.
I’ve been asked this question about the Google redirect virus a lot lately. Seems like many people are confused about whether or not the redirect virus is on their computer, or on Google itself. And it is kind of confusing, because when you first encounter the redirect virus it seems like it’s not on your computer at all. So it’s a valid question.
Is the redirect virus on your computer? Or is it on Google?
Sorry to tell you this, but the redirect virus is definitely on your computer. It’s not really a Google virus — in fact if you ever use Yahoo or Bing! your searches will get redirected there too. It doesn’t always happen right away, so that’s what leads people to think that it’s a Google redirect virus instead of a virus on their computer. Plus a lot more people use Google than the other search engines anyway, so a lot of people don’t even think to try the other search engines when they first get the redirect virus. So there are a couple of different factors at play here that lead people to think it’s a Google virus and not on their computer.
Is it a browser redirect virus? What is it, exactly?
So then that leads people to the next question: is this a browser redirect virus? Is it just affecting Internet Explorer? If I switch to Firefox will I still have the virus?
Yes, the virus is on your computer, so it can pretty much affect any browser you’re using. Most of the time people only have one browser, so the redirect virus is just affecting it. But if you were to download a different browser, and not remove the redirect virus, then your computer will still be infected.
Is my browser not secure enough? Is that why I got the redirect virus? Not necessarily. Although it’s always good to make sure you have the most recent version of the web browser you’re using, if your computer was infected with the redirect virus it doesn’t always mean your browser isn’t secure enough. Hackers are really good at bypassing your security settings. Sometimes getting a virus like this is just luck of the draw. You just want to make sure that you remove the redirect virus quickly before your computer becomes infected with even more viruses!
You also want to make sure that you get rid of the virus before it starts getting worse. If you can still perform some searches, or at least copy and paste the URL into your browser and visit sites, then now is the time. If you wait any longer, then the virus will completely disable your computer and you won’t be able to search for ways to remove it. You’ll have to use a different computer, and then you’ll have all sorts of other problems.
Once you’ve gotten rid of the redirect virus, also make sure that you update all of your antivirus programs and run them. That way if your computer has been infected with anything else besides the Google redirect virus it will remove it.
Also make sure that your web browser is up-to-date and that any toolbars you are using are the latest versions. Often viruses like the redirecting one end up on your computer because the hackers recognize vulnerabilities in your software programs. So don’t give them a chance to come back!
Is the Google redirect virus harmless? You might be asking yourself this question. It seems to be relatively innocent: You click on a search result and you are redirected to a different site. Sure, it might be a spam site that you’re redirected to, but it’s not like your virus protection is warning you of problems. Your computer doesn’t seem to be infected except for the search engine redirect virus, right? So even though it’s really annoying to not be able to perform searches like normal, it’s really not doing anything else to your computer, is it?
It’s just a redirect virus, right?
Well the truth is, the google virus actually IS more harmful than it seems. At first you might not be able to click on search results. But you can still copy and paste the website address into the address bar and visit the site. So even though it’s frustrating, it’s not like the redirecting virus is completely disabling your internet experience.
Except that after a while, you start getting errors any time you try to visit a site through your address bar. So then, instead of the virus just redirecting your search results, you basically can’t even visit websites the normal way. You might get browser errors, 404 not found errors, or even just a blank site page. It almost seems like your internet isn’t working at all. Every once in a while you might be able to visit a site, but it takes a long time to get there.
But still, the redirect virus isn’t really triggering your antivirus software. You aren’t getting warnings. And you might start getting popups a lot, but they aren’t bringing up antivirus warnings either. But the problem is, while it seems like your antivirus program is working, it actually isn’t. It looks like it’s updating. It looks like it’s running in the background. But the truth is that the Google redirect virus has disabled your antivirus program.
Not just a harmless redirect virus, after all.
So even though it seems like the redirect virus isn’t doing anything but affecting your internet, what it’s really doing is leaving your computer wide open to other viruses — unbeknownst to you. You’ve probably already seen symptoms of this if you’ve tried to remove it with your antivirus protection in safe mode. It might have uncovered viruses and removed them. You thought it was removing the redirect virus. But it was actually removing other viruses instead. So when you start your computer and try to do a search — you find that your computer is STILL infected. It’s like being in a hamster wheel. You try the same things over and over only to end up right back in the exact same spot you started in.
Why doesn’t your antivirus program remove the google redirect virus? Most of the time it’s because it’s already disabled. It hasn’t been updating itself (even though it seems like it is). To top it off, the redirecting virus isn’t the typical virus that you’re used to. It isn’t leaving a traditional trail that will cause your antivirus to catch it. It doesn’t leave files all over your harddrive when it installs itself. It affects the little script that is used by the search engines to track which results you click on when you choose which websites you visit. So it’s actually in your browser. It isn’t until it’s already installed itself and disabled your computer from removing it that the more serious infections start.
So is the google redirect virus really as harmless as it seems? No. Any virus on your computer these days is way more vicious than it looks. Think about it: antivirus programs are way more advanced than they were in the past. So any virus that has figured out a way to get around your antivirus program is already more harmless than any of us know. And most of them are just gateways for cyber hackers to get control of your computer and your personal information. You should take every virus seriously for that reason alone.
If your google search results have been hijacked by the redirect virus, chances are you’re extremely annoyed. Even if you have antivirus, antimalware, a firewall, and Windows Defender installed, you still somehow managed to get the redirect virus. And now that it’s there, you can’t seem to get rid of it. But how did it get there in the first place?
How Did The Google Redirect Virus Get On Your Computer?
The most likely culprit to infect your computer with the redirecting virus? File sharing sites. If you download movies, music, or any other documents from a free file sharing site (like Limewire or Napster) you could have gotten infected with the redirect virus that way. You could also have gotten it from visiting malicious websites — sometimes hackers can change the scripts on sites that you normally visit and you wouldn’t think anything of it. If you are prompted to approve an ActiveX file, or if you clicked on an email and visited a site — any of these things could have infected your computer with the google redirect virus.
The most frustrating thing about the google redirect virus is that it seems to be the one virus that can’t be removed. Many people report that they don’t know how they got it. They are doing everything right. But virus protection isn’t catching it. And malware programs aren’t removing it. And they’re spending days and days running scans, only to find out that it’s still there.
The problem is that the redirecting virus has a few forms. You could have one of them or all of them! Some forms of the redirect virus just hijack search results. Others will start hijacking your home page and any other page you try to visit. Some will change the DNS settings on your router. And some will also change the Windows HOSTS file (click here for more information directly from Microsoft).
Eventually, all forms of the hijacking virus will start taking over your computer, suppressing your Windows updates and antivirus programs. Just like any other virus, the redirect virus wants you to visit malicious sites where you will get infected with MORE viruses. That way hackers can access your personal information, or get you to buy something, or just disable your computer.
It’s really important that you get rid of the google redirect virus completely. Don’t just trust that changing your files or resetting your router has gotten rid of it. You want to get to the root of the problem and MAKE SURE IT’S GONE. Otherwise the hijackers might still have some access to your computer and you don’t want that!
For More Information, Check Out:
Three Things You Don’t Know About The Redirect Virus
If you think you have a virus that is attacking when you click on search results, you’ve encountered the Redirect Virus. It’s a sneaky little virus that really looks like it’s only affecting your search results. Your virus protection isn’t detecting it. And if you run a malware program, it might tell you that it’s found the virus, but then as soon as you perform another search, it’s back. So how the heck do you get rid of it if virus protection or malware removal software isn’t catching it?
What does the redirect virus do?
The problem with the redirecting virus is that it is affecting your browser. It’s redirecting your search results and sending you to spam pages, popups, and affiliate offers related to what you’re searching for. And that’s just what you’re seeing when you click on a search result. What you’re not seeing is going on behind the scenes. The Google hijacking virus can also leave you wide open to other attacks. Plus it can eventually shut down your browser so that you can’t visit sites you want to visit.
The redirect virus doesn’t just attack your search results. Eventually it will start telling you that sites aren’t working when you try to open them. You’ll get Win32 errors. And you won’t be able to install software or visit virus protection websites. It’s crucial to get rid of this nasty browser virus now, before it gets worse and disables your browser almost completely.
Okay, so how do you get rid of the redirect virus?
To remove the redirect virus, you have to change the windows registry files on your computer. And it can be tricky if you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s much easier and cheaper to pay for a redirect virus removal tool that will do it all for you. That way you won’t mess up your settings and have to take your computer to a repair center and have it wiped completely clean. Plus you will also know that it’s removed completely. Who wants to spend all of this time trying to remove the redirect virus only to open your browser and realize that it’s still there?