How to Remove Hot-finder.com Redirect Virus? (Removal Instructions)

by Jecket P. Malwareremovaltips

Hot-finder.com is fake site that has been classified as a dangerous redirect virus. This redirect virus masks itself as a legitimate website that offers users the function of searching for web, images, videos, etc. However, to users’ surprise, Hot-finder.com turns out to be nothing but a harmful tool that used by cyber criminals to generate web traffic and display advertising. Analogous to other redirect virus such as Search.qone8.com browser hijacker, this redirect virus can permeate target computer when users access hacked websites that may contain the activation of the redirect threat. Sometimes it gets installed on the computer via free videos, codes and unprotected downloads. Once it breaks in the computer with success, this redirect takes over the web browsers by modifying default browser settings and system DNS settings.

Actually Hot-finder.com usually pretends to be harmless by the help of its easy- to- use interface. However, when you open a new tab or link on browser, the website may pop up again and again. The virus can change search results to random ones which are commercial advertisements or pornographic contents. To take over the whole computer system, cyber violators unnoticeably add Trojan or keyloggers into the Hot-finder.com which may also mess up the system performance severely. It is clear that the redirect virus should be deleted immediately to stop the annoying pop-ups and weird browser symptoms. If not removed timely, this redirect virus would install some unwanted add-ons onto the browsers, with the intention of tracing the browsing cookies. When you download freeware or shareware from the unreliable websites, your computer may have a big chance to get infected. Those data may conclude users’ IP address, email address, usernames, passwords, search terms, etc. To prevent more severe damages, users have to find out an effective way to clear the browser hijacker entirely. Apart from these, its main aim is to collect your financial information like credit card numbers, bank account, logon names, passwords, identity information and other valuable information in order to gain illegal benefits. In this situation, manually removing the pesky redirect virus is highly recommended.

Why should I Remove Hot-finder.com Virus

1. It is a dangerous redirect virus that can modify default homepage with its malicious domain and redirect search result to random or weird websites.

2.It brings additional parasites on your computer to corrupt your system terribly. It can also bundle with third party freeware, shareware or torrents so that to make worse damage on affected computer.

3. The redirect virus will greatly decrease the computer performance since it takes up lots of system resources. Sometimes, users may notice a 100% CPU usage.

4. It can disable Firewall as well as antivirus programs so as to avoid the detection and auto removal by them. Some programs or the operating system may freeze or crash unexpectedly.

5. The malware may even open a backdoor for remote hackers to access and control the affected computer freely.

How to remove Hot-finder.com effectively?

Even though you have installed the top antimalware tools on your computer, the Hot-finder.com virus still gets through without your consent. You may run your antivirus program to perform a full system scan, but cannot find any trace of the redirect virus, not to speak of removing it. You may wonder why the antivirus programs don’t work. In the Internet era, viruses keep changing at all times and its hiding techniques also become better. It takes time for Antivirus to update its definition or signature. But it is a tricky and annoying browser hijacker so that you hardly remove it completely from your PC. In this case, we may consider the mighty manual removal so that to erase all its related processes, DLL files and registry files for good.

Note: Manual removal refers to key parts of computer system. Any puny mistakes during the manual removal process may lead to system crash. Hence, if you are not clever at computer, it is recommended that you remove the Hot-finder.com virus by means of a professional virus removal tool.

Manually Remove Hot-finder.com Virus

Step 1: Remove the Hot-finder.com redirect virus related programs.

1. Click Start menu and select Control Panel.

2. Click on Uninstall a program under the Programs category.

3. In the programs list find out any suspicious programs, and then click on the Uninstall.

4. Follow the wizard to accomplish the removal.

Step 2: Remove all unwanted extensions from the browsers.

Internet Explorer

1. Start the Internet Explorer, click on Tools, and select Manage Add-ons in the drop-down list.

2. Click on Toolbars and Extensions, find out and disable the add-ons related to Hot-finder.com redirect virus.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Run the Mozilla Firefox, click on Tools and choose Add-ons.

2. Click on Extensions, then select the unwanted add-ons in the list and click on Remove\Disable button.

3. Click Plugins, and remove\disable any unknown add-ons.

Google Chrome

1. Launch Google Chrome and click on the menu icon.

2. Click the Tools in the list then select Extensions.

3. Click on Extensions, then find out the Hot-finder.com redirect virus related add-ons and delete them.

Step 3: Remove all malicious files and registry entries.

1. In the local disk C, local the following folders:

%Temp%\

%Program Files%\

%UserProfile%\Desktop\

%UserProfile%\Start Menu\

%Document and Settings%\[UserName]\Application Data\

%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\

2. In the above folders, find out and remove any malicious files.

3. Open the registry editor by following the steps: click Start menu, type “regedit” into the search box, and click “regedit.exe” from the results list.

4. In the registry editor, find out and delete any malicious registry entries from your PC.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “[RANDOM].exe”

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “[RANDOM].exe”

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer\run\Random.exe

Conclusion:

The Hot-finder.com browser hijack virus is defined as a hazardous threat on browsers, and it targets browsers including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. It is able to attract web traffic and obtain commercial gains through ads bombards through user’s online surfing process. To be a typical browser hijacker, Hot-finder.com must alter the browser settings and prevent user from reverting them. The virus can install and execute its related add-ons or extensions to record your online history and data unless you remove it in time. Its main aim is to generate advertisement revenue through hijacking innocent computer users to certain websites and tricking them into clicking on commercial ads and sponsored links. You can try manual removal to eliminate Hot-finder.com virus permanently.

The manual removal solution for Hot-finder.com needs the user to have enough computer expertise to conduct the whole process accurately. If you don’t have sufficient experience dealing the program files, processes and registry entries, you may make mistakes during the manual removal and bring about huge damages to the system. Reputable computer experts usually suggest user be careful. If you fail to remove the redirect virus on your own, just download a powerful removal tool and use it to easily and effectively get rid of it from your machine.