How to Remove Google Chrome Redirect Virus

When the Google Chrome home page or new tab keeps redirecting to various web sites, it means that some sort of malware is residing on the computer. In fact, the Google Chrome redirect is not the only issue on a malware-infected system. A New Tab can also be affected. There are reports that the New Tab in Google Chrome keeps opening on certain web addresses even without the user’s action. In short, Google Chrome acts on its own as if it were under the control of a virus or malware.

Is Google Chrome redirect a virus?

Google Chrome redirecting to malicious web sites seems to be part of daily malware activities. Cyber crooks are utilizing this scheme to deliver web traffic to clients’ websites. In return, they are getting paid an amount for the diverted visitors.

With the many instances of these Google Chrome redirects, we cannot confirm nor deny that it is a virus infection. It is a fact that some of it is caused by Trojan contamination, especially threats like Exploit:HTML/IframeRef.Z, Trojan:HTML/Phish, BrowserModifier:Win32/Prifou, and more. Hence, there are cases where redirecting Google Chrome to unwanted pages is merely due to a malicious script that is embedded on the visited page.

Screenshot of Google Chrome Redirect

Dealing with Google Chrome redirect virus

It is unhealthy for any computer system to have a Google Chrome redirect virus. This does not only bother your daily browsing experience; your sensitive data is also at risk from this type of virus infection or browser annoyances. Thus, it is a must to stop this redirect and get rid of the malicious program that is in charge. Steps are provided below for your guidance.

Steps to remove Google Chrome Redirect Virus

Simply removing components relevant to the malware may not fully stop the redirect issue. Thus, you need to scan the computer with the tools provided below.

Quick Fix - Scan the PC with Combo Cleaner for Windows

Combo Cleaner is a trusted PC security and optimization tool equipped with powerful virus and malware detection engine. This program can get rid of browser hijacker, adware, and malware.

1. Download the application from the following page:

2. Save the file to your preferred location.

3. Double-click the downloaded file CCSetup.exe and install with the default settings.

CC for Windows Installation

4. At the end of the setup process, click Finish to run Combo Cleaner.

5. The tool will update the signature file, please wait for this process to complete.

6. To begin checking for threats like browser hijacker, adware, and malware, click on the Start Scan button. Wait for this scan to finish.

CC for Windows Start Scan

7. At the end of the scan process, click on Remove all threats to delete threats including all malicious objects from the computer.

Free features of Combo Cleaner for Windows includes Disk Cleaner, Big Files finder, Duplicate files finder, and Uninstaller. To use antivirus, privacy scanner, and to delete identified threats, users have to upgrade to a premium version.

Please continue with the succeeding removal procedures if your are comfortable to manually get rid of the threat and malicious items linked with it.

Step 1: Turn Off Sync

At this point, it is crucial to turn off Google Sync to prevent any malware from restoring itself if it has exploited this feature. Follow the procedures below to Turn off sync.

1. Open the Google Chrome application.

2. On the top address bar, please type the following:

chrome://settings/syncSetup

3. Once you are in Sync and Google Services, click on the Turn Off button.

Google Chrome Sync Turn Off Image

4. If it prompts for confirmation, click on Turn Off once again.

5. The process will turn off the sync for the corresponding Google account. Please restart the Google Chrome browser and proceed with the remaining steps.

Step 2: Run Google Chrome Safety Check

Malware and adware may reside on the computer without the user’s knowledge. Tricks were used to accomplish this, one of which was bundling malicious files into free programs. Sometimes, removing an adware extension from Google Chrome is enough to fix the issue. If that doesn’t work, we recommend using the “Safety Check” feature of Google Chrome to find and delete harmful extensions automatically.

1. Open Google Chrome browser.

2. Type the following strings in the address bar and press Enter on your keyboard to proceed to Settings page.

chrome://settings/privacy

3. Under the Safety Check section, click on the Check Now button to start searching for harmful software.

Screenshot of Safey Check

4. Proceed to the next steps until all harmful software is totally deleted.

Step 3 : Scan the Computer with AdwCleaner

1. Download the tool called AdwCleaner from the location stated below.
Click here to download AdwCleaner (this will open a new window)

2. Once you have completed the download, please close all running programs on the computer.

3. Locate the file and double-click on adwcleaner_Ver.exe to start running the tool. Then, click on Scan button.

AdwCleaner

4. It searches for the presence of harmful programs, plug-ins, add-ons, or any data that was found malicious and linked to a Google redirect virus. You need to Clean all items detected by this tool.

5. Once the scan is done, the tool may need to reboot your computer to finalize the cleaning process.

6. After rebooting, AdwCleaner will display the log file of the recent scan.

Step 4 : Use Malwarebytes Anti-malware to totally clean Google Chrome

1. Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware from the link below. Save the file on your hard drive.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Download Link (this will open a new window)

2. Once the download completes, double-click on the file MBSetup.exe to run the program.

3. Select the desired option, whether you are installing on Personal Computer or Work Computer.

MBAM Install Option

4. In the next window, click on the Install button to load the basic requirements to run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

MBAM Default Install

5. If it prompts for a License Agreement, you must accept this and click the Next button.

6. Proceed with the succeeding prompts until you reach the window that says Installing…

MBAM Installing

7. Installation process will take less than a minute. The program should run automatically after the setup process.

8. When Malwarebytes Anti-Malware interface appears, please select Scan from menu to begin the process. The program will check for any available update before proceeding. Do not skip this step. Virus scan may take a while, please wait for the process to finish.

MBAM Scanner Page

9. When scanning is done, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will display the list of identified threats. Remove all identified threats and restart the computer to finalized the scan process.

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