How To Remove Hide My History virus From PC

Easy Steps To Delete Hide My History virus

Hide My History virus is a potentially unwanted program, categorized as a browser hijacker that promotes hidemyhistory.co- a deceptive search engine. It aims to redirect users to affiliate sites so that those portals can get views and visits, and generate quick online profits for the developers. As soon as this nasty PUP successfully infiltrates the Windows computers, it changes the particular settings and preferences of the internet browsers. After that, users’ web surfing experience is severely diminished and they are not able to access the desired sites and content online.

Depth Analysis of Hide My History virus:

Cyber criminals who developed Hide My History virus often focus on designing apps that can affect the system and alter preferences. Aiming to control the victims what they most often see, this perilous hijacker modifies the settings like homepage, new tab and search engine. It sets hidemyhistory.co as the default search engine so, whenever you try to search anything online, you are redirected to this site or a related engine Hide My Searches, crafted by the same company- Eightpoint Technologies Ltd. And hence, it is possible that some other unwanted programs would have also got installed along with this intruder, so you should be very aware of that.

Search engine promoted by Hide My History virus is advertised as a tool that includes a particular privacy feature which encrypts search terms between the compromised device and the search domain. However, indeed this nasty PUP affects the speed and performance of the system drastically and makes users’ online experience very complex. These fake search tools are sponsored by advertisers so, people only receive commercial contents and links to affiliate sites as search results while using these engines. You are taken to third-party web pages that are trying to increase their popularity and gain more visits. Some of these domains might be malware-laden or filled with vicious contents.

People infected with Hide My History virus are unaware of the fact that those intrusive advertisements can cause redirects to unsafe sites or direct downloads of different applications or browser-based tools. These hijacking programs are also able to monitor victims’ online activities and gathering their personal and confidential data such as credit card and banking details, user IDs etc. The collected information is sold to third-parties and can be misused for fraudulent transactions or purchases. And therefore, a quick Hide My History virus removal is strongly recommended.

Threat Details 

Name: Hide My History virus  

Type: Browser hijacker, Redirect virus, Potentially unwanted program

Short Description: Makes alterations to default browser’s settings, Redirects users to affiliated sites, promotes sponsored products, services and programs and make online profits for the creators. 

Symptoms: Altered home page, search engine, new tab settings, regular appearance of annoying commercial contents, redirects to unknown domains, fake pop-up messages, identity theft. Users are enforced to search the Internet using fake search engines, slowness of infected system’s performance.

Distribution methods: Free software installers (bundling), malicious pop-ups ads, fake flash player installers.

Damage: Web browsing tracking (potential privacy issues), exhibition of unwanted ads, redirects to shady websites.

Removal: To get rid of this infection and other malware threats, our security researchers recommend scanning your device with an effective anti-malware tool.

Software Bundling Triggers PUP Installation:

Bundling is a common method to spread PUPs like adware or browser hijackers in which, these unwanted threats are added to a software package along with regular program. While installing a freeware downloaded from third-party sites like download.com, soft32.com, cnet.com etc., users are often tricked into installing additional components if they choose the quick or recommended configuration settings. In addition to that, clicking on suspicious ads or hyperlinks often redirect people to malware-laced sites that are fully occupied with malevolent contents. And hence, this may lead to Hide My History virus or other PUP intrusion as well without users’ notice or knowledge.

Tips To Prevent Hijacker Intrusion:

To avoid such perilous situations, you should pay close attention to sources from where you are downloading products or software. Always rely on official sites, trustworthy channels, direct links to download apps and avoid using peer-to-peer networks, third-party downloaders etc. You need to select Advanced or Custom installation settings every time you install software where you can opt-out all the unwanted contents from the download list. Moreover, avoid interacting with malicious ads or links as you never know what sites they might take you to. In case your PC is already infected with this hijacker, you must remove Hide My History virus from the machine without wasting any time.

Antimalware Details And User Guide

Click Here For Windows Click Here For Mac

Important Note: This malware asks you to enable the web browser notifications. So, before you go the manual removal process, execute these steps.

Google Chrome (PC)

• Go to right upper corner of the screen and click on three dots to open the Menu button
• Select “Settings”. Scroll the mouse downward to choose “Advanced” option
• Go to “Privacy and Security” section by scrolling downward and then select “Content settings” and then “Notification” option
• Find each suspicious URLs and click on three dots on the right side and choose “Block” or “Remove” option

Google Chrome (Android)

• Go to right upper corner of the screen and click on three dots to open the menu button and then click on “Settings”
• Scroll down further to click on “site settings” and then press on “notifications” option
• In the newly opened window, choose each suspicious URLs one by one
• In the permission section, select “notification” and “Off” the toggle button

Mozilla Firefox

• On the right corner of the screen, you will notice three dots which is the “Menu” button
• Select “Options” and choose “Privacy and Security” in the toolbar present in the left side of the screen
• Slowly scroll down and go to “Permission” section then choose “Settings” option next to “Notifications”
• In the newly opened window, select all the suspicious URLs. Click on the drop-down menu and select “Block”

Internet Explorer

• In the Internet Explorer window, select the Gear button present on the right corner
• Choose “Internet Options”
• Select “Privacy” tab and then “Settings” under the “Pop-up Blocker” section
• Select all the suspicious URLs one by one and click on the “Remove” option

Microsoft Edge

• Open the Microsoft Edge and click on the three dots on the right corner of the screen to open the menu
• Scroll down and select “Settings”
• Scroll down further to choose “view advanced settings”
• In the “Website Permission” option, click on “Manage” option
• Click on switch under every suspicious URL

Safari (Mac):

• On the upper right side corner, click on “Safari” and then select “Preferences”
• Go to “website” tab and then choose “Notification” section on the left pane
• Search for the suspicious URLs and choose “Deny” option for each one of them

Manual Steps to Remove Hide My History virus:

Remove the related items of Hide My History virus using Control-Panel

Windows 7 Users

Click “Start” (the windows logo at the bottom left corner of the desktop screen), select “Control Panel”. Locate the “Programs” and then followed by clicking on “Uninstall Program”

Windows XP Users

Click “Start” and then choose “Settings” and then click “Control Panel”. Search and click on “Add or Remove Program’ option

Windows 10 and 8 Users:

Go to the lower left corner of the screen and right-click. In the “Quick Access” menu, choose “Control Panel”. In the newly opened window, choose “Program and Features”

Mac OSX Users

Click on “Finder” option. Choose “Application” in the newly opened screen. In the “Application” folder, drag the app to “Trash”. Right click on the Trash icon and then click on “Empty Trash”.

In the uninstall programs window, search for the PUAs. Choose all the unwanted and suspicious entries and click on “Uninstall” or “Remove”.

After you uninstall all the potentially unwanted program causing Hide My History virus issues, scan your computer with an anti-malware tool for any remaining PUPs and PUAs or possible malware infection. To scan the PC, use the recommended the anti-malware tool.

How to Remove Adware (Hide My History virus) from Internet Browsers

Delete malicious add-ons and extensions from IE

Click on the gear icon at the top right corner of Internet Explorer. Select “Manage Add-ons”. Search for any recently installed plug-ins or add-ons and click on “Remove”.

Additional Option

If you still face issues related to Hide My History virus removal, you can reset the Internet Explorer to its default setting.

Windows XP users: Press on “Start” and click “Run”. In the newly opened window, type “inetcpl.cpl” and click on the “Advanced” tab and then press on “Reset”.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 Users: Press the Windows logo, type inetcpl.cpl in the start search box and press enter.  In the newly opened window, click on the “Advanced Tab” followed by “Reset” button.

For Windows 8 Users: Open IE and click on the “gear” icon. Choose “Internet Options”

Select the “Advanced” tab in the newly opened window

Press on “Reset” option

You have to press on the “Reset” button again to confirm that you really want to reset the IE

Remove Doubtful and Harmful Extension from Google Chrome

Go to menu of Google Chrome by pressing on three vertical dots and select on “More tools” and then “Extensions”. You can search for all the recently installed add-ons and remove all of them.

Optional Method

If the problems related to Hide My History virus still persists or you face any issue in removing, then it is advised that your reset the Google Chrome browse settings. Go to three dotted points at the top right corner and choose “Settings”. Scroll down bottom and click on “Advanced”.

At the bottom, notice the “Reset” option and click on it.

In the next opened window, confirm that you want to reset the Google Chrome settings by click on the “Reset” button.

Remove Hide My History virus plugins (including all other doubtful plug-ins) from Firefox Mozilla

Open the Firefox menu and select “Add-ons”. Click “Extensions”.  Select all the recently installed browser plug-ins.

Optional Method

If you face problems in Hide My History virus removal then you have the option to rese the settings of Mozilla Firefox.

Open the browser (Mozilla Firefox) and click on the “menu” and then click on “Help”.

Choose “Troubleshooting Information”

In the newly opened pop-up window, click “Refresh Firefox” button

The next step is to confirm that really want to reset the Mozilla Firefox settings to its default by clicking on “Refresh Firefox” button.

Remove Malicious Extension from Safari

Open the Safari and go to its “Menu” and select “Preferences”.

Click on the “Extension” and select all the recently installed “Extensions” and then click on “Uninstall”.

Optional Method

Open the “Safari” and go menu. In the drop-down menu, choose “Clear History and Website Data”.

In the newly opened window, select “All History” and then press on “Clear History” option.

Delete Hide My History virus (malicious add-ons) from Microsoft Edge

Open Microsoft Edge and go to three horizontal dot icons at the top right corner of the browser. Select all the recently installed extensions and right click on the mouse to “uninstall”

Optional Method

Open the browser (Microsoft Edge) and select “Settings”

Next steps is to click on “Choose what to clear” button

Click on “show more” and then select everything and then press on “Clear” button.

Conclusion

In most cases, the PUPs and adware gets inside the marked PC through unsafe freeware downloads. It is advised that you should only choose developers website only while downloading any kind of free applications.  Choose custom or advanced installation process so that you can trace the additional PUPs listed for installation along with the main program.

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