Steps To Remove StormKitty

Effective Methods To Delete StormKitty

StormKitty is a new name added in the long list of malware and can specifically be classified into a keylogger trojan. This kind of infectious objects are empowered to take over system and its administrative settings to gain access over hardware and software as well. Based on these access, the malware manage to steal various of your sensitive information or details to share them with its real authors. Thus, the criminals manage to access your details and misuse them for their own sake, however the users like you end up to face the troubles caused. In this article, we have discussed about this newly found malware term and how a user can delete StormKitty from their machine if their system seems somehow infected.

Threat Specifications

Name: StormKitty
Type: Browser hijacker, redirect virus
Symptoms: Modified homepage, new tab and search engine defaults, eruption of commercial pop ups, and so on.
Description: StormKitty is identified as a vicious computer infection that may trouble you y stealing personal inputs, taking screenshots, and collecting more other sensitive information for hackers.
Distribution: Spam/junk email attachments, freeware or shareware installer packages, malicious links or ads, and many more.
Removal: To learn detailed information to detect and delete StormKitty from compromised computer, get through the instructions discussed under this article.

Detailed view about StormKitty

Based on researches conducted by security practitioners, StormKitty is said to be a newly identified data stealer, clipper and a key logger which is developed on C# programming language. Since it’s a piece of keylogger, it can allow criminals to steal any of your sensitive information for being misused by the criminals. They make use of such details for their own malicious purposes to gain profit. The threat is even empowered with strong mechanism that prevents it from being detected by most of the security applications as well. And this is why it’s even possible for users to be unaware of its presence on their machine.

Speaking about the data or information which StormKitty can steal from a targeted machine includes various details like system related information, login credentials, passwords, credit or debit card details, cookies, browsing history, bookmarks, browser related information, and many more. Even the keylogger is capable to work with almost all widely used Windows OS variants, so none of the computer is secured against this virus unless they are cautious enough to avoid such threats against intruding on their machine.

Keyloggers are probably very smart nowadays as the hackers manage to hide its presence on computer by naming it as an essential system file and saved within system based directories. So, even in case if a user somehow manage to identify some problems relating presence of StormKitty like keylogger on their machine, it will be hard enough for them to sort it out along with all its associated files, processes, and leftovers as well. Therefore, the necessity to get through some effective instructions to detect and clean StormKitty from infected machine, is very necessary and should be accomplished sooner.

How did StormKitty may infiltrate on computers?

None of the users will intentionally install malicious threats on their system and this is why the StormKitty like stuffs are spread over global networks using various deceptive marketing tricks. Under these tricks, the users are tamed somehow through malspams or software bundling process to download and install some PUPs on their machine which has hidden malicious codes. Once the installation is processed, the malware is executed in system background to take over various possible settings on computer and hides itself. So, be careful while downloading some freebies, installing fake software or pirated ones, visiting malicious online sources, clicking some suspicious ads or links.

In case your system seems working against of your intention and showing tons of problems which indicates the unintentional presence of StormKitty on your machine, then you must learn some effective methods to detect and remove StormKitty completely. To do so, we suggest you to check and follow guidelines here mentioned.

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 StormKitty:

Remove the related items of StormKitty 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 StormKitty 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 (StormKitty) 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 StormKitty 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 StormKitty 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 StormKitty 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 StormKitty 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 StormKitty (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.