You have the “redirect virus” – a common infection which is installing itself onto 100′s of computers around the World every day. Designed by hackers to try and sell a series of fake products from redirected search engine results, this infection is actually one of the most common and difficult to remove. If you are unfortunate enough to have the virus on your system, you need to be able to get rid of it in the most effective way possible, which I will try to explain in this article.

What Is The Redirect Virus?

This virus is one of the most infectious viruses on the Internet today, with millions of computer users around the World having to deal with it every year. The virus comes will do these things to your PC:

Redirect your web searches to fake or misleading websites Continually show pop-up advertisements on your computer Open up new “tabs” in your web browser

The infection will typically come in 2 forms – a “Trojan Horse” virus and a fake file which will change various Windows settings. The big problem with it is that it will typically evade most antivirus programs because it does not have any distinguishable files / settings that will stick out. Antivirus scanners work by looking through your system and identifying and of the potentially rogue files / applications that are running (which is why they often try and ask your permission to run software on your system). Although this standard method of antivirus removal works for 90% of viruses, the Google Redirect Virus will not have any of the typical traits that most viruses have, making it highly difficult to remove.

This virus works by basically changing the settings that your system uses to handle “redirects” online. Every time you browse the Internet, 100′s of settings and options are used to help your computer process web pages and read the files that it needs to run. Although this normally works well, the redirect virus will change the “redirect” settings that your computer uses, sending your PC to a fake set of websites. Most people don’t know this, but whenever you browse the search engines, Google / Yahoo / Bing will redirect you through their own website before sending you to the target website that you want. If you have the redirect virus, it will hijack these links and send you to the fake websites, which is why many people actually call this infection the “Google Redirect Virus”

How To Remove The Redirect Virus

The way to remove this virus is actually a little different than most infections you can get on your PC. Instead of using a traditional antivirus application, you should look to use a tool that will open up onto your computer and then fix the various infected parts of your computer that could be causing problems. There are 2 ways to get rid of the redirect virus, depending on which version of the virus you have:

Use A “Trojan Remover” Tool. One of the main types of redirect virus you can get are actually Trojan Horse infections which will take over various browser settings that your system may have. You should look to use a program that will specifically remove the Trojan Horse part of the virus, allowing your PC to run much smoother as a result. Use A “File Scanner” Tool. File scanner applications are antivirus tools which will be able to identify abnormalities inside specific files of your system. You can use a tool such as “ComboFix” to get rid of any problems that the Windows files has on your system, allowing your PC to run much smoother again.