123movies Virus

This page aims to help you remove the 123Movies Virus. Our removal instructions work for Safari, Chrome and Firefox, as well as every version of Windows and Mac OS.

123Movies

123Movies is an application that can alter the settings of an Internet browser without a user’s permission. Many people think of 123Movies as a virus or a type of malware as it can substitute the default search engine without notice and redirect users’ searches to webpages full of aggressive ads.

The browser hijackers can be a terrible annoyance, and they can even be a reason for panic for people who have never met them before. If a browser hijacker named 123Movies has mysteriously integrated with your Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Opera or another browser, you are fortunate to have come to the right page. To your relieve, 123Movies is not a virus or a malicious program (such as a Ransomware, a Trojan Horse, etc.) and it’s not really a direct threat to you or your computer. However, such software could easily become potentially unwanted after you see the “improvements” it has made to your default search engine or to the homepage of your browser. The unstoppable page redirecting and the constant generation of pop-up ads, banner messages, and promotional links may just add to the frustration. That’s why, in the current article, we would like to help you uninstall 123Movies from your computer and remove its potentially unwanted changes. For this, at the bottom of this page, we’ve developed a removal guide with instructions and screenshots which even a non-experienced web user can follow.

Essentially, programs like 123Movies, Fuq.com, The Goodcaster have been made for promoting a number of different products and services on the users’ screen and earning money for their developers every time someone clicks on the ads of the promoted goods. It’s quite a simple concept based on a Pay Per Click remuneration model that enables the developers of browser hijackers to earn revenue from the clicks they get on the displayed advertisements. This is a very popular business practice and it is usually not considered as illegal.

The 123Movies Virus

The 123Movies Virus is a browser hijacker that is best known for the endless stream of advertisements it can display on the computer. While in the system, the 123Movies virus will show banners, pop-up ads, and in-text commercials during each browsing session and will redirect you to some promoted webpages.

In order to squeeze as much profit as possible, however, the hijackers are usually programmed to track your web activity and use the acquired data for more targeted ad campaigns. Since they are part of your browser, programs like 123Movies have access to your browsing history and can look through your search queries, the sites you visit, your bookmarks, and the things you post and/or like on social media platforms. All this information helps the hijacker figure out what you are interested in and what products and services you are currently searching for. With this information at hand, the hijacker adjusts the flow of pop-ups and banners it displays to match your preferences.

But things can go even further. In their attempts to land you on particular web pages full of sponsored ads, the developers of such apps may program the hijacker to replace your search engine with another one that constantly generates sponsored content. Or, they may set a new homepage so that every time you open your browser, you land on the desired page that generates them pay-per-click revenue. Understandably, a number of web users and even security experts find such advertising methods as invasive. Moreover, the fact that the collected browser-related information may often be sold for extra profit to third parties is another good reason to remove programs like 123Movies as soon as possible. One more justification in favor of your decision to uninstall the hijacker has to do with the page redirects which sometimes may expose you to questionable web locations that could potentially infect you with Ransomware, Trojans and other malware.

SUMMARY:

Name	123Movies
Type	Browser Hijacker
Danger Level	Medium (nowhere near threats like Ransomware, but still a security risk)
Symptoms	Frequent page-redirects, aggressive stream of ads all over your screen, uninvited homepage or search engine changes.
Distribution Method	Spam, torrents, ads, shareware sites, freeware platforms, software bundles, automatic installation managers.
Detection Tool	Some threats of this type reinstall themselves repeatedly if you don't delete their core files. We recommend downloading SpyHunter to scan for malicious programs. This may save you hours and cut down your time to about 15 minutes. Download SpyHunter (Free Remover)* OFFER *Free Remover allows you, subject to a 48-hour waiting period, one remediation and removal for results found. SpyHunter's EULA,  Privacy Policy, and more details about Free Remover.

Remove 123Movies Virus

If you have a Windows virus, continue with the guide below.

If you have a Mac virus, please use our How to remove Ads on Mac guide.

If you have an Android virus, please use our Android Malware Removal guide.

If you have an iPhone virus, please use our iPhone Virus Removal guide

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Some of the steps will likely require you to exit the page. Bookmark it for later reference.

Reboot in Safe Mode (use this guide if you don’t know how to do it).

WARNING! READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING!

Press CTRL + SHIFT + ESC at the same time and go to the Processes Tab (the “Details” Tab on Win 8 and 10). Try to determine which processes are dangerous. 

Right click on each of them and select Open File Location. Then scan the files with our free online virus scanner:

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After you open their folder, end the processes that are infected, then delete their folders. 

Note: If you are sure something is part of the infection – delete it, even if the scanner doesn’t flag it. No anti-virus program can detect all infections. 

Hold together the Start Key and R. Type appwiz.cpl –> OK.

You are now in the Control Panel. Look for suspicious entries. Uninstall it/them.

Type msconfig in the search field and hit enter. A window will pop-up:

Startup —> Uncheck entries that have “Unknown” as Manufacturer or otherwise look suspicious.

Hold the Start Key and R –  copy + paste the following and click OK:

notepad %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/hosts

A new file will open. If you are hacked, there will be a bunch of other IPs connected to you at the bottom. Look at the image below:

If there are suspicious IPs below “Localhost” – write to us in the comments.

Open the start menu and search for Network Connections (On Windows 10 you just write it after clicking the Windows button), press enter.

1. Right-click on the Network Adapter you are using —> Properties —> Internet Protocol Version 4 (ICP/IP), click  Properties.
2. The DNS line should be set to Obtain DNS server automatically. If it is not, set it yourself.
3. Click on Advanced —> the DNS tab. Remove everything here (if there is something) —> OK.

• After you complete this step, the threat will be gone from your browsers. Finish the next step as well or it may reappear on a system reboot.

Right click on the browser’s shortcut —> Properties.

NOTE: We are showing Google Chrome, but you can do this for Firefox and IE (or Edge).

Properties —–> Shortcut. In Target, remove everything after .exe.

  Remove 123Movies from Internet Explorer:

Open IE, click   —–> Manage Add-ons.

Find the threat —> Disable. Go to  —–> Internet Options —> change the URL to whatever you use (if hijacked) —> Apply.

 Remove 123Movies from Firefox:

Open Firefox, click    ——-> Add-ons —-> Extensions.

Find the adware/malware —> Remove.
Remove 123Movies from Chrome:

Close Chrome. Navigate to:

 C:/Users/!!!!USER NAME!!!!/AppData/Local/Google/Chrome/User Data. There is a Folder called “Default” inside:

Rename it to Backup Default. Restart Chrome.

Type Regedit in the windows search field and press Enter.

Inside, press CTRL and F together and type the threat’s Name. Right click and delete any entries you find with a similar name. If they don’t show up this way, go manually to these directories and delete/uninstall them:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER—-Software—–Random Directory. It could be any one of them – ask us if you can’t discern which ones are malicious.
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER—-Software—Microsoft—-Windows—CurrentVersion—Run– Random
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER—-Software—Microsoft—Internet Explorer—-Main—- Random

If the guide doesn’t help, download the anti-virus program we recommended or try our free online virus scanner. Also, you can always ask us in the comments for help!