Captcha Total Live Virus

Browser Hijacker
by Violet George
October 29, 2022
Anti-virus offerOFFERWe tested that Spyhunter successfully removes parasite* and we recommend using it. Manual removal without a program may take hours, it can harm your system if you are not careful, and parasite may reinstall itself at the end if you fail to delete its core files.
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Captcha Total

Captcha Total is a browser hijacker that targets popular web browsing applications like Chrome, Firefox, and others. When integrated with the browser, Captcha Total begins to generate large quantities of ads during browsing sessions.

Captcha Total
The Captcha total virus will display pop up ads and notifications

Furthermore, software of this type is also notorious for its ability to tamper with the browser’s default settings. For instance, Captcha Total may have changed the homepage of your browser and may have also introduced a new default search engine. On that note, it may have also added new elements to the browser like toolbars, various buttons, etc.

And unless you have the hijacker removed from your computer, these changes will persist in your browser – no matter you do. You can try switching to a different browser or even reinstalling it, and Captcha Total will eventually still enforce its settings on you.

CaptchaTotal

In addition to the above, applications like CaptchaTotal are known for generating myriads of popups, banners and various other forms of online ads on your screen, regardless of the websites you visit. These ads can be highly obtrusive as they often block the content of the websites and make it difficult to navigate the web. What’s more, programs like CaptchaTotal usually also trigger spontaneous page redirects to various sponsored web locations, which is another extremely annoying trait typical of hijackers.

So without further ado, we’d like to offer you our detailed removal guide below to help you take care of this infection for good. And if you’d like to be extra thorough, you can also make use of the professional removal tool we have available.

 

SUMMARY:

NameCaptcha Total
Type Browser Hijacker
Detection Tool

anti-malware offerOFFER Read more details in the first ad on this page, EULA, Privacy Policy, and full terms for Free Remover.

*Source of claim SH can remove it.

How to remove Captcha Total

  1. First, click the Start Menu on your Windows PC.
  2. Type Programs and Settings in the Start Menu, click the first item, and find Captcha Total in the programs list that would show up.
  3. Select Captcha Total from the list and click on Uninstall.
  4. Follow the steps in the removal wizard.

What we suggest you do first is, check the list of programs that are presently installed on the infected device and uninstall any rogue software that you find there:

  • From the Start Menu, navigate to Control Panel ->>> Programs and Features ->>> Uninstall a Program.
  • Next, carefully search for unfamiliar programs or programs that have been installed recently and could be related to Captcha Total.
  • If you find any of the programs suspicious then uninstall them if they turn out to be linked to Captcha Total.
  • If a notification appears on your screen when you try to uninstall a specific questionable program prompting you to just alter it or repair it, make sure you choose NO and complete the steps from the removal wizard.

Remove Captcha Total from Chrome

  1. Click on the three dots in the right upper corner
  2. Go to more tools
  3. Now select extensions
  4. Remove the Captcha Total extension
  • Once you open Chrome, click on the three-dots icon to open the browser’s menu, go to More Tools/ More Options, and then to Extensions.
  • Again, find the items on that page that could be linked to Captcha Total and/or that might be causing problems in the browser and delete them.
  • Afterwards, go to this folder: Computer > C: > Users > *Your User Account* > App Data > Local > Google > Chrome > User Data. In there, you will find a folder named Default – you should change its name to Backup Default and restart the PC.
  • Note that the App Data folder is normally hidden so you’d have to first make the hidden files and folders on your PC visible before you can access it.

How to get rid of Captcha Total on FF/Edge/etc.

  1. Open the browser and select the menu icon.
  2. From the menu, click on the Add-ons button.
  3. Look for the Captcha Total extension
  4. Get rid of Captcha Total by removing it from extensions

If using Firefox:

  • Open Firefox
  • Select the three parallel lines menu and go to Add-ons.
  • Find the unwanted add-on and delete it from the browser – if there is more than one unwanted extension, remove all of them.
  • Go to the browser menu again, select Options, and then click on Home from the sidebar to the left.
  • Check the current addresses for the browser’s homepage and new-tab page and change them if they are currently set to address(es) you don’t know or trust.

If using MS Edge/IE:

  • Start Edge
  • Select the browser menu and go to Extensions.
  • Find and uninstall any Edge extensions that look undesirable and unwanted.
  • Select Settings from the browser menu and click on Appearance.
  • Check the new-tab page address of the browser and if it has been modified by “Captcha Total” or another unwanted app, change it to an address that you’d want to be the browser’s new-tab page.

How to Delete Captcha Total

  1. Open task manager
  2. Look for the Captcha Total process
  3. Select it and click on End task
  4. Open the file location to delete Captcha Total
  • Access the Task Manager by pressing together the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys and then selecting Task Manager.
  • Open Processes and there try to find a process with the name of the unwanted software. If you find it, select it with the right button of the mouse and click on the Open File Location option.
  • If you don’t see a “Captcha Total” process in the Task Manager, look for another suspicious process with an unusual name. It is likely that the unwanted process would be using lots of RAM and CPU so pay attention to the number of resources each process is using.
  • Tip: If you think you have singled out the unwanted process but are not sure, it’s always a good idea to search for information about it on the Internet – this should give you a general idea if the process is a legitimate one from a regular program or from your OS or if it is indeed likely linked to the adware.
  • If you find another suspicious process, open its File Location too.
  • Once in the File Location folder for the suspicious process, start testing all of the files that are stored there by dragging them to our free online scanner available below.
  • Each file will be scanned with up to 64 antivirus programs to ensure maximum accuracy
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    • If the scanner finds malware in any of the files, return to the Processes tab in the Task Manager, select the suspected process, and then select the End Process option to quit it.
    • Go back to the folder where the files of that process are located and delete all of the files that you are allowed to delete. If all files get deleted normally, exit the folder and delete that folder too. If one or more of the files showed an error message when you tried to delete them, leave them for now and return to try to delete them again once you’ve completed the rest of the guide.

    How to Uninstall Captcha Total

    1. Click on the home button
    2. Search for Startup Apps
    3. Look for Captcha Total in there
    4. Uninstall Captcha Total from Startup Apps by turning it off
    • Now you need to carefully search for and uninstall any Hostingcloud. racing-related entries from the Registry. The easiest way to do this is to open the Registry Editor app (type Regedit in the windows search field and press Enter) and then open a Find dialog (CTRL+F key combination) where you have to type the name of the threat. 
    • Perform a search by clicking on the Find Next button and delete any detected results. Do this as many times as needed until no more results are found. 
    • After that, to ensure that there are no remaining entries lined to Captcha Total in the Registry, go manually to the following directories and delete them:
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Random Directory. 
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run/Random
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/Main/Random

    What is Captcha Total?

    All of this may seem like random, chaotic behavior at first. But really it’s strategic and serves a specific purpose. Namely, software like Captcha Total, iStart Search Bar, Lookaside.fbsbx.com is generally designed to earn revenue for its developers via Pay Per Click and Pay Per View remuneration systems. These are popular online business models, the names of which are fairly self-explanatory. And while there’s essentially nothing harmful or illegal about these particular ways of doing business, there are a number of issues associated with them nevertheless.

    Is Captcha Total a virus?

    For one, the crazy bombardment with ads may throw users off and lead them to think that they’ve actually been infected with a virus of some sorts. With that in mind, we’d like to ease any worries you may have in this respect and say that Captcha Total is not a virus or malware.

    Is Captcha Total dangerous?

    However, the exposure to so many different ads that lead to so many different websites and pages can potentially put you at risk of virus infections. In fact, extremely dangerous malware types such as ransomware and Trojan horse viruses are primarily distributed via what’s known as malvertising or the practices of spreading malicious software with the help of fake ads.
    With that in mind, removing Captcha Total isn’t only a matter of preserving your sanity, but is actually a necessary means of maintaining your system’s overall security. You don’t want to risk exposing your system to any potential threats, especially when there’s really nothing in it for you.


    About the author

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    Violet George

    Violet is an active writer with a passion for all things cyber security. She enjoys helping victims of computer virus infections remove them and successfully deal with the aftermath of the attacks. But most importantly, Violet makes it her priority to spend time educating people on privacy issues and maintaining the safety of their computers. It is her firm belief that by spreading this information, she can empower web users to effectively protect their personal data and their devices from hackers and cybercriminals.

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