CaptchaSee Virus

Browser Hijacker
by Lidia Howler
November 2, 2022

CaptchaSee

CaptchaSee is a browser hijacker program that can redirect user searches to sponsored websites and generate pay-per-click profits for its creators. To gain more revenue, CaptchaSee may spam the screen with paid ads, banners, and pop-ups and replace the browser’s homepage or search engine.

CaptchaSee

You’re likely to have installed in your computer a browser hijacker such as CaptchaSee without realizing it. This software can often be bundled with other free applications and be attached to their installation wizards so that when you click “OK” on the license agreement, you’ll install it by default.

CaptchaSee Live

The moment CaptchaSee Live becomes part of the system, it will most likely integrate with whichever is the main web browser at the moment. This could be Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, Safari, or another one.

You will notice that the browser has been “hijacked” because, most probably, a new search engine or a new homepage will appear in it. You may also notice that every time you start a new browsing session, dozens of pop-up ads, banners, and text page-redirect links start prompting you to click on them just to get you redirected to some predefined websites. These are sure signs of a browser hijacker infection but you don’t need to panic too much about them because, in the removal guide below, you will find all the instructions that you need to safely uninstall the imposed browser changes and remove CaptchaSee without any risks.

SUMMARY:

NameCaptchaSee
Type Browser Hijacker
Detection Tool

Please follow all the steps below in order to remove CaptchaSee !

How to remove CaptchaSee

  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 CaptchaSee in the programs list that would show up.
  3. Select CaptchaSee 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 CaptchaSee .
  • If you find any of the programs suspicious then uninstall them if they turn out to be linked to CaptchaSee .
  • 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 CaptchaSee 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 CaptchaSee 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 CaptchaSee 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 CaptchaSee 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 CaptchaSee extension
  4. Get rid of CaptchaSee 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 “CaptchaSee ” or another unwanted app, change it to an address that you’d want to be the browser’s new-tab page.

How to Delete CaptchaSee

  1. Open task manager
  2. Look for the CaptchaSee process
  3. Select it and click on End task
  4. Open the file location to delete CaptchaSee
  • 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 “CaptchaSee ” 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
    This scanner is free and will always remain free for our website's users.
    This file is not matched with any known malware in the database. You can either do a full real-time scan of the file or skip it to upload a new file. Doing a full scan with 64 antivirus programs can take up to 3-4 minutes per file.
    Full ScanUpload New File
    Drag and Drop File Here To Scan
    Drag and Drop File Here To Scan
    Loading
    Analyzing 0 s
    Each file will be scanned with up to 64 antivirus programs to ensure maximum accuracy
      This scanner is based on VirusTotal's API. By submitting data to it, you agree to their Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and to the sharing of your sample submission with the security community. Please do not submit files with personal information if you do not want them to be shared.
    • 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 CaptchaSee

    1. Click on the home button
    2. Search for Startup Apps
    3. Look for CaptchaSee in there
    4. Uninstall CaptchaSee 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 CaptchaSee 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

    Is CaptchaSee dangerous?

    The browser hijackers, including CaptchaSee or Captcha See Live are generally considered as harmless programs aimed at promoting certain goods, services, and web pages. However, sometimes the online advertising tactics they employ may cause some unwanted disruption to your browsing activity and may be mistaken for virus activity. For instance, browser hijackers can expose you to random pop-up ads, modify your personal browser settings, redirect you to other web pages, or collect information related to your online habits without your consent. Inexperienced users may easily consider this as some sort of a virus infection. In reality, however, programs like CaptchaSee are not malicious and cannot encrypt your files the way a Ransomware can or format your drives like a Trojan Horse. Unlike real viruses, they are not designed to interfere with your system and launch malicious activities in the background.

    Is CaptchaSee a virus?

    Yet, security experts classify browser hijackers like CaptchaSee as potentially unwanted programs. The reason is, some of the actions that these pieces of software can perform on your system can be, well, unwanted. Besides, interacting with random ads and being automatically redirected to unknown websites can always hide security risks, such as catching a real virus or getting infected with a real Ransomware or a Trojan Horse simply by clicking on some malicious advertisement. That’s why it is generally a good idea to uninstall the browser hijacker before it tricks you into clicking on something hazardous. It can be difficult to eliminate a browser hijacker once it has been downloaded on your computer. These programs may not appear in the uninstall options of your PC and, since they don’t contain any malicious code, your antivirus software may not detect them either. If you carefully follow our instructions, however, and/or if you arm yourself with a reliable anti-malware tool (such as the one on this page), you should be able to successfully get rid of the hijacker.


    About the author

    blank

    Lidia Howler

    Lidia is a web content creator with years of experience in the cyber-security sector. She helps readers with articles on malware removal and online security. Her strive for simplicity and well-researched information provides users with easy-to-follow It-related tips and step-by-step tutorials.

    View all posts

    Leave a Comment