Chrome_Help
Chrome_Help is an undesirable app capable of hijacking important browser elements such as the search engine or the toolbar and injecting them with ads. The goal of apps like Chrome_Help is to generate revenue through ads and page-redirects that they generate inside the users’ browsers.
It can often be a frustrating and maybe even anxiety-inducing experience to get browser-hijacking apps like Chrome_Help, Go go Tech or Main Captcha Top attached to a browser. For starters, the presence of such software in the computer can significantly affect the way browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge operate. All of a sudden, the starting page of the browser may get replaced, you may start seeing obstructive and obscure ads showing up on your screen and certain questionable sites may start to automatically open in the browser. All of this could easily make anyone think that their system has been infected by a dangerous piece of malware from the Trojan Horse category or a file-encrypting Ransomware virus that can, in a matter of minutes, lock up all user data present on the computer. Fortunately, none of those things apply to a browser-hijacking app like Chrome_Help. Instead, this is a simplistic advertising tool that doesn’t have any overly-advanced functions and cannot harm your computer in a direct way. However, its important to still note that apps like this are not considered safe and it’s best to avoid them as much as possible. In case you already have Chrome_Help inside your browser, the best advice we could give you with regard to it is to uninstall the intrusive app. Not only would that end its constant generation of obnoxious advertising content but it will also help you significantly improve the safety of your computer.
Why and how could a hijacker app be hazardous?
Despite the overall harmlessness of the applications of this category, users need to keep in mind that, under certain circumstances, the activities of a browser hijacker inside the browser could potentially result in attacks from much more dangerous and unpleasant forms of malware. We already mentioned some such malware forms – the Trojan Horse and the Ransomware category – however, there are many other dangerous threats out there that could also target your PC if a hijacker is allowed to operate on it for long periods of time.
The thing that may compromise your system is the ads and redirects spammed by Chrome_Help. Even though most of them would probably be legitimate, it is not impossible for harmful and misleading ads to find their way into the advertising stream of the hijacker and to end up on your screen. Clicking on such an ad could, obviously, get you redirected to a harmful site that can then automatically download malware on your computer. The biggest issue here is that it is often difficult to tell apart legitimate and misleading online ads. Besides, in some cases, Chrome_Help may get you to click on a given ad without you necessarily wanting to do it. For example, right before you click on a certain link, the ad may appear in front of your cursor so you’d end up clicking on it instead of the link. This is why the best way to protect your computer is to remove the hijacker altogether and uninstall any changes it may have made inside the browser.
SUMMARY:
Name | Chrome_Help |
Type | Browser Hijacker |
Danger Level | Medium (nowhere near threats like Ransomware, but still a security risk) |
Detection Tool |
Remove Chrome_Help Virus
To try and remove Chrome_Help quickly you can try this:
- Go to your browser’s settings and select More Tools (or Add-ons, depending on your browser).
- Then click on the Extensions tab.
- Look for the Chrome_Help extension (as well as any other unfamiliar ones).
- Remove Chrome_Help by clicking on the Trash Bin icon next to its name.
- Confirm and get rid of Chrome_Help and any other suspicious items.
If this does not work as described please follow our more detailed Chrome_Help removal guide below.
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
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:
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.
- Right-click on the Network Adapter you are using —> Properties —> Internet Protocol Version 4 (ICP/IP), click Properties.
- The DNS line should be set to Obtain DNS server automatically. If it is not, set it yourself.
- 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 Chrome_Help 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 Chrome_Help from Firefox:
Open Firefox, click ——-> Add-ons —-> Extensions.
Remove Chrome_Help 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!
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