Cousonelly Virus

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Cousonelly

Cousonelly is a browser hijacking software that incorporates itself into popular web browsers like Chrome, Edge and Firefox, and turns them into ad-generating tools. Cousonelly cannot harm the computer in a direct way but may spam the users’ screen with irritating pop-up, banner ads and links that redirect to different pages.

Cousonelly

Many browser hijackers tend to add some potentially unwanted components inside the system’s main web browser in order to facilitate the display of more sponsored ads, pop-ups, and links. Apps like Cousonelly, for instance, may add a new homepage, a new search engine or some other buttons and toolbars the role of which is to automatically redirect users to specific web locations full of pay-per-click ads and pay-per-view links.

The Cousonelly Virus

Browser Hijacking programs such as the Cousonelly virus typically don’t have harmful features, nor are they as problematic as Trojan Horse viruses or Ransomware infections. However, most security professionals, including our “How to remove” team, suggest you remove these apps as quickly as possible. There are several factors that support for this recommendation and, in the next lines, we will tell you about them.

The first and probably the most important think that you should take into account is the online dangers you may face thanks to the auto-redirects initiated by the browser hijacker. Cousonelly, and the programs of its kind ( Parrable, Main Captcha Top) are typically built to expose web users to various paid advertisements and pages that pay for traffic and promotion. That’s why, these programs will use various tactics to redirect you to such pages and make you click on their associated pop-ups, banners and promotional messages.

The main issue with this is that you can’t really say how trustworthy all the web links and ads that you get exposed to are. Among the numerous pages and blinking banners you would get to see on your screen, there could be pages and ads of questionable products and services, as well as misleading messages that may land you on phishing sites which may directly inject you with viruses and malware such as Ransomware, Trojans, Spyware, etc., as soon as you land on them.

Furthermore, the stream of nagging ads can hardly be removed or restricted and the same is valid for the newly installed homepage, search engine, and the other potentially unwanted browser components – they may not want to get uninstalled no matter how hard you try. Even a total reset of your browser may not be able to save you from the changes and the aggressive ads.

Keeping an app like Cousonelly on your computer could affect also the performance and the protection of your browser. Users who don’t do anything to uninstall the browser hijacker may have to endure multiple browsing issues, such as freezing of the screen, unresponsiveness, and sudden page-crashes which may seriously disturb the regular web surfing activity and make the browsing app unstable.

Fortunately, the salvation from the hijacker’s disturbance isn’t that complicated and even not so experienced users can deal with an app like Cousonelly as long as they follow certain instructions. Those who don’t want to follow the steps in the manual removal guide below can still select from a broad range of malware removal programs which can quickly scan the entire computer and remove the unwanted software.

SUMMARY:

NameCousonelly
TypeBrowser Hijacker
Detection Tool

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Remove Cousonelly Virus

To try and remove Cousonelly quickly you can try this:

  1. Go to your browser’s settings and select More Tools (or Add-ons, depending on your browser).
  2. Then click on the Extensions tab.
  3. Look for the Cousonelly extension (as well as any other unfamiliar ones).
  4. Remove Cousonelly by clicking on the Trash Bin icon next to its name.
  5. Confirm and get rid of Cousonelly and any other suspicious items.

If this does not work as described please follow our more detailed Cousonelly 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


Step1

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).

Step2

WARNING! READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING!

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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.

malware-start-taskbar

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.

    Step3

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

    appwiz

    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:

    msconfig_opt

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

    Step4

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    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:

    hosts_opt (1)

    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.
    DNS

    Step5
    • 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).

    browser-hijacker-taskbar-properties

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

    Browser Hijacker Removal Instructions

    ie9-10_512x512 Remove Cousonelly from Internet Explorer:

    Open IE, click IE GEAR —–> Manage Add-ons.

    pic 3

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

    firefox-512 Remove Cousonelly from Firefox:

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

    pic 6

    chrome-logo-transparent-backgroundRemove Cousonelly from Chrome:

    Close Chrome. Navigate to:

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

    Rename the Folder to Backup Default

    Rename it to Backup Default. Restart Chrome.

    Step6

    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!


    About the author

    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.

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