Hvkweb.com Malware

Browser Hijacker
by Brandon Skies
December 14, 2022

Hvkweb.com

Hvkweb.com is a browser-hijacker application that is known for the unwelcome changes it can impose on popular web browsers. Hvkweb.com can modify the default homepage, install a new search engine and trigger automatic redirects to sponsored websites.

Hvkweb.com

In the event that you get infected with a browser hijacker called Hvkweb.com, the chances are you would want to figure out how to remove it from your Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, or whichever the affected browser is. The good news is that, on this page, you will find what you need. The signs of having such a piece of software on your machine are very obvious and typically include occasional page redirects to unfamiliar websites and a change in the browser’s homepage or in its default search engine. Other hard to ignore symptoms may include the generation of numerous ads, banners, and pop-ups that appear on top of every web page you visit and won’t go away no matter what you do.

The Hvkweb.com Malware

If you’ve been getting disturbed by these activities, in the next lines, we will give you a removal guide with all the instructions you need to uninstall the malware Hvkweb.com and remove its changes. Don’t worry if you are not a very experienced user since this software is not a virus, a Ransomware or a Trojan Horse and, if you carefully follow the steps, you will be able to deal with it all on your own.

SUMMARY:

NameHvkweb.com
TypeBrowser Hijacker
Danger LevelMedium (nowhere near threats like Ransomware, but still a security risk)
SymptomsA change in the browser’s homepage or the main search engine are typical symptoms of a browser hijacker infection.
Distribution MethodSoftware bundles, free installers, torrents, spam email messages, ads, freeware and shareware sites.
Detection Tool

Please follow all the steps below in order to remove Hvkweb.com!

How to remove Hvkweb.com

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

How to Delete Hvkweb.com

  1. Open task manager
  2. Look for the Hvkweb.com process
  3. Select it and click on End task
  4. Open the file location to delete Hvkweb.com
  • 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 “Hvkweb.com” 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 Hvkweb.com

    1. Click on the home button
    2. Search for Startup Apps
    3. Look for Hvkweb.com in there
    4. Uninstall Hvkweb.com from Startup Apps by turning it off
    • Now you need to carefully search for and uninstall any Hvkweb.com-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 Hvkweb.com 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 Hvkweb.com?

    Browser hijackers, such as Hvkweb.com and Vivid Captcha, are tools that are used to deliver different advertisements to the web browser’s screen or to redirect the users’ web searches to predetermined websites that are full of sponsored content. This method of online advertising involves a lot of money and serves the interests of sellers, online marketers, and software developers. The people who need advertising services typically pay the software developers of hijacker programs like Hvkweb.com to load them with specific adverts and redirect prompts. The commission for the hijackers’ creators is based on how many user clicks on the displayed ads receive. Therefore, the developers are implementing different strategies to increase their Pay-Per-Click revenue by increasing the chances that the users would click on the paid ads and links. Most commonly, they set programs such as Hvkweb.com to continuously cover the screen with promotional banners, pop-up notifications, and redirect requests. However, they also tend to install sponsored search engines or homepage URLs that are specifically configured to guide the users to the revenue-generating sites and ads.


    Is Hvkweb.com a virus?

    From a legal point of view, methods of Hvkweb.com aren’t outlawed since they are only used to promote advertising content and not to cause harm. At the same time, clicking on random pop-up messages and landing on unfamiliar sites may potentially expose the system to external security risks. The reason is there are many misleading and malicious web ads and illegal websites nowadays that can easily deliver a virus such as a Ransomware or a Trojan Horse into your system if you land on them.
    This alone is enough for many experts to place browser hijackers such as Hvkweb.com in the category of potentially unwanted programs even though they don’t have the destructive capabilities of real malware. If a browser hijacker is causing you disturbance or are preventing you from using your browser normally, this could be yet another good reason to uninstall it.


    About the author

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    Brandon Skies

    Brandon is a researcher and content creator in the fields of cyber-security and virtual privacy. Years of experience enable him to provide readers with important information and adequate solutions for the latest software and malware problems.

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