Idea-shopping
Idea-shopping is an annoying browser redirect, closely resembling versions like Lookaside.fbsbx.com . The irritation and disturbance that the online advertisements may create to the regular web users may seriously decrease the quality of their browsing experience, yet, it is almost impossible to escape from them if you are surfing the web regularly.
There are thousands of websites which rely on aggressive online advertising to generate traffic, sales and profits and every time you visit them, you are bound to get bombarded with various sponsored links, pay-per-click ads, flashy banners, page-redirects and pop-ups messages. Still, if you stay away from these pages or use a secure web browser (like Chrome or Firefox) with an ad-blocker feature, you may avoid the ads in most of the cases. However, even this may not be enough to stop the ads if there is a browser hijacker such as Idea-shopping in your system – an app able to alter the homepage address or the search engine tool of your browser as well as tinker with its toolbar settings. When you have such a piece of software on your default browser (be it Chrome, Firefox, Explorer, or another one) you may get spammed with ads on every page that you visit and you may notice some visible changes in the homepage or the search engine settings as they may get replaced with some sponsored third-party domains and tools. You may also experience some random page-redirects and exposure to different aggressive pop-up messages, ads, links and banners, which may try to make you click on some predefined web locations.
The Idea-shopping Virus
Generally, these changes and ad-generating activities which the Idea-shopping virus can cause do not pose a direct threat to the safety of your computer because they are entirely advertising-oriented and lack the malicious features of infections with viruses, Ransomware, Trojans and other nasty pieces of malware. However, the Mpaxgrees.club virus may lead to a lot of browsing disturbances and uncontrolled exposure to unfamiliar third-party content. That’s why it is usually advisable to remove them by uninstalling the browser hijacker that is their source.
On this page, we have published a special removal guide, which contains instructions on how to remove and fully uninstall one recently released and highly annoying browser hijacker called Idea-shopping . If you have it on your main browser, you are probably already experiencing constant interruptions of your regular browsing activity that prevent you from getting to the sites and pages that you actually want to go to. This behavior makes Idea-shopping a potentially unwanted piece of software, which is highly invasive and capable of spamming you with pesky pop-ups, aggressive sales offers and redirect links of unknown origin. Fortunately, the steps above should be more than enough to help you detect and eliminate it without any major risks for your computer. Bear in mind that even though this app is not as dangerous as a computer virus or a nasty Ransomware or Trojan-based infection, we do not recommend that you experiment with your hijacker-removal skills if you are not sure what exactly you have to remove. Instead, in case of doubt, use the suggested Idea-shopping removal tool for automatic assistance and let it scan your PC and eliminate Idea-shopping in a fast and safe manner.
SUMMARY:
| Name | Idea-shopping |
| Type | Browser Hijacker |
| Detection Tool |
Remove Idea-shopping Virus
To try and remove Idea-shopping 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 Idea-shopping extension (as well as any other unfamiliar ones).
- Remove Idea-shopping by clicking on the Trash Bin icon next to its name.
- Confirm and get rid of Idea-shopping and any other suspicious items.
If this does not work as described please follow our more detailed Idea-shopping 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 Idea-shopping 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 Idea-shopping from Firefox:
Open Firefox, click 
——-> Add-ons —-> Extensions.
Remove Idea-shopping 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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