Overheatusa Virus

Browser Hijacker
by Lidia Howler
May 12, 2023

Overheatusa

Overheatusa is a standard representative of the software class of browser hijackers. The most popular web browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, Edge and others are a target of Overheatusa and the program typically hijacks their settings to facilitate its activities.

Overheatusa
The Overheatusa virus will display pop up ads and make your browsing experience unpleasant

How to remove Overheatusa?

Browser hijackers such as Overheatusa can often be mistaken for viruses or malware even though they have no damaging capacities. However, these associations still have a very strong basis, which originates from the fact that the hijackers’ aggressive advertising methods sometimes put users at risk of being exposed to dangerous external threats.

You may, for example, be automatically redirected to an unsafe page that cybercriminals have secretly compromised. Or you may happen to click on a malicious web ad that may deliver some terrible Trojan horse virus or a ransomware infection in your system. And even if this doesn’t happen, for as long as the hijacker is present in the system, you may still have to endure an endless stream of promotional messages that prompt you to purchase different questionable products or services or download some unnecessary software on your system.

That’s why if you don’t want to constantly be forced to interact with aggressive web ads and to endure unexpected page redirects to random sites, we highly recommend that you take a step further and uninstall Overheatusa from your computer. The instructions in the removal guide below can help you safely get rid of the unwanted homepage and search engine settings, as well as any other unnecessary components related to this program. As far as your online safety is concerned, remember that it is always a good idea not to communicate with random online advertising materials because malicious ads are still one of the main methods that hackers use to spread malware.

SUMMARY:

NameOverheatusa
TypeBrowser Hijacker
Detection Tool

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

How to remove Overheatusa

  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 Overheatusa in the programs list that would show up.
  3. Select Overheatusa from the list and click on Uninstall.
  4. Follow the steps in the removal wizard.

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.

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

How to Delete Overheatusa

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

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

    As soon as it gets installed in the system, Overheatusa is designed to change the default search engine to a different one and to replace the homepage URL with a domain that generates pay-per-visit revenue. The changes that the program makes are usually imposed on the users since they are not asked to directly approve them and are also not given the option to uninstall or remove them manually. This guarantees that whenever the browser is opened, users will automatically be redirected to visit specific web addresses and will have no other option but to endure the shower of promotional messages, sponsored ads, pop-ups and banners on their screen. You will need to remove Overheatusa completely from your system if you want to rid yourself of all these unwanted browser changes and sponsored ads. Unfortunately, it isn’t always that simple to do this, that’s why we have created a thorough removal guide to show you the exact steps.
    Many web users pay insufficient attention to their browser’s safety and are careless about apps and add-ons which they incorporate into their browsers. However, it is not recommended to add unknown web elements and add-ons in your computer and let them make unauthorized changes to your user settings because any modification in your personal configurations may not only adversely affect your browsing experience but also put your system in danger and increase the risk of encounter with malware like Trojans (Altruistics), ransomware (Gatz, Qore), spyware and other notorious threats (Segurazo Antivirus).


    About the author

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    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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