Shbzek Virus

Browser Hijacker
by Violet George
March 3, 2023
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Shbzek

Shbzek is a software component that can only operate from within a browser program such a Chrome or Firefox. The main function of Shbzek (despite what its description might claim) is to generate revenue through web ads and page redirects that users get subjected to once the hijacker in on their computer.

Shbzek

To further make their advertising activities more effective, a lot of hijackers tend to tinker with or outright replace the search engine, the homepage and the new-tab page of the targeted browser. By making the homepage or the new tab page addresses of the browser a certain site that the hijacker is trying to sponsor, the pesky app is already able to significantly boost the number of visits that the said site would get.

And, by imposing a new search engine, the hijacker can then display search results to the users that are modified in such a way so that certain sites and pages would get promoted by being offered as the most relevant results. Aside from that, as we mentioned, if there is a hijacker on your machine, different pop-up ads, banners and frequent redirects are likely to spam your screen whenever you open your browser. Here, however, we are going to show you how you can easily deal with this annoyance by giving you a guide on how to remove the browser hijacker.

The Shbzek Virus

The Shbzek virus is a typical representative of the hijacker class which means that it will probably not initiate any harmful processes on your PC as it doesn’t contain malicious code that threats such as Trojans, spyware and ransomware viruses have in them. However, the Shbzek virus it’s still not software that we’d recommend you keep on your computer and there are a number of reasons for that:

SUMMARY:

NameShbzek
Type Adware/Browser Hijacker
Danger LevelMedium (nowhere near threats like Ransomware, but still a security risk)
Symptoms The changes to the browser and the nagging adverts and page redirects is what usually gives away the presence of a hijacker app.
Distribution MethodMostly via software bundles and different spam messages and web ads.
Detection Tool

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

How to remove Shbzek

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

How to Delete Shbzek

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

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

    Is Shbzek a virus?


    The first, and most obvious one, is the fact that it is annoying and oftentimes frustrating to have around. However, aside from that, another important reason to uninstall Shbzek is that it might actually show you inappropriate or maybe even potentially hazardous ads that may not be what they initially seem. Hijackers are also known for monitoring the users’ browsing activities in order to gain valuable telemetry marketing data and while this is mostly legal, it’s still probably not something you’d want. So, our advice for you is to use the provided guide or the specialized removal tool in it to remove Shbzek and also to be cautious in the future with regards to what sites you tend to visit, what web content you interact with and what sources you use to download new programs and apps.


    About the author

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    Violet George

    Violet is an active writer with a passion for all things cyber security. She enjoys helping victims of computer virus infections remove them and successfully deal with the aftermath of the attacks. But most importantly, Violet makes it her priority to spend time educating people on privacy issues and maintaining the safety of their computers. It is her firm belief that by spreading this information, she can empower web users to effectively protect their personal data and their devices from hackers and cybercriminals.

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