Smartlink.name Virus

Browser Hijacker
by Lidia Howler
April 19, 2023

Smartlink.name

Smartlink.name is a program that can mess with your web browser’s settings and redirect you to unfamiliar websites. Security experts classify Smartlink.name as a browser hijacker and suggest removing it in order to regain control over your web browser.

Smartlink.name

If your computer has been invaded by Smartlink.name, stay calm because this is not some dangerous virus, a Ransomware, or a Trojan horse. This is what is known as a browser hijacker, and you can find such programs on many web platforms for file-sharing or freeware, or similar sites from where free applications can be downloaded. The browser hijackers usually take over the web browser (which is why they are named “hijackers”) and impose their settings on it. For instance, they may set a new homepage, change the default search engine, modify the way the new tab page looks and even redirect user searches to specific websites without asking for approval. Programs like Smartlink.name can integrate with Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and other web browsers and fill them with ads, banners, and pop-ups. Changing your current browser will not remove the annoying software from the computer. That’s why this article explains how to effectively uninstall Smartlink.name and regain control of your preferred browsing app. What you will find below is a set of removal instructions that will help you deal with the unwanted software all on your own.

The Smartlink.name Virus

The sole purpose of most browser hijackers such as the Smartlink.name virus is to help their developers earn pay-per-click revenue by displaying large quantities of online ads on the screens of the web users. The greater the number of people who interact with the Smartlink.name virus ads, the greater the profits.

Software such as Smartlink.name will, therefore, try to ensure that every time you start a new browsing session, you’d see as many online ads on your screen as possible.

SUMMARY:

NameSmartlink.name
TypeBrowser Hijacker
Detection Tool

Please follow all the steps below in order to remove Smartlink.name!

How to remove Smartlink.name

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

How to Delete Smartlink.name

  1. Open task manager
  2. Look for the Smartlink.name process
  3. Select it and click on End task
  4. Open the file location to delete Smartlink.name
  • 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 “Smartlink.name” 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
    This scanner is free and will always remain free for our website's users.
    This file is not matched with any known malware in the database. You can either do a full real-time scan of the file or skip it to upload a new file. Doing a full scan with 64 antivirus programs can take up to 3-4 minutes per file.
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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 Smartlink.name

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

    If you don’t know exactly what Smartlink.name is up to, then you are probably concerned about your computer’s security. But, fortunately, this browser hijacker is NOT a malicious program. This, however, doesn’t mean it’s perfectly harmless to keep it on your system just because it’s not a virus, a Ransomware, or a Trojan horse. To be accurate, we need to say that Smartlink.name, Great Captcha Snow or Herofherlittl belongs to a class of programs called PUPs or potentially unwanted programs that don’t normally cause harm but could still cause some irritation and disturbance.
    Though this may look like a very clever tactic, it can be very unpleasant for the end-users and it is why most people prefer to remove the ad-generating software as soon as possible. Besides, such programs may usually interfere with the system’s registry keys in order to make the entire advertising process possible. This could potentially weaken the security of the computer and allow virus infection such as Ransomware and Trojans to exploit the vulnerabilities. So, the obvious solution here is to avoid any potential threats by uninstalling Smartlink.name and regaining control over your browser.


    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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