The Great Suspender
The Great Suspender can infect most popular web browsing programs including Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Edge. After it integrates with the browser, The Great Suspender begins to spam it with various online ads.
The Great Suspender malware on Chrome
But in addition to flooding your favorite browser with popups, box messages and banners of every shape and size, the invasive application also changes some of the browser’s fundamental settings. On the one hand this is done in order to support the generation of said ads. And on the other it is done in order to help promote specific web locations.
For example, you may have noticed that as soon as The Great Suspender appeared on your computer, your browser’s homepage mysteriously changed all on its own as well. The same might also be true for the default search engine, any toolbars you may have had (or never had before but have now), etc. Furthermore, as a result of The Great Suspender’s presence in your OS, your browser may start initiating page redirects to seemingly random websites.
This is why the software category to which The Great Suspender belongs to is popularly known as browser hijackers. And the only possible way you can clear all of the changes made by this program in your browser is if you remove it altogether from your PC.
Only this process may not be as simple as it sounds. The creators of browser hijackers tend to omit a regular uninstallation menu that you see in most other software applications. Hence, users are found having to manually search for all the components of the intrusive hijacker and delete them one by one. The problem here is that if you happen to miss a given file, the hijacker may reinstall itself on the computer and continue to spam you with unwanted ads.
This is why we’ve created the below removal guide. It’s free to use and contains all the steps necessary to completely rid yourself of The Great Suspender once and for all. You can also make use of the professional removal tool if you’d rather save yourself the time and effort of handling things manually.
The Great Suspender Malware on Chrome
You are probably quite frustrated with the presence of The Great Suspender malware in your system as it is. And that’s more than understandable. A comfortable and efficient browsing experience is essential in our daily lives.
However, removing The Great Suspender isn’t just about getting back to surfing the internet undisturbed. It’s also a safety matter.
Browser hijackers like The Great Suspender, Flash Video Downloader, Stream Video Downloader or Universal Video Downloader actually run the risk of exposing users to potential threats. This can happen as a result of being redirected to an unsafe website, for example. Or you may click on an ad that’s been compromised by hackers. And as a result, you could possibly be facing a virus infection. Now, that’s not to say that The Great Suspender is a virus as well. But it’s a good idea to have it removed in order to minimize your chances of bumping into some treacherous Trojan horse or sophisticated ransomware cryptovirus.
With that in mind, we’d also recommend being more mindful about your browsing habits in general from now on, especially of your download sources.
SUMMARY:
| Name | The Great Suspender |
| Type | Browser Hijacker |
| Detection Tool |
Remove The Great Suspender malware from Chrome
In certain cases, The Great Suspender can be removed from the Extensions tab on your browser and that can solve the problem. That’s why we suggest you try first the steps below and if they don’t help, use the more detailed instructions in the guide that follows.
- In your hijacked browser, tap on Settings and select More Tools (or Add-ons).
- After that, open the tab called Extensions.
- If you spot The Great Suspender in the list, remove it.
- Also, look for other suspicious extensions that have been added without your consent and remove them as well.
The best way to complete this guide without interruptions is to Bookmark this page as there may be some steps where you will have to close down your browser. Also, we recommend that you reboot the system in Safe Mode in order to increase your chances of detecting the browser hijacker and removing it from all system locations.
WARNING! READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING!
Once the computer boots in Safe Mode, use the CTRL + SHIFT + ESC key combination to open the Windows Task Manager. Then, select the Processes Tab (in Windows 10 it is named “Details“) and search for dangerous processes in the list. A dangerous process could be a process that behaves in an unusual way (for instance it uses way too much CPU and Memory than normal, does not respond, or doesn’t seem to be related to any legitimate program). Carefully look in the list and try to determine the process or processes related to The Great Suspender.
When you find them, right-click on each of them and select the Open File Location option. Then go back to this page and use the scanner below to check the files in that location for malware:
If the scan results show that the checked files are dangerous, end their processes from the Processes tab and delete their folders from the File Location.
Next, tap on the Start menu button at the bottom left and type Control Panel in the search field. Select it and once you get there, look for entries that are linked to The Great Suspender or look questionable. If you find any, uninstall them.
After that, go back to the search field, type msconfig and hit enter.
The System Configuration window will open on the screen. Select Startup and remove the checkmark for any entries that seem to have a relation with The Great Suspender. Click OK to save the changes.
This additional step will show you how to check if your computer is hacked. For that, press the Start and R keyboard keys together and copy the line below in the Run window that pops up on the screen:
notepad %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/hosts
Click the OK button to run the copied command.
A file named Hosts will open up. Scroll it down and find where it writes “Localhost”. Then check for questionable IPs below Localhost. If you detect any, just as it is shown in the image below, please leave us a comment in the section at the end of this article. This may be a sign that your computer is hacked.
Next, go to Network Connections (Start menu>>type “Network Connections” in the search field )and open it. After that, right-click on the Network Adapter you are using. Select> Properties > Internet Protocol Version 4 (ICP/IP), and click on its Properties button. Select “Obtain DNS server automatically” and then click on Advanced. In the Advanced TCP/IP Settings window tap on the DNS tab and remove all rogue DNS addresses as shown on the image below. Finally, click OK.
Now, let’s remove The Great Suspender from your browsers. The example instructions below are for Google Chrome, but they can be applied also for Firefox and IE/Edge.
Start with a Right click on the browser’s shortcut icon and then tap on Properties.
In the Properties window, select the Shortcut tab. After that, find where it is written Target and remove everything that has been added after .exe.
Remove The Great Suspender from Internet Explorer:
Open Internet Explorer, click 
and then select Manage Add-ons.
In the Add-ons list, find the The Great Suspender-related add-ons and click on Disable. After that, click again on at the top right and choose Internet Options. If your homepage URL has been changed by The Great Suspender, replace it with a homepage that you prefer and click on Apply.
Remove The Great Suspender from Firefox:
Open the hijacked Firefox browser, click 
then select Add-ons > Extensions.
Remove the The Great Suspender-related extensions from the list.
Remove The Great Suspender from Chrome:
Close Chrome, open “My Computer” and manually go to:
C:/Users/!!!!USER NAME!!!!/AppData/Local/Google/Chrome/User Data. Find the folder named “Default” and change its name to Backup Default. Save it this way and restart Chrome.
In the windows search field type Regedit and press Enter. The Registry Editor should open up immediately. In it, press CTRL and F keyboard keys to open the Find function. Then type the name of the browser hijacker that is causing you trouble in the text filed and perform a search. Delete the entries that are found by right-clicking on them.
If nothing is detected in this way, go manually to the directories listed below and delete/uninstall 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
If you can’t decide what exactly needs to be deleted, please use the recommended professional removal tool and scan your computer with it. Also, feel free to write us in the comments below if you face any difficulties with any of the steps.
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