Thewowfeed Virus

Thewowfeed

Thewowfeed is a junkware app for Windows PC that resembles a browser add-on but is more accurately categorized as a browser hijacker. Thewowfeed is deemed unwanted because it changes the browser’s settings without one’s permission and is known for aggressively promoting different sites. 

The Thewowfeed virus adds a new search engine service to browser

This app can get installed in virtually any browser compatible with the Windows operating system, which means that it doesn’t matter what browser you normally use as it won’t be immune against Thewowfeed. Of course, the most commonly targeted browsers by such hijackers are the ones that get used by the largest number of people – Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Opera. However, this doesn’t mean that other browsers can’t get affected by the hijacker as well.

Once this app installs in the browser, Thewowfeed adds a new search engine service to it and changes the homepage to the address of some site that it is supposed to promote and advertise. Online promotion is the main purpose of apps like this one – they are specialized in providing exposure and artificially drawing more traffic to certain sites, the owners of which have paid a commission for the promotional service. They get their sites’ ratings increased and the creators of hijackers like Thewowfeed and Reverse Captcha get paid for the services they provide. The ones who don’t gain anything are the end-users, who get forced to deal with the endless generation of obstructive ads, the sudden automatic page-redirects caused by the hijacker, and the unwanted and unwelcome changes introduced to their browsers. In most cases, having a browser hijacker in your browser means that you won’t be able to normally surf the Internet and you’d be constantly getting disrupted by various forms of online advertisement.

The Thewowfeed Virus

If the irritation coming from the Thewowfeed virus isn’t enough to convince you to uninstall it, then consider the following: Even though the Thewowfeed virus in your system isn’t a virus that will harm your computer, it might actually make your computer more predisposed to attacks from Ransomware, Spyware, or Trojans.

This is mainly caused by the changes the unwanted app introduces to your browser and system and the uncontrolled ads it spams your screen with. The changes may create vulnerabilities easily-exploitable by Trojans and other malware and the random ads may sometimes originate from sites used for the distribution of Ransomware cryptoviruses. All in all, keeping Thewowfeed in your computer really isn’t an advisable thing to do. However, removing this hijacker may be a somewhat tricky task, especially for the less experienced users. Those apps are deliberately designed to be difficult to get rid of, which is the reason a lot of users are unable to properly dispose of the invasive hijacker. However, we may have what you need for the removal of this app right below this article. The following instructions will guide you through the necessary steps you must complete in order to ensure the full removal of Thewowfeed and the removal tool that’s been linked there will aid you with detecting and eliminating any potential leftovers.

SUMMARY:

Remove Thewowfeed Virus

To try and remove Thewowfeed quickly you can try this:

1. Go to your browser’s settings and select More Tools (or Add-ons, depending on your browser).
2. Then click on the Extensions tab.
3. Look for the Thewowfeed extension (as well as any other unfamiliar ones).
4. Remove Thewowfeed by clicking on the Trash Bin icon next to its name.
5. Confirm and get rid of Thewowfeed and any other suspicious items.

If this does not work as described please follow our more detailed Thewowfeed 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:

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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.

1. Right-click on the Network Adapter you are using —> Properties —> Internet Protocol Version 4 (ICP/IP), click  Properties.
2. The DNS line should be set to Obtain DNS server automatically. If it is not, set it yourself.
3. 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 Thewowfeed 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 Thewowfeed from Firefox:

Open Firefox, click    ——-> Add-ons —-> Extensions.

Remove Thewowfeed 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!