Tunnelbuilder Virus

Browser Hijacker
by Violet George
June 7, 2023
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*Source of claim SH can remove it.

Tunnelbuilder

Tunnelbuilder is a browser hijacker that can embed itself in most popular web browsers. Once embedded, Tunnelbuilder will typically begin to meddle with the browser’s settings and impose changes to the homepage and/or search engine.

Tunnelbuilder
The Tunnelbuilder virus will display pop up ads and notifications

Nobody likes to see ads and automatic page redirects in their browser when they are surfing the web and trying to get to a certain site or page. Then again, web ads are inescapable nowadays. And no matter how hard you try to keep away from sites that have them and no matter how good your ad blocker is, you will still more than likely come to experience the annoyance that comes with getting your screen swarmed with intrusive pop-ups, pop-unders, banners and other similar promotional messages inside your Chrome, Edge, Safari, Firefox or some other browser.

If you are here because you’ve noticed that the Tunnelbuilder hijacker has gotten installed in your browser and you wish to remove it from there, you can make use of the instructions you will see next. In case you face any difficulties while trying to uninstall the invasive Tunnelbuilder, be sure to tell us in the comments section and we will try to help you.

SUMMARY:

NameTunnelbuilder
Type Browser Hijacker
Danger LevelMedium (nowhere near threats like Ransomware, but still a security risk)
Detection Tool

anti-malware offerOFFER Read more details in the first ad on this page, EULA, Privacy Policy, and full terms for Free Remover.

*Source of claim SH can remove it.

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

How to remove Tunnelbuilder Virus

  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 Tunnelbuilder in the programs list that would show up.
  3. Select Tunnelbuilder 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 Tunnelbuilder.
  • If you find any of the programs suspicious then uninstall them if they turn out to be linked to Tunnelbuilder.
  • 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 Tunnelbuilder 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 Tunnelbuilder extension

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

How to remove Tunnelbuilder

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

How to Delete Tunnelbuilder

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

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

    The real problem, however, comes when the ads seem to show up even on sites that aren’t known for their aggressive advertising activities. If this has recently been happening in your browser and if, in addition to it, the starting page, the toolbar or maybe the search engine have been replaced without you having been asked for your permission, then you most probably have a browser hijacker app such as XXX on your hands. This is a form of software that is widely regarded as undesirable and you can probably see why that is so after reading the potential symptoms that we’ve just mentioned. XXX, like Searchmenow.gg, is simply one of the newest additions to this category of applications and we are here to tell you more about it.
    However, notice how we said “app” and not “virus” when referring to the software that is likely responsible for the invasive ads and unwanted browser changes that you’ve been struggling with. This is because, despite being highly irritating and frustrating to have in your computer, representatives of this software category aren’t really malicious and harmful. As a matter of fact, they are usually legal software pieces that aren’t used for any form of cybercrime. This is what sets them apart from Trojans, spyware, worms and ransomware viruses (or any other form of actual malware).


    Is Tunnelbuilder dangerous?

    Still, though, even if an app of the hijacker category won’t directly try to mess with the system of your computer or do anything bad to your personal files, it would still be quite an annoyance to always get ads, page-redirects and pop-ups in the browser whenever you try to use it. Besides, not all of the commercial messages that get shown on the screen of your browser are to be trusted. Some may not actually be linked to what they seem to advertise. If you are not more careful, you may indeed get to experience some nasty ransomware or Trojan horse infection after clicking on the wrong advert and getting redirected to some illegal site with malware in it.


    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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