Video Downloader by Skyload Malware

Video Downloader by Skyload

Video Downloader by Skyload is a browser hijacker that is known for getting installed inside Chrome and Firefox browsers in order to mess with them and flood them with ads. However, Video Downloader by Skyload is not some nasty Trojan Horse, a Ransomware or a Spyware infection but a rather harmless ad-generating and page-redirecting browser element that belongs to the browser hijacker category of unwanted applications, which try to get user impressions or clicks on certain sponsored ads and links.

The program normally tries to generate money by initiating automatic redirects to certain sites and also by spamming the screen with pay-per-click ads, pop-ups, banners, and page-redirects. In order to promote its sponsored messages better, Video Downloader by Skyload may place some changes in the browser’s homepage or search engine settings and to install some additional components in the taskbar. As most ad-generating applications of its kind like Wave browser, Humisnee this browser hijacker may affect popular browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Explorer and others and collect various data related to Internet user browsing activity. For these potentially unwanted activities, Video Downloader by Skyload may often be seen as an unwanted application/page which may cause ads disturbances and unwelcomed browser modifications. The good news is that, in the next lines, we will provide you with a detailed removal guide that will help you remove it from most web browsers, as well as a professional removal tool that can safely uninstall all the potentially unwanted changes from your PC.

Before you scroll down to the instructions, however, let us tell you a few words about the distribution of Browser Hijackers in general and the methods to protect your PC from them in the future. As you may know, many free download websites offer download managers to monetize their free software and Internet traffic through download-administrators. These download managers oftentimes contain bundled additional applications (browser hijackers, adware, etc.), the purpose of which is to get installed on the system along with the main software that you want to install and to generate pay-per-click revenue from the ads they display. However, most people don’t pay close attention to the permissions they give to the installation managers and usually follow the default/automatic setup steps. These steps sometimes include clauses that allow the installation of certain ad-generating components, such as Video Downloader by Skyload, which may initiate a replacement of the default browser’s homepage or search engine or the installation of some third-party sponsored tools and this is how the users may end up with a browser hijacker in their browsers. Fortunately, you can easily prevent those installations by simply choosing the advanced or custom setup options.

The custom installation allows you to see exactly what you are installing and gives you the option to remove any additional components from the setup package. If you skip those options, however, and end up with a potentially unwanted app on your PC (or Mac), you may need the assistance of a professional removal tool or a manual removal guide to effectively uninstall the related components and remove the aggressive ads. This is because the browser hijacker may nest deep inside the system and may start spamming you with all types of suspicious and misleading advertisements in your search results.  Moreover, the displayed in-text ads, pop-ups, and banners could expose your computer to potential danger as they may link to different unknown pages or dangerous programs (including Trojan and Ransomware transmitters) and redirects of malicious browser extensions.

SUMMARY:

Name	Video Downloader by Skyload
Type	Browser Hijacker
Detection Tool	Some threats reinstall themselves if you don't delete their core files. We recommend downloading SpyHunter to remove harmful programs for you. This may save you hours and ensure you don't harm your system by deleting the wrong files. Download SpyHunter (Free Remover)* OFFER *Read more details in the first ad on this page, EULA, Privacy Policy, and full terms for Free Remover.

Remove Video Downloader by Skyload Malware

To remove Video Downloader by Skyload, start by checking each browser on your PC for rogue components added by the hijacker and deleting them.

1. Open the browser’s menu and visit its Extensions/Add-ons settings.
2. If you see anything in the list of extensions that you haven’t installed yourself, remove it.
3. Also remove anything that you think may be causing disturbances or other issues in the browser.
4. To remove Video Downloader by Skyload, you must repeat the previous three steps for every browser on the computer.

If deleting the rogue browser extensions from every browser on your PC doesn’t resolve the problem with Video Downloader by Skyload, you will have to complete several additional steps to ensure that there’s nothing left from this hijacker in the system. Detailed instructions on how to perform those steps are available below.

Detailed Video Downloader by Skyload Removal Guide Because some of the steps below require a system restart, it’s suggested that you either add this page to your browser’s bookmarks or that you open it on another device to have quicker access to it and not waste any time trying to find it after the restart.

Step 1

The first thing that needs to be done is to ensure that there aren’t any rogue programs installed on your computer that may be the cause of the hijacker infection.

You can see all currently installed programs by going to the Start Menu > Control Panel > Uninstall a Program. In that list, your task is to search for questionable and/or unfamiliar apps and programs that could be linked to Video Downloader by Skyload. If there’s indeed a rogue program that has brought Video Downloader by Skyload into your computer among the entries in that list, its installation date would probably be just before you started noticing the problems with Video Downloader by Skyload.

Obviously, if you see a suspicious program that you think may be related to the problematic hijacker, you should uninstall it – simply click on it and then on the Uninstall button from the top and follow the steps shown in the uninstallation wizard that should show up on your screen. One thing to note here is that you mustn’t agree to any suggestions from the uninstaller that offer you to keep on your PC personalized settings or other data related to the unwanted program rather than deleting it.

Step 2

WARNING! READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING!

Next, you have to ensure that there are no rogue processes running on your PC at the moment. To do that, evoke the Task Manager window by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc and select Processes.

See what items shown in the Processes list are consuming the largest amounts of CPU and virtual memory (it helps if you sort the list by CPU/memory usage) and try to find among them processes with unusual names that seem sketchy to you.

Another possible red flag is if there are two processes with very similar names (for instance, Google Chrome.exe and Chrome.exe). In such cases, it’s likely that one of the two similar processes is a disguised rogue process.

If you notice anything you deem strange, use your own judgement as well as the power of looking things up on the Internet to determine if a given process may be related to the malware that’s currently in your system.

If you think you have found the rogue process you’ve been looking for, there’s one final test that you can perform: right-click the process, then click on Open File Location, and test the files in the folder that appears on your screen for malware code. We recommend that you use the free online scanner we’ve provided right below:

The first thing you should do if malware is found during the scans is to right-click the related rogue process again and quit it by selecting the End Process button.

Once you do that, your next task is to delete everything in its file location folder. If one or more of the files “refuse” to be deleted, don’t worry about them and simply proceed with the next steps. Just make sure that once you’ve done everything else from this guide, you return to the Location Folder of the rogue process and delete it.

Note: Sometimes, even if the process is rogue, it’s possible that none of the files in its location folder get flagged as malware. However, if you’ve found reliable information that the process is harmful, then you should still quit it and delete its location folder.

Step 3 To make sure Video Downloader by Skyload doesn’t launch any of its rogue processes again, it’s strongly recommended that your computer gets put into Safe Mode and that you complete the following steps while in that mode.

Step 4 In this step, you will need to use the Run window to go to several types of system settings. To evoke that window, press together the Winkey (the key with the Windows logo next to the left Alt key) and the R key. Now type ncpa.cpl in Run and press Enter to continue. A window with different network icons should appear on your screen – right-click on the network that’s currently in use (it should be the one that doesn’t have an X). Then go to Properties, find the Internet Protocol Version 4 item in the list of items, select it, and then select Properties again. In the window that shows up, the following two options must be enabled, so if they aren’t at the moment, enable them:

• Obtain an IP address automatically
• Obtain DNS server address automatically

Then go to Advanced > the DNS tab and there delete any IPs that may be shown in the list and click on OK on everything after that.

Now go to the Run window again, type msconfig, click on OK and then select Startup in the newly-opened window. The list you will see on your screen contains the apps, programs, and services that automatically start on your computer every time it boots up. Normally, the items you see there should be familiar to you, so if you notice anything that you do not recognize, uncheck it. Also do the same with any other questionable-looking items and ones that are shown to have an unknown manufacturer (unless you know they are safe). After you’ve unchecked all items that you don’t trust, select OK.

Now type this “notepad %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/hosts“, then click OK, and when a text file (named Hosts) shows up on your screen, see if there are any IP addresses or any other text written in it below the “Localhost” line. Typically, there shouldn’t be anything below it, so if there is, copy what’s there, paste it in the comments and once we see your comment, we will tell you if anything needs to be done about what’s in your Hosts file.

Step 5 Warning!: Before you start completing this step, know that you proceed with caution and only delete Registry items that are confirmed to be from the hijacker. If you can’t be sure about an item, ask us in the comments, and delete it only if we confirm that that’s what you need to do. If you delete an item that’s not from the hijacker, you may damage your PC’s system. To open the Registry Editor, first go to your Start Menu, type regedit, hit Enter, and then select Yes if you are required to give your permission to the app. Once you see the Registry Editor on your screen, click Edit from the top, then go to Find and type Video Downloader by Skyload in the search box that pops up. Click on Find Next and delete whatever gets found. To see if there are other items related to the hijacker, search for Video Downloader by Skyload again and delete the next thing.

The goal is to make sure that everything related to Video Downloader by Skyload is deleted and that there are no more results when you search for Video Downloader by Skyload in the Registry.

Next, find these three locations in the left panel of the Registry Editor by expanding the various folders.

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Random Directory
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/Main

Search each of the locations for items with odd names that appear random and out of place. For instance, if there’s an item with a name like this one “2398yrf892ht98240193udj2489t18urf08” or something similar to it, you should probably delete it.

Step 6 To finish the removal process, check each of your browsers once more to make sure that they are clean. Start by right-clicking the icon of the computer’s main browser, opening its Properties window, and selecting the Shortcut section. In it, you will see a field labelled Target – make sure that you delete from it anything that may be written after “.exe” and then click on OK. Next, you must start the browser, open its main menu (it is usually in either top corner of the browser window), and select the Extensions (or Add-ons) option. For Chrome users, you must first click on the More Tools button in the browser menu, which will reveal a sub-menu and in it will be the Extensions option. When you see the different browser extensions on your screen, do the same thing you did at the start of the guide and disable and then delete the items that seem unwanted or unneeded.

After that, select the browser menu again and click on the button labelled Settings (or Options depending on the browser).

On the page that opens, find the Privacy and Security settings section, open it, and then locate and click on a button labelled Clear Data/Clear Browsing Data or, if you are in Microsoft Edge, click the Choose what to clear button.

Make sure that the only box that’s left unchecked in the newly-opened window is the Passwords one and then launch the deletion command by clicking on Clear Data.

After the deletion is complete, go to your other browsers and perform the actions from this step in them.

If you are still having problems with Video Downloader by Skyload Unfortunately, sometimes hijackers like Video Downloader by Skyload infiltrate the system too deeply or are helped by another malware, and this makes removing them manually not feasible. For that reason, if you are still having issues with Video Downloader by Skyload, our advice is to use the professional anti-malware tool available here to clean your PC from the rogue hijacker and from any other unwanted software that may be lurking in the system at the moment. Note that Trojans, Rootkits, and other threats are often used to spread hijackers and provide them with persistence in the infected machine, so it’s preferable if a specialized program like the one we mentioned scans your computer and deletes any such hidden threats that it may find.