Relatively recently, a fairly large number of browser hijacking viruses have appeared on the World Wide Web, which also combine the functions of a spammer. And one of them is top-arama. How to remove it, now and will be considered. We note in advance that this technique is suitable for almost all threats of this type.
What is the Search.top-arama.com virus?
In general, recently there has been an increased activity of viruses of this type. Take at least the same Wajam.
As a rule, such viruses are targeted much further than ordinary user computers. Basically, their ultimate goal is to be introduced into social networks in order to lure a naive user to some site that provides, for example, paid software, through advertising and clicking on a link. This is where the question arises: “How to remove top-arama from the computer?” In principle, this is easy to do. The main thing is to be patient. But first things first.
Impact on the system
Like many similar viruses, this worm affects the system only in terms of user surfingon the Internet. By analogy with the same Wajam and many other Trojans, it will replace the search engine and pages in browsers that open by default, making it difficult to work on the World Wide Web. With deeper integration, the virus manifests itself in a more active stage and begins to steal confidential user data (logins, passwords, etc.) and can even connect to the Internet on its own, accessing the same social networks on behalf of the user and sending redirect links to predefined resources.
The penetration of the virus into the system is not particularly original. It mostly ends up on user's computer terminals when installing some applications taken from unreliable sources (and this applies equally to freeware and shareware programs), when downloading various kinds of screensavers or decorations for Windows.
But the saddest thing is that this virus installs not only its own files, but also several additional programs that the average user may not even be aware of. If they are not removed, even after cleaning the system of the virus, it may reactivate.
First symptoms of infection
So, what should you pay attention to first? First of all, if you notice that the start page has changed, this is the first call. As a rule, instead of the default page, the Top-arama.com search engine window is displayed.
How to remove it in the safest way? Here is what needs to be donea few steps (note that the usual disabling of add-ons in the browser will not lead to anything). Based on this, one can imagine a certain sequence of actions that must be performed without fail.
You should also pay attention that sometimes a virus can affect the disk check system that is available in Windows. Often a false scan result is issued, followed by an offer to purchase some kind of licensed software to fix failures and system errors in the hard drive. As it is already clear, this should not be done in any case.
Search.top-arama.com. How to Remove a Virus: Basic Steps
For almost all viruses of this type, standard actions are applied, which include the following aspects:
- end active process;
- disable virus autoload;
- standard removal of the program and related components;
- registry cleaning;
- deleting the virus body and residual files;
- disabling the add-on and changing Internet browser settings.
Search.top-arama. How to remove malware: detailed instructions
Now consider the sequence of actions in more detail. So, the computer is infected with the top-arama virus. How to remove it with the simplest method?
First, call the standard "Task Manager" either by Ctrl + "Image" + Del, or by the taskmgr command from the "Run" menu (Win + R). In the tree of processes launched by all users, we find the process of interest to us (inin this case, top-arama) and force-quit it.
Next, you need to extract the virus from startup (trust me, there is a link to top-arama). How to remove it from here? It's also simple. We call the configuration menu with the msconfig command from the previous Run menu, go to the corresponding tab and uncheck the process.
Now in the "Control Panel" we find the application in the list of installed programs (programs and components menu or the add or remove programs section, depending on the version of Windows). We perform the standard uninstallation procedure.
After that, sort the installed programs by installation date. Here you need to pay attention to the recently installed applications. As a rule, they have the same date. If you see something dubious, and one that you did not explicitly install, remove it all immediately (these are the accompanying components of the virus).
The next step is to look at the top-arama virus again. How to remove its keys from the system registry? We use the entrance to the editor. It is done using the regedit command in the same Run menu. Doing a manual search is a thankless task, but it will take a lot of time, especially if you don’t know where to look. Search will help here. We call it either from the main menu, or with the combination Ctrl + F and enter the string top-arama in the search field. All found items are subject todeletion.
But that's not all. If you figure out how to remove the top-arama search engine, in the end you need to get rid of the body of the virus by deleting its files on your hard drive. Basically, the key file with the same name is located in the Windows root directory on the system drive. Although there are exceptions.
We have one more aspect related to the top-arama virus. How to remove it from the hard drive? Again, use the search system in any file manager with the top-arama string entered in the field. Please note: the virus can hide its files. To display them, use the view menu, in which you select the options for displaying hidden files and folders. At the same time, you should not use the line for hiding systemically important files of the system itself, who knows, maybe he disguised himself there. On this, in fact, the first stage ends.
Additional tools
As for additional tools, some people recommend using the special Search.top-arama.com Removal Tool. Frankly, it causes quite a lot of distrust, as well as packages like Spyhunter, which will then be much more difficult to get rid of than the virus itself.
At the stage of uninstalling the program, it is better to use professional packages like iObit Uninstaller or Revo Uninstaller Pro. Such programs allow not only to remove the main files of the virus, but also find residual files and registry keys left after the removal of the main content.
Disabling the add-on inbrowsers
Now it remains only to disable (delete) the add-on in Internet browsers, and not only from the default one used by the system, but from all installed ones, since the virus is able to recognize them and implements its settings everywhere, and also change the start page of the download when start applications.
How to remove (http) search.top-arama.com? It all depends on the browser. For example, in Internet Explorer, add-ons can be accessed from the main menu, called by the combination "Image" + X, and the page can be changed in the Internet Options section.
In Mozilla Firefox, the start page is changed from the general settings tab, and the add-on is disabled in the add-ons section. In Google Chrome, you can use the Startup section to change the home page, disable the add-on - the menu of add-ons (plugins). By the way, it is desirable to change the search client through the appropriate section of search engine management. In general, such actions should not cause difficulties.
Instead of afterword
To conclude all of the above, users should give a little advice. First, do not ignore antivirus warnings about an unwanted transition to some resource. Secondly, if some program is already loaded in the form of an archive or an executable file, it is better to check it with a regular scanner first. Thirdly, after all, at the stage of a standard removal of a virus program, it is better not to resort to the built-in Windows uninstaller, but to run more powerful utilities. Incidentally, their usecan help save time by skipping the steps to remove registry keys and residual files on the drive.
