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Welcome to our Dopig Virus removal guide. The following instructions will aid you in removing the unwanted software from your PC.
Browser hijackers are easily among the most annoying programs on the internet and, unfortunately, every now and then many users are prone to running into one. Today we’ll be talking about a specific browser hijacker called Dopig Virus. It’s one of the latest representatives of this software category, but pretty much exhibits all the very same traits as most other programs of this type. You can usually tell that you’ve been infected by a hijacker once you notice the striking changes to your Chrome or Firefox browser’s appearance, such as the new default search engine and homepage. Other symptoms include the frequent page redirects that you begin to experience soon after for seemingly no reason. In addition, you will also surely have noticed by now that your browser is becoming increasingly filled with popups, banners, box messages and various other online ads that don’t seem to be tied to the websites you’re visiting. Below we will show you how to effectively remove these ads from your browser, as well as restore all your browser settings to their previous state. And to achieve that, you will need to remove Dopig Virus itself, which you can do with the help of our removal guide.
What purpose do hijackers actually serve?
Browser hijackers like Dopig Virus are usually designed for the sole purpose of promoting various products, services and websites. By that, in turn, they gain more exposure for those products and services on one hand and benefit the distributors and manufacturers; but on the other hand they also allow the hijacker developers to profit. And this is usually done with the help of remuneration models like Pay Per Click and others like it. Basically, these ensure that the developers can make money based on the number of clicks their ads gain from users much like yourself.
The downside of business models like this is, obviously, the irritation factor for the regular users. But on the other hand, things can actually become quite a bit more serious and involve deeper issues, such as the possibility of programs like Dopig Virus monitoring your browsing patterns. It’s a very common practice that hijackers can track your online activity and extract certain valuable information from it, such as the kinds of websites you visit, as well as the things you search for online. Even your latest social media activity can be closely watched and analyzed. All of this allows the hijacker to determine which of its ads will be more interesting to you. Then, in accords with the collected data, the browser hijacker can modify its ad flow and show you primarily only those ads that will be more likely to get you to click on them.
And this leads us to the next point, which is the kind of danger that Dopig Virus others of its kind represent. Yes, the above practice is disturbing and is, to an extent, a violation of your privacy. But it certainly isn’t a security breach. However, there are other more substantial risks that revolve around hijackers, such as the possibility of being exposed to actual viruses. This can happen as a result of being constantly bombarded with ads, because cyber criminals often use those to distribute their malicious programs, such as Trojan horse viruses and ransomware. Furthermore, the changes that these programs often introduce to the System Registry of their host computer can subsequently weaken the PC’s defense mechanisms and make it more vulnerable to external attacks.
If that’s reason enough for you to want to get rid of Dopig Virus, then once you’ve done so, you will most likely want to prevent such infections from ever occurring again. There are numerous sources of programs like this one, including spam emails and other hijackers that you may or may not have installed on your machine. But the most common source are of course program bundles. Usually people download some form of freeware or shareware and when they proceed to install it, they tend to neglect the more detailed installation options and head for the simpler and quicker Default or Standard option. That is exactly what results in the installation of other added programs that may not have been advertised in the beginning. So, in order for you to not unknowingly end up installing other programs like browser hijackers, try to always customize the installation settings of the wizard by opting for the Custom or Advanced option. That way you will most probably have the ability to leave out any added software components.
SUMMARY:
| Name | Dopig |
| Type | Browser Hijacker |
| Danger Level | Medium (nowhere near threats like Ransomware, but still a security risk) |
| Symptoms | Change in the default search engine and homepage of your browser |
| Distribution Method | Program bundles are the leading source, followed by spam emails, other hijackers, etc. |
Dopig Virus Removal
I – Safe mode and revealing hidden files
II – Uninstallation
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- Use the Winkey+R keyboard combination, write Control Panel in the search field and hit enter.
- Go to Uninstall a program under Programs.
- Seek the unwanted software, select it and then click on Uninstall
If you are unable to spot Dopig Virus, search for any unrecognized programs that you do not remember installing on your PC – the unwanted software might disguise itself by going under a different name.
III – Cleaning all your browsers
- Go to your browser’s icon, right-click on it and select Properties.
- Go to the Shortcut tab and in the Target make sure to delete anything written after “.exe”.
- Now, open your browser and follow the instructions below depending on whether you are using Chrome, Mozilla or IE.
- Chrome users:
- Go to your browser’s main menu located in the top-right corner of the screen and select Settings.
- Scroll down, click on Show Advanced Settings and then select Clear browsing data. Just to be sure, tick everything and clear the data.
- Now, in the left pane, go to Extensions and look through all extensions that are integrated within your browser. If you notice any suspicious add-on, disable it and then remove it.
- Firefox users:
- Similarly to Chrome, go to the main menu and select Add-ons and then Extensions.
- Remove any suspicious browser extensions that you may have even if they do not have the name Dopig Virus on them.
- IE users:
- Go to Tools and select Manage add-ons.
- Click on all add-on types from the left pane and check if there is anything suspicious in the right panel. In case you find anything shade, make sure to remove it.
IV – Removing Shady processes
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- Go to your start menu, type Task Manager in the search field and from the results open View running processes with Task Manager.
- Thoroughly look through all processes. The name Dopig Virus might not be there, but if you notice any shady looking process that consumes high amounts of memory it might be ran by the unwanted program.
- If you spot the process ran by Dopig Virus, right-click on it, open its file location and delete everything in there. Then go back to the Task Manager and end the process.
V – DNS check
- In the start menu search box write View Network Connections and open the first result.
- Right-click on the network connection you are using and go to Properties.
- Select Internet Protocol Version (TCP/IPv4) and click on Properties.
- If Obtain DNS server addresses automatically is not checked, check it.
- Go to Advanced and select the DNS If there is anything in the DNS server addresses field, remove it and click OK.
- Click OK on the rest of the opened windows.