How to remove Lucky Starting “Virus”

[bannerTop]

Welcome to our Lucky Starting “Virus” removal guide. The following instructions will aid you in removing the unwanted software from your PC.

First of all, browser hijackers are not dangerous programs in the real sense of this word. Lucky Starting “Virus” is an exact member of this group. As a typical browser hijacker, it might integrate itself into the most popular browser apps that you may have installed on your PC: from Opera and Explorer to Chrome and Firefox. All of them could get influenced by this program, and might start behaving in a different way from what they used to be like before the infection:
* redirection to many different promotional and sponsored web addresses;
* modifications in the way your browser apps look, related to the default search engines and homepages, which are displayed;
* some rather intensive production of plenty of pop-ups and other online ads is also one of the possible consequences, which may come directly as a result of the infection with Lucky Starting “Virus”.

What type of a contamination is the one inflicted by Lucky Starting “Virus” (or any other hijacker)?

It is true that hijackers might really infect any PC, however, the contamination they might cause is not malicious at all. Often it is just too irritating to bear. On the other hand, the infections caused by malicious programs like Trojans or Ransomware versions are really dangerous (unlike the one caused by a browser hijacker) and normally result in file encryption, screen-locking; or activities spying, data theft or other illegal things. 

If hijackers are not malware versions, why are they so irritating?

The browser hijackers we know about could cause much annoyance because of their ability to send the victim user to web pages that are not among the ones the user had ever planned to visit. In addition, the can change the usual browser homepage and/or search engine; as well as invoke the generation of a really big number of various ads. Despite that, this may happen because they have been set to perform such annoying activities in the first place: as of the desire of their programmers to generate bigger profits. Normally, software developers make more money if the hijackers they create are able to result in bigger ad campaigns (more cases of redirecting, more advertisements, more web pages/search engines and homepages being promoted).

How does more the majority of  hijacker infections take place?

Generally, browser hijackers may be lurking inside nearly everything, which could be found on the web. Some of them might be incorporated in torrents; others may be components of websites. Other versions could get spread via spam or fake ads. Still, the most usual way of getting infected by Lucky Starting “Virus” is via downloading and incorrectly installing any free bundle from the Internet. In case you you have never heard this term before, bundles are combos of a number of various programs, bundled and spread together. Inside such a combo you may find games, apps, Adware versions, hijackers and other types of various software. However, bear in mind that the simple act of downloading a bundle is not the actual reason for any recorded contamination. Installing such a software set in an incorrect way, however, IS. Our next paragraph is focused on installing any program in the best possible way, in order to avoid potential infections with anything dangerous or annoying programs.

Performing an installation process like a PRO and staying away from programs like Lucky Starting “Virus”:

Completing a safe installation process may be very tricky because you could simply be interested in using a given product from the to-be-installed bundle. What’s more, you might want it as quickly as possible and if this is your case, you could end up installing all of the components of a bundle. The necessary safe installation process will only be possible if you select the Customized feature of any installation wizard. All the other possible choices – Quick, Default or Automatic, are not a good idea when it comes to your PC’s safety and good condition. Consequently, you had better always try to avoid them. Only the Customized manner of installing all the programs you download will give you the opportunity to opt out of all undesired software from a given bundle.

The process of removing hijackers:

If you have to get rid of this browser hijacker easily and safely, we have come up with a Guide with detailed instructions to assist you in achieving that.

SUMMARY:

Name Lucky Starting
Type Browser Hijacker
Danger Level Medium (nowhere near threats like Ransomware, but still a security risk)
Symptoms Only your browsers can be affected – they might start producing ads, conducting redirecting or putting new homepages and search engines.
Distribution Method Everywhere on the web, but mainly included in program bundles, shareware, spam and torrents.

Lucky Starting “Virus” Removal

I – Safe mode and revealing hidden files

  1. Boot your PC into Safe Mode /link/
  2. Reveal hidden files and folders /link/

II – Uninstallation

[bannerMiddle]

  1. Use the Winkey+R keyboard combination, write Control Panel in the search field and hit enter.
    adware-1
  2. Go to Uninstall a program under Programs.
    adware-2
  3. Seek the unwanted software, select it and then click on Uninstall

If you are unable to spot Lucky Starting “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

  1. Go to your browser’s icon, right-click on it and select Properties.
    adware-3
  2. Go to the Shortcut tab and in the Target make sure to delete anything written after “.exe”.
    adware-4
  3. Now, open your browser and follow the instructions below depending on whether you are using Chrome, Mozilla or IE.
  • Chrome users:
  1. Go to your browser’s main menu located in the top-right corner of the screen and select Settings.
    adware-5
  2. Scroll down, click on Show Advanced Settings and then select Clear browsing data. Just to be sure, tick everything and clear the data.
    adware-6
  3. 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.
    adware-7
  • Firefox users:
  1. Similarly to Chrome, go to the main menu and select Add-ons and then Extensions.
  2. Remove any suspicious browser extensions that you may have even if they do not have the name Lucky Starting “Virus” on them.
  • IE users:
  1. Go to Tools and select Manage add-ons.
    adware-8
  2. 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

[bannerMiddleSecond]

  1. Go to your start menu, type Task Manager in the search field and from the results open View running processes with Task Manager.
    adware-9
  2. Thoroughly look through all processes. The name Lucky Starting “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.
  3. If you spot the process ran by Lucky Starting “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.
    adware-10

V – DNS check

  1. In the start menu search box write View Network Connections and open the first result.
    adware-11
  2. Right-click on the network connection you are using and go to Properties.
    adware-12
  3. Select Internet Protocol Version (TCP/IPv4) and click on Properties.
    adware-13
  4. If Obtain DNS server addresses automatically is not checked, check it.
    adware-14
  5. Go to Advanced and select the DNS If there is anything in the DNS server addresses field, remove it and click OK.
    adware-15
  6. Click OK on the rest of the opened windows.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *