Monday 31 August 2015

Getting rid of "DNS unlocker" malware/adware - easy :)

For about a week now I've been having terrible internet browser problems. Somewhere along the way, even getting through Norton security anti-virus, the PC was infected with this most despicable adware called "DNS unlocker".

It went about hijacking the browser with adds that would freeze it up and stop it from working in any sort of reasonable way. New tabs would open taking forever to load even the stupid add. Adds would pop up and freeze the PC so much they wouldn't even load. It would highlight random words in text like they were genuine links but would lead to more add pages. Ugh it was a total nightmare.

I tried the Chrome browser but that was the same. The Windows 10 Internet Explorer the same.

Nothing would get rid of these asshole adds. I followed online instructions to no avail, uninstalling the DNS program from the programs list, removing add on's from Firefox, resetting Firefox to the default settings, even trying a clean Firefox install (removing Firefox completely and installing fresh). A Norton full system scan picked up nothing. Rebooting like a maniac. Nothing worked. It seemed like I was doomed to this malware nightmare.

Until today :) I fixed it! Probably the most interuptive and annoying adware I've ever experienced. What it appears to do is affect the DNS settings where the browser connects to the internet. So I thought perhaps trying another browser might work. It did. That browser being "Comodo Icedragon".


Which is a better version of Firefox somehow, in that it stops DNS attacks by using a network of secure servers. The pic is during installation, I chose the middle option to have Comodo Icedragon use the "Comodo secure DNS servers".

Brilliant! Problem solved at last! No adds, no freezing, nothing. 

The browser looked similar to Firefox when installed, but after rebooting it looks exactly the same. Everything familiar. I've got my Firefox back :) 

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