Is your PC affected with Searchguide level 3 browser hijacker and you are looking for instructions to get rid of this malware from your system? This article shares some useful tips for same…
Searchguide level 3 is a new malware which has been recently spreading around the internet which acts as a browser hijacker and redirects any URL you type in your browsers
to searchguidel.level3.com. Such kinds of browser hijackers generally affect your PC and get installed when you download freeware applications, free music or video files from malicious websites. You will not notice such malware when it gets downloaded along with some freeware applications and they will modify all your browser settings by remaining in stealth mode.
If you are looking for ways to remove the Searchguide level 3 virus from your PC, you should first understand what it typically does to your system and how all the URLs you enter in your browser are redirected to the hijacker’s website which is searchguide.level3.com. This harmful malware can impact all the web browsers you have installed in your machine including Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera browser etc.
This spyware also secretly collects all the information about your browsing history, the websites you visit often, search queries, IP address of the websites and many other personal information. This application collects all this information to spam your machine with irritating 3rd party ads on your browser. Such pop-up ads can be irritating for anyone who is seriously browsing for some important information and affect your work all together.
Searchguide.level3.com browser hijacker
You should first understand how Searchguide level 3 browser hijacker affects your system and how it modifies your browser settings. Any browser is configured with some default DNS (Domain Name Server) settings which are used to resolve the IP address of any URL (Uniform Resource Locator) you enter in your browser. For example, when you type www.google.com in your browser, it first goes to a DNS server and resolves the IP address of the web server where google search engine is hosted. What this Searchguide level3 spyware does is modified your browser DNS settings to their own DNS servers which are 4.2.2.1 to 4.2.2.6. Hence in order to fix the problem, you can modify the DNS server settings in your browser to Google Public DNS which is 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Alternatively you can also use OpenDNS servers which are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.
Some other tips to remove the Searchguide Level 3 browser hijacker are,
- Remove all unwanted browser extensions, toolbars and Add-ons in your Web browser whether it is Google Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer. Always be careful when you install any plugins or extensions for your browser and make sure you download it from a legitimate and trusted website.
- Remove any unwanted or suspicious programs related to searchguide.level3.com from your Applications settings in Control panel.
- Go to your browser settings and choose “Manage Search Engines” option. Now look for searchguide.level3.com from the list and remove it immediately.
- If you are still facing problems, reset your Chrome or Firefox to default settings. Alternatively you can uninstall the browser and then reinstall it freshly to reset all the unwanted settings. Also you can flush your DNS Cache and reset your hosts file. You should also check in your Windows registry and remove any unwanted keys related to searchguide.level3.com.
- Finally you can make use of Anti-malware and browser hijacker removal tools like AdwCleaner or Bitdefender Adware Removal Tool. Norton Power Eraser is another trusted tool to scan and remove unwanted applications installed in your PC.
It is always recommended to install an updated version of Antivirus and Anti-malware in your PC and run periodic scans on regular basis to safeguard your PC from such harmful malware. Also you should avoid downloading any freeware from unauthorized sources since this can lead to your system getting affected with spyware, malware and viruses.