Remove Trusted Surf “Virus” from Chrome/Firefox

I wrote this article to help you remove Trusted Surf. This Trusted Surf removal guide works for Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Trusted Surf is a metasearch engine. The website has basic capabilities. It does not include extended options or advanced settings. The only extra feature of the platform is a links bar. Trusted Surf gives quick access to a selection of popular websites: Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, Ebay, Aliexpress, Amazon, Gearbest and Banggood. At first glance, the platform looks like a regular search provider. This is not the case, though. Trusted Surf is actually connected to a browser hijacker. The insidious program has use for it. The domain assists the hijacker to carry out its malicious agenda.

What makes the Trusted Surf hijacker dangerous?

The rogue program disregards users’ security. The only priority is making proceeds. The hijacker will reset your homepage and default search engine to trustedsurf.com. Using this engine to conduct your searches is not advised. It gives unreliable results. The hijacker includes supported websites amid the pages which genuinely match the entered queries. This is an obvious inconvenience, but the problems go much further. The websites the Trusted Surf hijacker supports do not go through a security check. As long as their owners offer a good payment for the promotional service, the developers of the shady program are happy to oblige.

Remove Trusted Surf
The Trusted Surf Virus

Manipulating the search results is neither the only, nor the main way of forwarding supported content towards the end user. The Trusted Surf hijacker mostly relies on direct advertising. The secluded tool will display pop-up ads on your screen, promoting bargain shopping deals. The advertisements can be for technological devices, clothes, accessories, furniture, interior and exterior decorations, gardening equipment, sports gear, games, toys and many other items. The ad formats will also vary. The hijacker generates different kinds of advertisements, including classic pop-up and pop-under windows, in-text links, banners, coupon boxes, freebies, interstitial, floating, transitional, contextual and inline ads. The concept behind all of them is the same. They attract users with exclusive deals for quality products.

Another monetizing technique the Trusted Surf hijacker utilizes is data trade. The malevolent program collects information from people’s browsers and sells it. The information the hijacker can obtain from your browser encompasses your surfing history, tracking cookies, keystrokes, IP address, geographic location, email, telephone number, user names and passwords. This information can be used to break into your online accounts. The people who acquire your personal details could have such intentions.

How can the Trusted Surf hijacker penetrate my system?

If you do not recall visiting trustedsurf.com at any point, do not be surprised to find the website set to your browser out of the blue. The hijacker does not use the platform as a means of entry. The furtive tool travels with freeware and spam emails. Bundling is the most common technique for transferring shady programs. The Trusted Surf hijacker can be merged with another utility and included for install with it. The rogue tool does not need to run its own wizard or open a dialog box. You would only find out that another program is scheduled to be installed if you read the terms and conditions of the main software. We urge you to always do so. This could help you prevent malware from entering your PC.

Spam emails work in an even simpler way. The Trusted Surf hijacker travels merged with an attached file. The secluded program just needs you to open the attachment. Spammers use macros, scripts and other special files to automatize the installation of the contained software. To avoid becoming a victim of spam, check the return address from the letter. If the sender has written on behalf of a certain entity, the email and the contacts from the message should match the information on its official website.

Trusted Surf Removal

STEP-1 Before starting the real removal process, you must reboot in Safe Mode. If you know how to do this, skip the instructions below and proceed to Step 2. If you do not know how to do it, here is how to reboot in Safe mode:

For Windows 98, XP, Millenium and 7:
Reboot your computer. When the first screen of information appears, start repeatedly pressing F8 key. Then choose Safe Mode With Networking from the options.
Safe Mode with Networking
For Windows 8/8.1
Click the Start button, next click Control Panel —> System and Security —> Administrative Tools —> System Configuration.‌
Windows 8 Safe Mode with Network
Check the Safe Boot option and click OK. Click Restart when asked.
For Windows 10
Open the Start menu and click or tap on the Power button.
win10 safemode 1
While keeping the Shift key pressed, click or tap on Restart.
win10 safemode 2

STEP-2Please, follow the steps precisely to remove Trusted Surf from the browser:

Remove From Mozilla Firefox:

Open Firefox, click on top-right corner , click Add-ons, hit Extensions next.
firefox extensions
Look for suspicious or unknown extensions, remove them all.

Remove From Chrome:

Open Chrome, click chrome menu icon at the top-right corner —>More Tools —> Extensions. There, identify the malware and select chrome-trash-icon(Remove).
chrome extensions

Remove From Internet Explorer:
Open IE, then click IE gear icon on the top-right corner —> Manage Add-ons.
ie gear
Find the malicious add-on. Remove it by pressing Disable.

STEP-3

Right click on the browser’s shortcut, then click Properties. Remove everything after the .exe” in the Target box.

ff shortcut

STEP-4

Open Control Panel by holding the Win Key and R together. Write appwiz.cpl in the field, then click OK.

appwiz

Here, find any program you had no intention to install and uninstall it.

STEP-5

Run the Task Manager by right clicking on the Taskbar and choosing Start Task Manager.

task manager

Look carefully at the file names and descriptions of the running processes. If you find any suspicious one, search on Google for its name, or contact me directly to identify it. If you find a malware process, right-click on it and choose End task.

STEP-6

Open MS Config by holding the Win Key and R together. Type msconfig and hit Enter.

msconfig

Go in the Startup tab and Uncheck entries that have “Unknown” as Manufacturer.

Still can not remove Trusted Surf from your browser? Please, leave a comment below, describing what steps you performed. I will answer promptly.

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