Forlet.live Ads Virus. Removal Guide

Written by Valdis Koks

Forlet.live search hijacker is a type of malware that squeezes into your system, and then switches the search engine settings in your browser to one which it desires. It also makes different unwanted modifications that may result in personal information leaks, as well as to various other malware delivery. In this article, you will read the guide of Forlet.live hijacker clearing in various methods, and also the solution of making your browser just as good as new.

icon hijacker - Do I really need it?

Forlet.live Info

Name Forlet.live extension
Type Browser hijacker1
Short Description The unwanted software that amends important browser settings without the user’s permission.
Symptoms The Forlet.live hijacker replaces the browser parameters set by the users and replaces these settings with its own values.
Distribution Method Bundling with Freeware or Shareware, misleading pop-up ads produced by adware.
Detection Tool Inspect If Your System Has Been Affected by the Forlet.live hijacker.

The ways of injection of Forlet.live search hijackers are diverse. Most of them come from the malware spreading through the malvertising or malevolent web links of various internet sites. Sometimes, your personal computer may be contaminated with this malware through the trojan-downloader, which is put to use to distribute different other malware. There is a single form of this unwanted program – web browser plugin that might build into any browser which supports the add-on installation2.

You will not likely install this plugin on your own, since their names are pretty uncertain, and the usefulness is extremely questionable. The “developers” of Forlet.live hijacker normally specify that it can save the .doc/.docx files from the web pages already to .pdf format, or to download the entire web site on your disk. It is quite hard to picture if someone can be needed in such features in 2023, when the Web access is not time-limited as well as every computer is able to open the needed .docx documents at Google Docs.

Nonetheless, besides their impracticality, they may simply be found in the Chrome Web Store. Naturally, virus analysts sound the alarm about such spam into the legit source of browser extensions, calling for the Google response – getting rid of these extensions from their site. However, they are still not hurrying to repair that safety problem.

Icon - Your PC hijacker

Is the Forlet.live virus?

At the first sight, you can believe that these redirects are only annoying, but not hazardous. Because of this factor a lot of people are just playing for time rather than getting rid of this malware, getting increasingly more chances of being contaminated with numerous other infections, which are much more major than Forlet.live is.

Besides the changed search engine or search engine result, you can also see various promotions even on those websites that do not have any type of promotions on it by default. And you may just misclick while shutting off the promotion, and launch the downloading of an unknown file, which may be a virus, or a potentially unwanted application, and even ransomware – whatever the maintainers of this hijacker desire.

If your browser is damaged because of the Azorult trojan activity, the system may start malfunctioning in the near future – this symptome is among the most usual in case of trojan penetration.

Icon - remove Forlet.live hijacker

How to remove Forlet.live?

First, let me say several words about prevention the Forlet.live virus injection. It is extremely easy to discuss the techniques of protecting your personal computer from such annoying things as browser hijackers, however, it is extremely simple to be caught on this bait perhaps even being a skilled user. As it was mentioned above, this virus may hide after the attractive (at the first sight) ad, or in packs with various other adware you may get in dozens of manners. But regardless of the common difficulty of the penetration approaches, it is very simple to stay away from the Forlet.live hijacker appearance in your system:

  • Do not follow the dubious links;
  • Restrict the usage of pseudo-free software (one which is offered as free, but has an additional unwanted programs in its pack);
  • Leave the habit of clicking advertisements on the web. If you need to buy something, it is better to google it;
  • Avoid downloading the files from dubious sources, like forums or file sharing websites.

Preparation before removing Forlet.live.

Before starting the actual uninstall procedure, we recommend that you do the following introductory milestones.

  • Make certain you have this hands-on tutorial constantly prepared to utilize.
  • Carry out a back-up of every one of your information, including the saved logins, passwords as well as other qualifications. You need to support your information with a cloud back-up service and also make sure your data are protected from any kind of loss, even from the most serious infections.
  • Wait up until the long-lasting back-up procedure mores than.

Step 1: Uninstall Forlet.live and related software from Windows

Here is a technique in few very easy steps that should be able to uninstall most applications. Either you use Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP, these milestones will work well. Moving the app or its folder to the Trash can be a very wrong idea. In case you do that, remnants of the app may remain, and that can cause the unstable performance of your system, malfunctions with the file type associations and other unpleasant behavior. The effective solution to get an app off your device is to remove it manually. To do that:

1. Keep holding the Windows Logo Button and “R” on your keyboard. A Pop-up window will soon arrive.

Windows keyboard R

2. In the field that appeared, type in “appwiz.cpl” -1  and choose OK – 2.

Run appwiz.cpl

 

3. This will open a window with all the apps available on the device. Choose the app that you want to get rid of, then choose “Uninstall

Follow the steps above and you will successfully get rid of most unwanted apps.

Step 2: Get rid of Forlet.live from all your available browsers.

Mozilla FirefoxGoogle ChromeInternet ExplorerMicrosoft Edge

1. Launch Mozilla Firefox. Go to its menu window

2. Choose the “Add-ons” icon in the menu.

3. Find the unwanted extension and select “Remove

Mozilla Firefox Add-ons Remove

4. Upon deleting the extension, reload Mozilla Firefox, closing it with the help of a red “X” button in the upper right corner and start it again.

1. Launch Google Chrome and go to its drop menu

Google Chrome drop menu click

2. Click on “Tools” and then in the extended menu select “Extensions

Google Chrome Tools select Extensions

3. In the “Extensions” menu find the unwanted extension and apply the “Remove” button related to it.

Google Chrome Extensions Remove

4. As soon as the extension is deleted, reload Google Chrome by closing it by means of the red “X” button at the top right corner and launch it again.

1. Launch Internet Explorer

2. Click on the gear icon marked ‘Tools’ to open the drop menu and choose ‘Manage Add-ons’

Manage-add-ons

3. In the “Manage Add-ons” window, locate the extension you want to delete and then click “Remove”. A pop-up window will come up to inform you that you are about to delete the selected extension, and some more add-ons might be disabled as well. Leave all the boxes checked, and choose “Remove”.

Internet Explorer extension removal

4. Once the unwanted extension is deleted, reload Internet Explorer by shutting it down from the red “X” button located at the top right corner and launch it again.

1. Launch Edge

2. Access the drop menu by clicking on the icon at the top right corner.

3. From the drop menu choose “Extensions”.

Microsoft Edge menu Extensions

4. Locate the suspected dangerous extension you want to delete and then click on the Remove button.

Microsoft Edge Extensions Remove

Step 3: Clean any registries that could be added by Forlet.live on your device.

The usually attacked registries of Windows machines are the following:

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

You can access them by going to the Windows registry editor and getting rid of any values added by Forlet.live. Follow the steps below:

  1. Start the Run Window command once again, type “regedit” and click OK.Window command regedit
  2. As soon as you open it, you can freely go to the Run and RunOnce keys, whose locations are displayed above.Window command Run and RunOnce keys
  3. You can delete the value of the virus by right-clicking on it and deleting it.Window command regedit delete the value virus

Tip: To locate a virus-created value, you can right-click on it and select “Modify” to find which file it is set to run. If this is the malware file location, delete the value.

Step 4: Scan for Forlet.live with Loaris Trojan Remover

1. Click on the “Download” button to proceed to Loaris Trojan Remover download.

It is recommended to run a scan before purchasing the full version of the software to make sure that the current version of the malware can be detected by Trojan Remover. Click on the corresponding links to check License AgreementPrivacy Policy.

2. Click “Install” to start.

Loaris Trojan Remover Install

There were 4 scan types suggested:

  • Standard Scan.
  • Full Scan.
  • Custom Scan.
  • Removable Scan.

 

3. After the installed has finished, click on the ‘Scan’ tab. Click on ‘Full Scan’.

Loaris Trojan Remover Full Scan

4. Once the scanning is started, Loaris will initiate the thorough analysis of your device and may soon identify specific threats currently slowing down the performance of your system. Make sure to wait until the scanning is completed to let the software fully evaluate the safety of your workstation.

Loaris Trojan Remover - scan in process

5. After Loaris Trojan Remover has finished scanning your PC for any files of the associated threat and found them, you can try to get them removed automatically and permanently by clicking on the ‘Apply’ button. There were options to move the files to quarantine, ignore or delete them.

Loaris Trojan Remover - show viruses

If any threats have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart your PC.

 

  1. About browser hijackers on Wikipedia
  2. Possible danger of free browser extensions

About the author

Valdis Koks

Security engineer, reverse engineering and memory forensics

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