Pakegs.live Ads – How to remove?

Written by Valdis Koks

Pakegs.live search hijacker is a type of virus that infuses into your computer system, and after that switches the browser search engine settings in your internet browser to one which it is paid for. It also makes different undesirable modifications that might cause private data leaks, in addition to various other malware delivery. In this post, you will read the tutorial of Pakegs.live hijacker removal in several methods, and also the procedure of making your browser like new.

icon hijacker - Do I really need it?

Pakegs.live Info

Name Pakegs.live extension
Type Browser hijacker1
Short Description The unwanted software that amends important browser settings without the user’s permission.
Symptoms The Pakegs.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 Pakegs.live hijacker.

The ways of injection of Pakegs.live search hijackers are different. Most of them come from the malware spreading with the malvertising or malevolent web links of various sites. Sometimes, your computer may be infected with this virus with the trojan-downloader, which is put into action to distribute different other malware. There is a solitary kind of this undesirable program – browser plugin that may build into any browser which supports the add-on installment2.

You will not likely install this plugin on your own, because their names are really dubious, and also the functionality is extremely questionable. The “creators” of Pakegs.live hijacker normally mention that it can save the .doc/.docx documents from the sites already to .pdf format, or to download the entire web site on your disk. It is rather hard to imagine if someone may be needed in such features in 2023, when the Web access is not time-limited and every computer has the ability to start the needed .docx documents at Google Docs.

However, besides their impracticality, they can simply be spotted in the Chrome Web Store. Obviously, virus experts sound the alarm relating to such spam into the legit source of browser extensions, demanding the Google reaction – removing these extensions from their site. But they are still not hurrying to deal with that safety problem.

Icon - Your PC hijacker

Is the Pakegs.live virus?

At the first blush, you can think that these redirects are just annoying, but not dangerous. Due to this reason a number of users are simply playing for time instead of removing this malware, getting much more chances of being contaminated with various other malware, which are far more harmful than Pakegs.live is.

Besides the altered browser search engine or search results, you may additionally see various ads even on those websites that do not have any kind of promotions on it by default. And you can just misclick while turning off the advertisement, and launch the downloading of an unknown file, which may be a virus, or a potentially unwanted program, and even ransomware – whatever the maintainers of this hijacker desire.

If your web browser is corrupted due to the Azorult trojan activity, the system may start malfunctioning soon – this symptome is among the most typical in case of trojan infiltration.

Icon - remove Pakegs.live hijacker

How to remove Pakegs.live?

First, let me say several words about prevention the Pakegs.live malware penetration. It is very easy to speak about the tactics of shielding your PC from such frustrating items as browser hijackers, but it is really simple to be caught on this bait even being a professional user. As it was specified above, this unwanted program can hide after the eye-catching (at the first sight) promotion, or in packs with various other adware you can get in dozens of manners. But despite the typical complexity of the infiltration techniques, it is really simple to stay away from the Pakegs.live hijacker presence 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 Pakegs.live.

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

  • See to it you have this hand-operated tutorial always prepared to utilize.
  • Do a backup of every one of your information, including the stored logins, passwords and also various other qualifications. You need to support your info with a cloud back-up option and also see to it your documents are protected from any type of kind of loss, also from the most severe infections.
  • Wait till the long-lasting back-up process is over.

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

Right here is a method in few easy stages that ought to have the ability 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 Pakegs.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 Pakegs.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 Pakegs.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 Pakegs.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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