Sowhearpass.live Ads Virus. How to delete?

Written by Valdis Koks

Sowhearpass.live search hijacker is a kind of virus that injects into your computer, and afterwards modifies the browser search engine settings in your web browser to one which it wants. It likewise makes different unpleasant changes that may trigger personal data leakages, as well as to other malware injection. In this post, you will read the guide of Sowhearpass.live hijacker clearing in a couple of options, and additionally the procedure of making your browser like new.

icon hijacker - Do I really need it?

Sowhearpass.live Info

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

The methods of injection of Sowhearpass.live search hijackers are numerous. Many of them come from the malware spreading via the malvertising or evil-minded web links of various websites. Sometimes, your system can be contaminated with this virus with the trojan-downloader, which is put into action to distribute different other malware. There is a solitary kind of this unwanted program – web browser plugin that can build into any kind of browser which supports the add-on installation2.

You will not likely add this plugin on your own, due to the fact that their names are pretty suspicious, and also the usefulness is really debatable. The “creators” of Sowhearpass.live hijacker generally specify 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 quite hard to picture if somebody may be needed in such operations in 2023, when the Internet access is not time-limited as well as every PC is able to start the needed .docx documents at Google Docs.

However, besides their uselessness, they can simply be discovered in the Chrome Web Store. Of course, virus analysts sound the alarm relating to such spam into the legit source of browser extensions, demanding the Google response – eliminating these extensions from their place. However, they are still not hurrying to repair that safety problem.

Icon - Your PC hijacker

Is the Sowhearpass.live virus?

At the first sight, you can assume that these redirects are only irritating, but not risky. Because of this factor a great deal of users are just playing for time rather than removing this malware, obtaining much more chances of being contaminated with various other malware, which are a lot more major than Sowhearpass.live is.

Besides the modified search engine or search engine result, you may additionally see different ads even on those sites that do not have any kind of ads on it by default. And you can just misclick while shutting off the ad, and launch the downloading of an unidentified file, which can be a virus, or a potentially undesirable program, or perhaps ransomware – whatever the maintainers of this hijacker want.

If your browser is damaged due to the Azorult trojan activity, the system can start malfunctioning quickly – this symptome is just one of the most common in case of trojan infiltration.

Icon - remove Sowhearpass.live hijacker

How to remove Sowhearpass.live?

First, let me say several words about prevention the Sowhearpass.live malware infiltration. It is extremely simple to discuss the methods of protecting your computer from such annoying items as browser hijackers, but it is extremely simple to be caught on this bait perhaps even being a skilled user. As it was specified above, this unwanted program can hide after the attractive (at the first sight) ad, or in packs with various other adware you may get in dozens of manners. But no matter the typical intricacy of the injection techniques, it is really easy to stay clear of the Sowhearpass.live hijacker appearing 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 Sowhearpass.live.

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

  • Ensure you have this hands-on tutorial always ready to make use of.
  • Perform a back-up of every one of your data, consisting of the saved logins, passwords and also other qualifications. You need to back up your details with a cloud backup option and see to it your documents are safeguarded from any type of loss, even from the most extreme infections.
  • Wait until the lasting backup process mores than.

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

Right here is a method in couple of easy stages that should 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 Sowhearpass.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 Sowhearpass.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 Sowhearpass.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 Sowhearpass.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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