Woonews4.xyz Virus. Ads Removal Guide

Written by Valdis Koks

Woonews4.xyz search hijacker is a sort of virus that infuses into your computer, and after that modifies the search engine configurations in your internet browser to one which it desires. It additionally makes different unwanted changes that can result in private data leaks, as well as to other malware penetration. In this post, you will read the manual of Woonews4.xyz hijacker clearing in a couple of options, and also the solution of making your browser like new.

icon hijacker - Do I really need it?

Woonews4.xyz Info

Name Woonews4.xyz extension
Type Browser hijacker1
Short Description The unwanted software that amends important browser settings without the user’s permission.
Symptoms The Woonews4.xyz 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 Woonews4.xyz hijacker.

The ways of injection of Woonews4.xyz search hijackers are different. Most of them come from the malware dispersing through the malvertising or evil-minded web links of various websites. Occasionally, your system might be contaminated with this virus via the trojan-downloader, which is used to spread different other malware. There is a solitary kind of this undesirable program – web browser plugin that can build right into any type of internet browser which supports the add-on setup2.

You will not likely mount this plugin by yourself, due to the fact that their names are quite dubious, and the functionality is very controversial. The “developers” of Woonews4.xyz hijacker typically state that it can save the .doc/.docx files from the websites already to .pdf format, or to save the whole web site on your disk. It is really hard to picture if somebody can be needed in such features in 2024, when the Internet access is not time-limited as well as every system is able to open the needed .docx files at Google Docs.

Nonetheless, besides their impracticality, they may effortlessly be discovered in the Chrome Web Store. Of course, virus analysts sound the alarm relating to such spam into the official source of browser extensions, demanding the Google response – eliminating these extensions from their site. But they are still not hurrying to deal with that safety problem.

Icon - Your PC hijacker

Is the Woonews4.xyz virus?

At the first blush, you may believe that these redirects are just bothersome, but not risky. Due to this reason a number of users are simply playing for time rather than removing this malware, getting more and more chances of being contaminated with various other malware, which are far more major than Woonews4.xyz is.

Besides the modified browser search engine or search results, you can additionally see various advertisements even on those sites that do not have any kind of promotions on it by default. And you can easily misclick while closing the promotion, and begin the downloading of an unknown file, which can be a malware, or a potentially undesirable program, or 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 quickly – this symptome is just one of the most usual in case of trojan injection.

Icon - remove Woonews4.xyz hijacker

How to remove Woonews4.xyz?

First, let me say several words about prevention the Woonews4.xyz malware penetration. It is very simple to speak about the techniques of shielding your system from such irritating items as browser hijackers, however, it is very easy to be caught on this bait perhaps even being a skilled user. As it was discussed above, this unwanted program may hide after the attractive (at the first sight) ad, or in packs with various other adware you may get in dozens of methods. But regardless of the common intricacy of the infiltration methods, it is really easy to stay clear of the Woonews4.xyz 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 Woonews4.xyz.

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

  • Make sure you have this hands-on tutorial constantly ready to use.
  • Execute a backup of all of your data, consisting of the stored logins, passwords and various other qualifications. You must back up your information with a cloud backup solution and see to it your data are secured from any kind of loss, also from the most serious infections.
  • Wait until the lasting backup procedure mores than.

Step 1: Uninstall Woonews4.xyz and related software from Windows

Here is a method in couple of simple 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 Woonews4.xyz 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 Woonews4.xyz 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 Woonews4.xyz. 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 Woonews4.xyz 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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