Remove R.looksmart.com Hijacker from Chrome/Firefox/IE

Suddenly R.looksmart.com took over your homepage and you cannot remove it.

R.looksmart.com is a stubborn redirect virus. This pest gives you one more reason to be careful when browsing the Web in the future. Now, before you proceed to remove R.looksmart.com (which is an absolute MUST), take your time to read this article. Rushing is what brought the parasite to you in the first place and rushing will not help you get rid of it. Now, how does this virus work? To begin with, the parasite travels the Web in silence. That means it leaves you completely oblivious to the fact your machine is no longer infection-free. Secondly, R.looksmart.com installs an unwanted extension which is compatible with all your browsers. As you could imagine, neither your authorization nor permission is required. What matters here is hackers’ malicious purposes, not your browsing experience. R.looksmart.com is very aggressive and incredibly dangerous so it gets out of hand very quickly. Once your browsers are infected, the parasite begins to redirect you. Apart from the obvious fact you can no longer find the websites you’re searching for online, keep in mind R.looksmart.com is also harmful. This program comes for free; its developers still need to gain profit, though. If you’re wondering why you get constantly redirected towards unknown, unreliable, random pages, here’s your answer. Crooks use the dubious pay-per-click mechanism to make money. That is why R.looksmart.com tirelessly redirects you and that is what makes this infection so dangerous. It’s key for your further safety to avoid all the misleading web links, questionable commercials, various pop-ups, fake software updates, etc. brought to you by this parasite. R.looksmart.com is aiming for generating web traffic, not for taking care of your safety. Clicking a corrupted web link will automatically cause you harm. Is it a risk you’re willing to take? This sneaky program also serves as a back door to malware, slows the PC speed to a crawl and causes your browsers to occasionally freeze/crash. To top it all, R.looksmart.com spies on your browsing-related information. It goes without saying that having some private, potentially quite sensitive data stolen by hackers would put you in a very vulnerable situation. More often than not, the virus spies on your passwords, usernames, email addresses, IP addresses, your search queries and browsing history. If you’re particularly unfortunate, though, R.looksmart.com might spy on some bank account information and other personally identifiable data as well. This virus certainly doesn’t belong on board so do the right thing. Uninstall it.

How did I get infected with?

Probably the most popular infiltration technique at the moment is called bundling. It allows hackers to spread all kinds of infection on the Web – adware, hijackers, Trojans, ransomware. You might end up with a machine full of malware simply because you didn’t pay enough attention to your computer whet you should have. Take your time in the installation. Remember, most unverified websites include at least one bonus virus in the bundle. Unless you spot it on time, you will inevitably download the parasite as well. Opting for the Advanced/Custom option in the Setup Wizard could protect your machine as it guarantees you that the only person in control of the installation will be you. Not hackers. Don’t let them trick you into compromising your own computer with infections and be cautious online. Also, reading the Terms and Conditions or EULA (End User License Agreement) is yet another good idea. You should always be aware what exactly you end up installing. Last but not least, avoid illegitimate freeware/shareware and stay away from the various spam messages/emails you might come across while surfing the Web.

Why is this dangerous?

R.looksmart.com is extremely untrustworthy and now that your browsers are infected, they are untrustworthy as well. Being compatible with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer,  this infection immediately starts wreaking havoc. As you could imagine, the only way to put an end to its constant shenanigans is by removing the virus itself. All this program does is redirect you and expose you directly to some immensely unreliable websites. You’re practically one click away from infections as long as R.looksmart.com is on board. So why are you wasting time? The virus will neither become less harmful nor delete itself. There’s no doubt that you have to regain control your compromised machine and browsers ASAP. Otherwise, the parasite will successfully cause you irreversible damage. As mentioned already, R.looksmart.com boosts web traffic towards potentially corrupted pages, slows down the PC speed and causes numerous privacy issues. To delete this nuisance manually, please follow the comprehensive removal guide that you’ll find down below.

How to Remove R.looksmart.com virus

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the R.looksmart.com infection. Please, follow the procedures in the exact order. Please, consider to print this guide or have another computer at your disposal. You will NOT need any USB sticks or CDs.

The R.looksmart.com adware is specifically designed to make money. It generates web traffic, collects sales leads for other dubious sites, and will display advertisements and sponsored links within your web browser.

STEP 1: Uninstall R.looksmart.com from Add\Remove Programs

STEP 2: Clean R.looksmart.com from Chrome Firefox or Internet Explorer

STEP 3: Permanently Remove R.looksmart.com leftovers from the System

STEP 1 : Uninstall R.looksmart.com from your computer

Simultaneously press the Windows Logo Button and then “R” to open the Run Command Window

 

Type “regedit”

 

navigate to HKCU\software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

Modify the string with a value data and set it to google.com for example.

STEP 2 : Remove R.looksmart.com homepage from Chrome, Firefox and IE

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the R.looksmart.com by clicking on the little recycle bin
• Reset Google Chrome by Deleting the current user to make sure nothing is left behind

• Open Mozilla Firefox

• Press simultaneously Ctrl+Shift+A
• Disable the unwanted Extension
• Go to Help
• Then Troubleshoot information
• Click on Reset Firefox

• Open Internet Explorer

• On the Upper Right Corner Click on the Gear Icon
• Click on Internet options
• go to Toolbars and Extensions and disable the unknown extensions
• Select the Advanced tab and click on Reset

• Restart Internet Explorer

How to Permanently Remove R.looksmart.com Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

To make sure manual removal is successful, we recommend to use a free scanner of any professional antimalware program to identify possible registry leftovers or temporary files.