How to Remove Study Nerdz “Virus”

Can’t Remove Study Nerdz hijacker virus? This page includes detailed Study Nerdz Removal instructions!

If Study Nerdz has replaced your homepage, if pop-ups “Powered by Study Nerdz” flood your browser, if questionable websites load automatically in new tabs, the news is bad. This unusual browser behavior is triggered by a browser hijacker. A parasite lurks in the corners of your OS and causes problems. Do not panic, though! The so-called Study Nerdz “virus” is not high-risk malware. This intruder is an aggressive ad-generating app. It throws its victims into a whirlwind of reshuffles and advertisements. It’s an utter menace! As soon as the hijacker invades your OS, problems follow. The parasite changes your homepage. It also sets a new default search engine and forces you to use the questionable tool. There is nothing you can do to restore your preferences. As long as the hijacker remains active, you are stuck with its modifications. And if you are not sure, that’s bad. Study Nerdz uses a customized search engine which injects sponsored links among the search results it provides. The problem is that these ads are not marked as such. You can never be sure which entries are organic results and which are promoted content. Do you think that ends well? Hundreds of dodgy websites pay for their links to be displayed at the top. Keep that in mind the next time you get flooded with “great offers.” Click nothing! Everything “Brought to you by Study Nerdz” is unreliable and potentially dangerous. Do not put up with this torture. Find where the hijacker lurks and delete it upon detection. Remove this intruder the first chance you get!

How did I get infected with?

Study Nerdz doesn’t target individual victims. No, the hijacker has other plans. It relies on mass distribution tricks to reach a broad spectrum of potential victims. The parasite lurks behind freeware, fake updates, corrupted links, and spam messages. It hides in the shadows and waits for you to let your guard down. Do not make that mistake! Do not let give into naivety. No anti-virus app can protect you if you throw caution to the wind. Only your vigilance can protect your PC. So, don’t be lazy. Always take the time to do your due diligence! Download software and updates from reliable sources only. When installing an app, pay attention to the setup process. Bear in mind that most of the apps we download off the Web come bundled with bonus software. If you don’t pay attention to the red flags, you might install a malicious bonus. Don’t rely on luck! Forget about the “Next-Next-Finish” installation strategy. If available, use the advanced/custom setup option. Make sure you know what you install. Read the terms and conditions before you agree to them. If you cannot spare enough time to go through the whole document, scan it with an online EULA analyzer. Opt out of the installation if you notice anything suspicious!

Why is this dangerous?

Study Nerdz is a complete and utter menace. It floods your browser with countless adverts. Coupons and discounts flood even web pages that are otherwise ad-free. Pop-ups and notifications cover your screen every time you so much as touch your browser. Even your videos get paused for commercial breaks. You can barely get any work done. The hijacker always finds a way to annoy you. Its countless interruptions ruin your browsing experience. Don’t be mistaken, though. These irritating ads are not mere annoyances. They are all potential threats! Study Nerdz has no filters or security mechanisms. Anyone willing to pay can use this parasite to promote. Hundreds of crooks are more than happy to open their wallets. They employ the hijacker to spread deceptive content. The crooks show you what you want to see, but when you click, bad things happen. You risk ending up on corrupted and phishing web pages. Do not take unnecessary risks! Heed the experts’ advice: as soon as you become aware of the hijacker’s presence, take action. Remove Study Nerdz the first chance you get!

How to Remove Study Nerdz virus

The Study Nerdz infection is specifically designed to make money to its creators one way or another. The specialists from various antivirus companies like Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton, Avast, ESET, etc. advise that there is no harmless virus.

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the Study Nerdz 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.

STEP 1: Track down Study Nerdz related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Study Nerdz startup location

STEP 3: Delete Study Nerdz traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Study Nerdz related processes in the computer memory

• Open your Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys simultaneously
• Carefully review all processes and stop the suspicious ones.

• Write down the file location for later reference.

Step 2: Locate Study Nerdz startup location

Reveal Hidden Files

• Open any folder
• Click on “Organize” button
  
• Choose “Folder and Search Options”
• Select the “View” tab
• Select “Show hidden files and folders” option
• Uncheck “Hide protected operating system files”
• Click “Apply” and “OK” button

Clean Study Nerdz virus from the windows registry

• Once the operating system loads press simultaneously the Windows Logo Button and the R key.

• A dialog box should open. Type “Regedit”

• WARNING! be very careful when editing the Microsoft Windows Registry as this may render the system broken.

Depending on your OS (x86 or x64) navigate to:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

• and delete the display Name: [RANDOM]

• Then open your explorer and navigate to: %appdata% folder and delete the malicious executable.

Clean your HOSTS file to avoid unwanted browser redirection

Navigate to %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/host

If you are hacked, there will be foreign IPs addresses connected to you at the bottom. Take a look below:

STEP 3 : Clean Study Nerdz traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the Study Nerdz 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

Step 4: Undo the damage done by Study Nerdz

This particular Virus may alter your DNS settings.

Attention! this can break your internet connection. Before you change your DNS settings to use Google Public DNS for Study Nerdz, be sure to write down the current server addresses on a piece of paper.

To fix the damage done by the virus you need to do the following.

• Click the Windows Start button to open the Start Menu, type control panel in the search box and select Control Panel in the results displayed above.
• go to Network and Internet
• then Network and Sharing Center
• then Change Adapter Settings
• Right-click on your active internet connection and click properties. Under the Networking tab, find Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). Left click on it and then click on properties. Both options should be automatic! By default it should be set to “Obtain an IP address automatically” and the second one to “Obtain DNS server address automatically!” If they are not just change them, however if you are part of a domain network you should contact your Domain Administrator to set these settings, otherwise the internet connection will break!!!

You must clean all your browser shortcuts as well. To do that you need to

• Right click on the shortcut of your favorite browser and then select properties.

• in the target field remove Study Nerdz argument and then apply the changes.
• Repeat that with the shortcuts of your other browsers.
• Check your scheduled tasks to make sure the virus will not download itself again.

How to Permanently Remove Study Nerdz Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

Please, have in mind that once you are infected with a single virus, it compromises your whole system or network and let all doors wide open for many other infections. 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.