Screen Watch Extension Removal

Can’t Remove Screen Watch hijacker virus? This page includes detailed Screen Watch Removal instructions!

Screen Watch is a malicious program, you don’t want to come across. It’s a representative of the hijacker family. And, it’s atrocious. The program is malicious, meddlesome, and has quite the impact on your system. For one, your browsing won’t be the same again. The infection turns your entire experience into an utter nightmare. Screen Watch doesn’t let you go online, without flooding you with interference. Every single time, you attempt to browse the web, you suffer an avalanche of intrusions. You get redirected to a variety of suspicious-looking sites. You get bombarded with a never-ending waterfall of advertisements. It’s a mess. Open a new tab? Type in a search? No move gets left without disturbance. You cannot escape the influences of Screen Watch. The hijacker even replaces your preferred homepage, and search engine. Why? Well, because it can. One day, you come to find, the Search.mysearch.com page there, instead. You neither agreed to the switch nor had any notion of it. It’s there, and you’re stuck with it. Furthermore, since the hijacker’s disruptions are incessant, they’re not without consequence. Your computer’s performance slows down to a crawl. Your system starts to suffer frequent crashes. And, do you know what? That’s the mere beginning of your grievances. These are the minor issues, you face. There are much worse ones. Don’t wait around to experience them. Do yourself a favor, and get rid of the hijacker ASAP! Don’t give it the opportunity to cause irrevocable damages. Find and delete Screen Watch. Now!

remove Screen Watch

How did I get infected with?

The Screen Watch tool is masterful at deception. It not only managed to get you to approve it in. But also kept you clueless. Do you recall giving the green light to the program? Well, you did. There was an exchange. The tool asked whether you agree to its installment. And, you said YES. If you hadn’t, Screen Watch wouldn’t have a place on your PC. Don’t be too hard on yourself, though. The inquiry wasn’t as straightforward as you may imagine. The program doesn’t outright pop up to seek your consent. If it did, you can deny it. No, the tool doesn’t take such chances! Instead, it turns to slyness and subtlety. Through the use of the old but gold means of invasion, it dupes you. It fools you into saying YES, and not even realizing it. The usual antics involve the following. The hijacker hides behind freeware, corrupted links, spam emails. It can even pretend to be a bogus update. Like, Java or Adobe Flash Player. If you’re not careful enough to spot it, attempting to slither its way in, that’s it. It succeeds, and you’re stuck with it. That’s why, you must heed experts’ advice! Always be thorough! Don’t discard the importance of vigilance! Never give into naivety, and haste. Take the time to do your due diligence. Remember! Caution helps to spot such threats, and keep them out of your system. Carelessness does the opposite. It invites them straight in. Make the right choice.

Why is this dangerous?

The Screen Watch infection doesn’t only wreak havoc on your system. It also places your privacy in jeopardy. The hijacker follows programming to spy on you. As soon as it invades, its espionage begins. The tool keeps track of every move you make, while browsing. And, records it. Once it determines it has collected enough information, it sends it. To whom? Well, to the unknown individuals, who published it. Cyber criminals with malicious agendas. Are you willing to trust those people with your private life? Or, would you rather, avoid the colossal risk? Keep your privacy private! Don’t let your personal and financial information get stolen and exposed! Act against the hijacker as soon as you get knowledge of its existence. Don’t delay even for a moment. Delays lead to regrets. Locate where the exact hiding spot of the hijacker is. Then, delete it on discovery. Screen Watch is a dangerous cyber threat, which has NO place on your computer. Get rid of it at once.

How to Remove Screen Watch virus

The Screen Watch 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 Screen Watch 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 Screen Watch related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Screen Watch startup location

STEP 3: Delete Screen Watch traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Screen Watch 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.

end-malicious-process

  • Write down the file location for later reference.

Step 2: Locate Screen Watch 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 Screen Watch virus from the windows registry

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

win-plus-r

  • A dialog box should open. Type “Regedit”

regedit

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]

delete backgroundcontainer

  • 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:

hosts-redirect-virus

STEP 3 : Clean Screen Watch traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

  • Open Google Chrome

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

disable Screen Watch from chrome

  • Open Mozilla Firefox

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

remove Screen Watch from 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

remove Screen Watch from ie

  • Restart Internet Explorer

Step 4: Undo the damage done by Screen Watch

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 Screen Watch, 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.

safebrowsing-biz-shortcut-removal

  • in the target field remove Screen Watch 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 Screen Watch 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.

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