Navigation.iwatchavi.com Removal Guide

Navigation.iwatchavi.com is a brand new browser hijacker that is so fresh that it may not even be up and running yet. However, reports show that it is getting more and more popular as it has started to spread on the web. We have discovered that this hijacker is rather unique and uses the same technique to change the Target line of your browser shortcuts as Yeabests.cc. This makes this browser hijacker quite tricky and a bit complicated to remove because you cannot simply reset your browsers to end this threat source. If this potentially harmful search engine is functioning, it may expose you to unsafe web content. Its presence on your computer is rather worrisome because there may be other malware threats as well that entered your PC together with this hijacker. It is vital for your system security and the protection of your privacy that you delete Navigation.iwatchavi.com ASAP from your computer. The same is true for the rest of the potential infections you may find on board.

This browser hijacker seems to have a promotional webpage, iwatchavi.com, but it looks like it is not activated yet. We also have a hunch that this hijacker may have only been a test run to see how it spreads and how much traffic it can generate. But it is also possible that it is just getting started. Time will definitely tell. One thing is for sure, though: you cannot download this application from its webpage yet. Therefore, if you find this search engine in your browsers as your new home page when you launch them, it is possible that you installed it through a freeware bundle. This is the most commonly used distribution method for browser hijackers, adware programs, and potentially unwanted programs as well. If this infection infiltrated your system in such a free software package, it is quite likely that you will find several other threats, too.

You can easily download such a bundle even without realizing what happens. It is enough for you to run a web search for free movies, music, or programs. You can be sure that the first page of the displayed results page will be swarming with fake and malicious file-sharing websites claiming that they have exactly what you need. One wrong click can land you on such a page and you will be presented with a proper “landmine field.” If it is an unfamiliar torrent or freeware site, you can easily click on unsafe content, such as third-party ads posing as Download buttons or links. Believing that you will actually download the wanted application, you may click on such content without even thinking twice. This is exactly how most computer users infect their own machines. You should try to avoid any questionable websites associated with online piracy as well as third-party advertising. If you find this browser hijacker on your computer, there are only two things you can do: You need to delete Navigation.iwatchavi.com and run a malware scan on your system.

This browser hijacker uses Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to change browser shortcuts. The script is stored in the WMI DataBase (WMI::Root\Subsciption\ASEC.mof). Once the Target lines are modified in your shortcuts, when you start up any of the three major browsers (Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Google Chrome), Navigation.iwatchavi.com can come up as your home page. This clearly exposes you to this unreliable search engine. Should you run a web search on the working version, you may be redirected to a modified search results page. This browser hijacker has one single purpose and that is definitely not to provide you with the most relevant links with the latest technology. Just like any other hijacker, Navigation.iwatchavi.com also wants to promote third-parties to generate income. That is why it is possible that it manipulates the search results to integrate third-party ads and sponsored links among the normal results. This way you will not know which content is safe to click on. Most of the time browser hijackers use reputable third-party search engines to redirect the queries, including Google, Yahoo, and Bing, in order to mislead users. However, if you click on the wrong content, you may end up on malicious websites and you may infect your PC with more threats, not to mention that you may also get tricked into revealing precious personally identifiable information. If you understand the danger in these, you should remove Navigation.iwatchavi.com right now.

As we have already mentioned, it is not a routine browser reset this time to eliminate this threat. First, you should use certain commands to undo the WMI subscriptions. Then, you can restore the Target lines of your browser shortcuts. We have included step-by-step instructions for you below this article. You may be able to delete Navigation.iwatchavi.com manually using our guide. But, if you would prefer an automated method, we suggest that you employ a decent anti-malware program that will clean all the potential threats from your PC and also protect it from future malware attacks.

Remove Navigation.iwatchavi.com from Windows

1. Press Win+R and type in cmd. Hit Enter to bring up the Command Prompt window.
2. Enter the following commands and press the Enter key after each line:
   wmic/namespace:\\root\subscription PATH__EventConsumer delete
   wmic/namespace:\\root\subscription PATH__EventFilter delete
   wmic/namespace:\\root\subscription PATH__FilterToConsumerBinding delete
   wmic/namespace:\\root\subscription PATH__TimerInstruction delete
3. Exit the Command Prompt.

Restore the Target line

1. Right-click on the browser shortcut on your desktop.
2. Select Properties and go to the General Tab.
3. Make sure that Read-only is unchecked.
4. Switch to the Shortcut tab and delete the added string in the Target line after the quotes. Click OK.
5. Right-click on the shortcut on your Taskbar to display the menu.
6. Right-click on the browser name option at the bottom.
7. Repeat steps 2 to 4 to restore the Target line.