Social Privacy Virus Removal Guide

Users tend to call various computer infections “viruses”, although most of the time that is not exactly the case. The same can be applied to Social Privacy Virus as well. Although users search for information on this infection using the keyword “virus”, this infection is not a genuine virus. It is actually browser hijacker. It means that Social Privacy Virus modifies your browser settings and then collects data on your web browsing in order to use it in various marketing schemes. It is necessary to remove Social Privacy Virus from your computer; otherwise you could face serious security threats.

This browser hijacker affects all main browsers, including Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Since it is a browser hijacker, it gets installed behind your back, but at the same time Social Privacy Virus adds two entries into installed programs list which means that you should be able to remove the application from your computer manually as well. Although our security research suggests that Social Privacy Virus resists being removed from the infected system, and it may not be easy to get rid of it.

Social Privacy Virus is related to Conduit family of browser plugins. It does not have any separate download page, so most of the time it comes bundled with freeware from third party websites. The installation is initiated automatically when you install the shareware application that Social Privacy Virus is bundled with. Then, your default home page and search engine are changed for search.conduit.com, and you get exposed to a vast number of commercial advertisements that might be embedded with potentially malicious third party content.

Also, with Social Privacy Virus installed on your computer you will be a subject to constant flow with pop-up ads whenever you access such websites as walmart.com, youtube.com or ebay.com. These pop-ups will not resemble coupons or discount offers, because most of the time, you will be offered to try out online games or healthy food. However, the presence of these ads also means that your web browsing activities are being monitored and soon enough you will notice that the ads soon become related to your online searches. For example, if you search for hotels online, you will be provided with hotel booking ads.

Unfortunately, not all of these ads are that useful. After all, Social Privacy Virus can be easily exploited by malevolent third party to display corrupted content, eventually infecting you with malware. Therefore, you must remove Social Privacy Virus from your computer, and then scan it with a powerful antimalware tool, because you need to make sure that there are no unwanted files left on your PC.

In case you encounter any problem while removing Social Privacy Virus, do not hesitate to contact us by leaving a comment below. We will reply as soon as possible.

Manual Social Privacy Virus Removal

Windows 8

1. Move mouse cursor to the bottom right of the screen.
2. Click Settings on Charm bar and go to Control Panel.
3. Select Uninstall a program and remove Social Privacy, Search Protect and Social Privacy DNS.

Windows Vista & Windows 7

1. Open Start menu and click Control Panel.
2. Go to Uninstall a program and remove Search Protect, Social Privacy and Social Privacy DNS.

Windows XP

1. Open Start menu and select Control Panel.
2. Go to Add or remove programs and uninstall Social Privacy DNS, Search Protect and Social Privacy.

Remove Social Privacy Virus from browser

Internet Explorer

1. Press Alt+T and go to Internet Options.
2. Change your home page at General tab and press OK.
3. Press Alt+T again and go to Manage add-ons.
4. Disable Social Privacy on Toolbars and Extensions.
5. Click Search Providers on the left.
6. Set a new default search engine and remove Conduit Search.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Firefox button and go to Options.
2. Change home page under General tab and click OK.
3. Click search engine icon on the left of search box.
4. Select Manage search engines on drop-down menu.
5. Remove unwanted search engine and click OK.

Google Chrome

1. Press Alt+F and click Tools.
2. Go to Extensions and remove Social Privacy.
3. Click Settings on the left.
4. Mark Open a specific page or set of pages under On Startup.
5. Click Set pages and change your home page. Click OK.
6. Select Manage search engines under Search.
7. Set a new search engine, remove Conduit Search and press Done.