Hijacker/Homepage Hijacker/Startpage.BC

Alias: Win32.Startpage.BC, CWS.Msspi

Description: Hijacker/Homepage Hijacker/Startpage.BC is the most widely known and the most annoying browser hijacker. It distributes itself by exploiting security holes in older or unpatched version of Microsoft Internet Explorer. Hijacker/Homepage Hijacker/Startpage.BC has many variations, each of them with its own performance and actions.

Threat type:

Hijacker - A Hijacker is a software application that takes control of your browser's settings. Usually it changes your home page and redirects it to some unknown site or modifies your search settings. It prevents you from changing back your browser's settings. An infected browser usually operates much slower.

Homepage Hijacker - A Homepage Hijacker is a software application that takes control over your browser's settings. Usually it changes your home page and redirects it to some other site or modifies your search settings. It prevents you to change browser's settings. In such hijacks, your browser may operate normally, but be much slower.

Advice: Remove This is a very high risk threat and should be removed immediately as to prevent harm to your computer or your privacy.

Detection:
SpyNoMore detects Hijacker/Homepage Hijacker/Startpage.BC: Yes

Threat risk: Very High Risk

Extremely dangerous malware. Uses stealth installation, randomly named entries and has the capability to self update or resurrect after incomplete removal. Almost impossible to remove manually. Category mostly consists of trojans and spyware.

Symptoms:

Hijacker/Homepage Hijacker/Startpage.BC protects itself from security software.

Hijacker/Homepage Hijacker/Startpage.BC hides from the user and stays resident in background.

Hijacker/Homepage Hijacker/Startpage.BC displays commercial advertisements.

Hijacker/Homepage Hijacker/Startpage.BC changes browser settings.

Hijacker/Homepage Hijacker/Startpage.BC connects itself to the internet.

Hijacker/Homepage Hijacker/Startpage.BC may install other software.

Hijacker/Homepage Hijacker/Startpage.BC Signature Details: The following information includes some of the standard signatures associated with this spyware threat. Please do not attempt to manually remove these items from your computer; Removing these items incorrectly or partially can cause your computer to experience critical errors, prevent your computer from restarting or cause loss of Internet connectivity. Should you be infected with Hijacker/Homepage Hijacker/Startpage.BC, you can clean your computer by downloading SpyNoMore now.

Running Process Signatures:
N/A

File Signatures:
%STARTUP%\msupdate.exe
%WINDOWS%\system32\msspi.dll
%WINDOWS%\system\msspi.dll

Registered Dll (Dynamic Link Library) Signatures:
N/A

Folder Signatures:
N/A

Registry Signatures:
N/A

SpyNoMore Collected Residual File Signatures:
N/A

See Also:
Tracking Cookie/Adtrix
Tracking Cookie/OKCounter
Hijacker/CWS.DataNotary
Trojan/Hijacker/Homepage Hijacker/StartPage.y
Hijacker/CWS.OSLogo
Hijacker/CWS.Vrape
Hijacker/CWS.OEMSysPNP
Trojan/Hijacker/Myss
Hijacker/CWS.DNSRelay
Hijacker/CWS.MSInfo