v9 virus attempts to control your search experience and present ads instead of search results

v9.com is a very suspicious search site (by Beijing ELEX Technology Co., Ltd.) that might unexpectedly become your homepage one day. It is promoted via suspicious free programs, for example, WPM18.8.0.212. This fake search engine is also known as a browser hijacker[1] which seeks to infect browser shortcuts in order to make web browsers load http://v9.com/ automatically on startup.
If you have already searched the web for an answer to “what is v9.com,” you may have already noticed various discussions on forums about this shady search tool. Some people claim that this is a virus that infiltrated their computers without any permission asked, others believe that it's a normal search engine that can be used just like Google, Yahoo or Bing.
If you don't want to find yourself on suspicious and unknown websites, you should stay away from v9 virus because this search engine may easily show you altered search results that may be filled with questionable links[2]. This technology is used to increase the web traffic to required web sites and promote them in this way.
In addition, when hijacked by v9.com virus, you may notice that each of your web browsers is full of various ads. Every time when trying to search the web you may be interrupted by commercial pop-up ads, alerts about discounts, price comparisons, coupons and similar things.
No matter how trustworthy they look, you should stay away from them as far as you can. Besides, it has been reported that v9 virus can also track people's browsing activity and record related information.
If you think that your search terms, mostly visited websites, time that you spend when visiting your favorite websites or data that you enter when visiting them shouldn't be revealed for third parties, you should take care of V9 removal.
Our experts say that the hijacker is extremely prevalent not only in US, but in France as well, so we strongly suggest French-speaking users visit Lesvirus.fr site[3], which provides spyware removal tutorials in French language.
In fact, it may show up on your machine together with its toolbar and take over your homepage or a default search engine. If you want to avoid that, you should scan your PC with reputable anti-malware and remove v9.com without any delay. For that we highly recommend using FortectIntego.

Suggestions on how to avoid installing potentially unwanted programs
Search.V9.com can get on your computer with a help of several ways: you can download it together with freeware or shareware, or you can simply set this search site as your start page or default search engine voluntarily.
In order to avoid installing the defined browser hijacker unwillingly, you have to double check your security software and try to select only Custom or Advanced installation of the freeware. If this hijacker manages to get inside the system, it may start doing everything to get ability to initiate its redirections.
So, it may alter web browser settings, change the homepage or default search engine settings and initiate other suspicious activities.
Of course, all these changes are made without any permission asked. After that you may be forced to visit this website against your will and, unfortunately, that's not the end. In addition, you may start seeing various pop-up advertisements, start suffering from redirects, slow downs and other issues.
Quick way to remove V9.com redirect virus from the system
If you think you are infected with v9.com virus, you should run a full system scan with automated anti-malware or anti-virus program, or follow these manual removal steps. Please, be very careful if using this removal methods and make that you follow every step in right order to avoid system damage.
To remove v9.com, you will have to dedicate some time and read the instructions provided below the article. If you are looking for a faster way to complete v9.com removal, consider using a decent anti-spyware or anti-malware software.
Uninstall from Windows
Uninstall from Windows 10/8:
- Type Control Panel into the Windows search box and open the result.
- Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.

Uninstall from Windows 7/XP:
- Click on Windows Start > Control Panel (Windows XP users should click on Add/Remove Programs).
- In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program.

Remove the unwanted program:
- In the Programs and Features window, look for any recently installed suspicious entries, select them, and click Uninstall.
- If User Account Control appears, click Yes to confirm, then complete the removal.

Delete from macOS
Remove the unwanted application:
- From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
- In the Applications folder, look for any suspicious entries, then drag them to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash).

Delete leftover files and folders:
- Select Go > Go to Folder.
- Enter /Library/Application Support and remove any suspicious folders related to the unwanted program.
- Repeat the same check in the /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders, deleting any suspicious entries.

- Finally, empty the Trash to permanently remove the leftovers.
Reset Internet Explorer
Remove dangerous add-ons:
- Open Internet Explorer, click on the Gear icon (IE menu) on the top-right corner of the browser
- Pick Manage Add-ons.
- You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for suspicious plugins. Click on these entries and select Disable.

Change your homepage if it was altered:
- Open IE and click on the Gear icon.
- Select Internet Options.
- In the General tab, delete the Home page address and replace it by your preferred one (for example, Google.com).
- Click Apply and then select OK.

Delete temporary files:
- Press on the Gear icon and select Internet Options.
- Under Browsing history, click Delete...
- Select relevant fields and press Delete.

Reset Internet Explorer:
- Click on Gear icon > Internet options and select Advanced tab.
- Select Reset.
- In the new window, check Delete personal settings and select Reset.

Remove from Microsoft Edge
Delete unwanted extensions from MS Edge:
- Select Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and pick Extensions.
- From the list, pick the extension and click on the Gear icon.
- Click Remove.

Clear cookies and other browser data:
- Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Settings > Privacy, search, and services..
- Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
- Select Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files. (apart from passwords, although you might want to include Media licenses as well, if applicable) and click on Clear.

Restore new tab and homepage settings:
- Click the menu icon and choose Settings.
- Then find On startup section.
- Click Remove next to any suspicious startup page.
Reset MS Edge if the above steps did not work:
- Press on Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
- Click on More details arrow at the bottom of the window.
- Select Details tab.
- Now scroll down and locate every entry with Microsoft Edge name in it. Right-click on each of them and select End Task to stop MS Edge from running.

Instructions for Chromium-based Edge
Delete extensions from MS Edge (Chromium):
- Open Edge and click select Settings > Extensions.
- Delete unwanted extensions by clicking Remove.

Clear cache and site data:
- Click on Menu and go to Settings.
- Select Privacy, search and services.
- Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
- Under Time range, pick All time.
- Select Clear now.

Reset Chromium-based MS Edge:
- Click on Menu and select Settings.
- On the left side, pick Reset settings.
- Select Restore settings to their default values.
- Confirm with Reset.
- This will disable extensions and reset startup pages but will not delete bookmarks, saved passwords, or browsing history.

Remove from Mozilla Firefox (FF)
Remove dangerous extensions:
- Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click on the Menu (three horizontal lines at the top-right of the window).
- Select Add-ons.
- In here, select the unwanted extension and click Remove.

Reset the homepage:
- Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
- Choose Settings.
- Under Home, set your preferred homepage and new tab settings.
Clear cookies and site data:
- Click Menu and pick Settings.
- Go to Privacy & Security section.
- Scroll down to locate Cookies and Site Data.
- Click on Clear Data...
- Select Cookies and Site Data and Temporary cached files and pages, then click Clear.

Reset Mozilla Firefox
If clearing the browser as explained above did not help, reset Mozilla Firefox:
- Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click the Menu.
- Go to Help and then choose Troubleshooting Information.

- Under Give Firefox a tune up section, click on Refresh Firefox...
- Once the pop-up shows up, confirm the action by pressing on Refresh Firefox.

Remove from Google Chrome
Delete malicious extensions from Google Chrome:
- Open Google Chrome, click on the Menu (three vertical dots at the top-right corner) and select More tools > Extensions.
- In the newly opened window, you will see all the installed extensions. Uninstall all suspicious extensions related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.

Clear cache and web data from Chrome:
- Click on Menu and pick Settings.
- Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
- Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
- Click Clear data.

Change your homepage:
- Click menu and choose Settings.
- Look for a suspicious site in the On startup section.
- Click on Open a specific or set of pages and click on three dots to find the Remove option.
Reset Google Chrome:
If the previous methods did not help you, reset Google Chrome to eliminate all the unwanted components:
- Click on Menu and select Settings.
- In the Settings, scroll down and click Advanced.
- Scroll down and locate Reset and clean up section.
- Now click Restore settings to their original defaults.
- Confirm with Reset settings.

Delete from Safari
Remove dangerous extensions:
- Open Safari, click Safari in the menu at the top-left of the screen, and select Preferences.
- Go to the Extensions tab, look for any suspicious entries, and click Uninstall to remove them.

Clear history and website data:
- Click Safari in the menu and pick Clear History.
- Set Clear to all history and confirm with Clear History.

Reset Safari:
- Click Safari in the menu and select Preferences > Advanced.
- Enable Show Develop menu in menu bar.
- From the menu bar, click Develop and select Empty Caches.

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