Hao643.com virus. How to remove? (Uninstall guide)
Hao643.com – the heir of Hao123 hijacker
Hao643.com functions as another Baidu-related search and entertainment website which virus researchers have categorized as a potentially unwanted program [1]. Upon further investigation, this PUP has been assigned to the group of browser hijackers along with Hao123, Hao.7654.com, hao.360.cn and a bunch of other Hao-based clone websites. The PUP:
- replaces your homepage to hao643.com or hao123.com or baidu.com
- has no proper privacy policy
- contains links to shady websites overcrowded with ads
- redirects you to poorly secured domains
The veneer and modus operandi of PUP are identical to the mentioned sites – it infiltrates computers without any permissions asked and then starts modifying web browser settings. The PUP replaces default search engine and the homepage of the infected browser and starts loading every time the user opens a new tab or the browser window.
Since Hao 643 is Chinese website[2], users who don’t speak the language may find such behavior can get quite irritating. Even the Chinese-speaking users may get easily annoyed by this parasite simply because it sneaks on the computer without authorization. But the problems with this parasite extend way beyond the surface level. Hijackers don’t just infiltrate PCs for no reason.
They are created for very specific purposes, mainly focused on generating revenue [3] for their developers. So, while infected with Hao, you will probably start noticing an increase in the number of advertisements throughout your online browsing.
Though some of these ads may be completely legitimate, others may not be as honest about the reliability of the products or services they are promoting. It’s just not worth trying your luck with this virus, so you should remove Hao643.com from your PC without much hesitation. Reimage or Plumbytes Anti-MalwareMalwarebytes Malwarebytes might help you solve the problem faster.
Hao643.com redirect problem and the sudden burst of online advertising are some serious issues which must be addressed and fixed as soon as possible. But keep in mind that your PC may not be infected with this parasite alone, but hide additional malware which may prevent you from completing a full Hao643.com removal.
Questions about Hao643.com virus
The hijacker may install these so-called “helper objects” to fortify its position on the system and prevent its extermination. Again, we want to emphasize the importance of employing automatic malware detection tools. The automatic system scan will ensure that no unwanted programs are left on your PC unnoticed.


Click 'Start -> Control Panel -> Programs and Features' (if you are 'Windows XP' user, click on 'Add/Remove Programs').

If you are 'Windows 10 / Windows 8' user, then right-click in the lower left corner of the screen. Once 'Quick Access Menu' shows up, select 'Control Panel' and 'Uninstall a Program'.

Right click on each of suspicious entries and select 'Uninstall'

Right click on browsers' icon and select 'Properties'

Select 'Shortcut' tab and delete 'http://isearch.babylon.com...' or other suspicious URL

Cick 'Go' and select 'Applications'

Click on every malicious entry and select 'Move to Trash'

Click on menu icon and select 'Manage add-ons'

Right click on each of malicious entries and select 'Disable'

Delete malicious URL, enter your desired domain name and click 'Apply' to save changes

Go to 'Advanced' tab and click on 'Reset' button. Now select 'Delete personal settings' and click on 'Reset' button again

Go to Settings and select 'Choose what to clear'

Select 'Clear' button

Open the start menu and select 'Task Manager'

Right-click 'Microsoft Edge' and select 'Go to details'

Select 'More details' if 'Go to details' option fails to show up

Find Microsoft Edge entries and select 'End Task'

Go to Microsoft Edge folder on your computer, right-click every entry and click 'Delete'

Find Windows PowerShell, right-click it and select 'Run as administrator'

Copy and paste a required command and press 'Enter'

Click on menu icon and select 'Add-ons'

Select 'Extensions' and look for malicious entries. Click 'Remove' to get rid of each of them

When in 'General' tab, delete malicious URL from 'Home Page' section or click on 'Restore to Default' button. Click 'OK' to save changes

Click on menu icon and then on '?'. Select 'Troubleshooting Information'

Click on 'Reset Firefox' button for a couple of times

Click on menu icon. Select 'Tools' and 'Extensions'

Look for malicious entries and delete each of them by clicking on the Trash bin icon

After clicking on menu and 'Settings', select 'Set pages'

Click 'X' to remove malicious URLs

When in 'Settings', select 'Manage search engines...'

Click 'X' to remove malicious URLs

When in 'Settings', scroll down to 'Reset browser settings' button and click on it

Click on 'Reset' button to complete your removal

Click on 'Safari' and select 'Preferences'

Go to 'Extensions' and uninstall malicious add-ons

When in 'General', delete malicious URL and enter your desired domain name

Click on 'Safari' and select 'Reset Safari...'

Select all options and click on 'Reset' button
Ways to promote the hijacker
Hao643.com can hijack computers by taking advantage of users’ poor web browsing and general lack of computing habits. The PUP may install along with freeware or shareware programs downloaded from untrusted web sources if the users do not opt for the Advanced installation mode and allow the setup wizard to install the downloaded software packages automatically. Thus, to stay safe from Hao643.com, you should be careful when obtaining new software and check the downloaded item for additional components that might travel along.
Thus, to stay safe from Hao643.com, you should be careful when obtaining new software and check the downloaded item for additional components that might travel along.
Get rid of Hao643.com and all its elements
You can remove Hao643.com virus in just a few minutes, without having to waste too much of your time. Professional antivirus technologies uninstall the hijacker for you much faster, and you should definitely apply them when banishing threats from your computer.
There is also another, lengthier but also effective Hao643.com removal procedure. However, we should warn you that this method is manual, so if you don’t feel confident about your computing skills, you do not have to follow it. If you do wish to eliminate the parasite from your PC yourself, scroll below to find the guidelines on how to do it.
You can remove virus damage automatically with a help of one of these programs: Reimage, Malwarebytes MalwarebytesCombo Cleaner, Plumbytes Anti-MalwareMalwarebytes Malwarebytes. We recommend these applications because they detect potentially unwanted programs and viruses with all their files and registry entries that are related to them.
To remove Hao643.com virus, follow these steps:
Delete Hao643.com from Windows systems
As promised, here are the manual Hao643.com virus removal instructions:
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Click Start → Control Panel → Programs and Features (if you are Windows XP user, click on Add/Remove Programs).
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If you are Windows 10 / Windows 8 user, then right-click in the lower left corner of the screen. Once Quick Access Menu shows up, select Control Panel and Uninstall a Program.
- Uninstall Hao643.com and related programs
Here, look for Hao643.com or any other recently installed suspicious programs. -
Uninstall them and click OK to save these changes.
- Remove Hao643.com from Windows shortcuts
Right click on the shortcut of Mozilla Firefox and select Properties. -
Go to Shortcut tab and look at the Target field. Delete malicious URL that is related to your virus.
Repeat steps that are given above with all browsers' shortcuts, including Internet Explorer and Google Chrome. Make sure you check all locations of these shortcuts, including Desktop, Start Menu and taskbar.
WindowsMac OS XInternet ExplorerMicrosoft EdgeFirefoxGoogle ChromeSafariErase Hao643.com from Mac OS X system
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If you are using OS X, click Go button at the top left of the screen and select Applications.
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Wait until you see Applications folder and look for Hao643.com or any other suspicious programs on it. Now right click on every of such entries and select Move to Trash.
Eliminate Hao643.com from Internet Explorer (IE)
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Remove dangerous add-ons
Open Internet Explorer, click on the Gear icon (IE menu) on the top right corner of the browser and choose Manage Add-ons. -
You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for Hao643.com and other suspicious plugins. Disable these entries by clicking Disable:
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Change your homepage if it was altered by virus:
Click on the gear icon (menu) on the top right corner of the browser and select Internet Options. Stay in General tab. -
Here, remove malicious URL and enter preferable domain name. Click Apply to save changes.
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Reset Internet Explorer
Click on the gear icon (menu) again and select Internet options. Go to Advanced tab. - Here, select Reset.
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When in the new window, check Delete personal settings and select Reset again to complete Hao643.com removal.
Uninstall Hao643.com virus from Microsoft Edge
If you wish to reset your browser, first open the list of the installed extensions, delete the unfamiliar entries and then go through the below-indicated steps:
Reset Microsoft Edge settings (Method 1):
- Launch Microsoft Edge app and click More (three dots at the top right corner of the screen).
- Click Settings to open more options.
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Once Settings window shows up, click Choose what to clear button under Clear browsing data option.
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Here, select all what you want to remove and click Clear.
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Now you should right-click on the Start button (Windows logo). Here, select Task Manager.
- When in Processes tab, search for Microsoft Edge.
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Right-click on it and choose Go to details option. If can’t see Go to details option, click More details and repeat previous steps.
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When Details tab shows up, find every entry with Microsoft Edge name in it. Right click on each of them and select End Task to end these entries.
Resetting Microsoft Edge browser (Method 2):
If Method 1 failed to help you, you need to use an advanced Edge reset method.
- Note: you need to backup your data before using this method.
- Find this folder on your computer:
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe.
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Select every entry which is saved on it and right click with your mouse. Then Delete option.
- Click the Start button (Windows logo) and type in window power in Search my stuff line.
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Right-click the Windows PowerShell entry and choose Run as administrator.
- Once Administrator: Windows PowerShell window shows up, paste this command line after PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> and press Enter:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml -Verbose}
Once these steps are finished, Hao643.com should be removed from your Microsoft Edge browser.
WindowsMac OS XInternet ExplorerMicrosoft EdgeFirefoxGoogle ChromeSafariRemove Hao643.com from Mozilla Firefox (FF)
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Remove dangerous extensions
Open Mozilla Firefox, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Add-ons → Extensions. -
Here, select Hao643.com and other questionable plugins. Click Remove to delete these entries.
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Change your homepage if it was altered by virus:
Click on the menu (top right corner), choose Options → General. - Here, delete malicious URL and enter preferable website or click Restore to default.
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Click OK to save these changes.
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Reset Mozilla Firefox
Click on the Firefox menu on the top left and click on the question mark. Here, choose Troubleshooting Information. -
Now you will see Reset Firefox to its default state message with Reset Firefox button. Click this button for several times and complete Hao643.com removal.
Get rid of Hao643.com from Google Chrome
You will remove Hao634 from your Google Chrome following the guidelines below. Please note that you must also eliminate unfamiliar entries from your browser extension list to prevent secondary hijack.
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Delete malicious plugins
Open Google Chrome, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Tools → Extensions. -
Here, select Hao643.com and other malicious plugins and select trash icon to delete these entries.
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Change your homepage and default search engine if it was altered by your virus
Click on menu icon and choose Settings. -
Here, look for the Open a specific page or set of pages under On startup option and click on Set pages.
- Now you should see another window. Here, delete malicious search sites and enter the one that you want to use as your homepage.
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Click on menu icon again and choose Settings → Manage Search engines under the Search section.
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When in Search Engines..., remove malicious search sites. You should leave only Google or your preferred domain name.
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Reset Google Chrome
Click on menu icon on the top right of your Google Chrome and select Settings. -
Scroll down to the end of the page and click on Reset browser settings.
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Click Reset to confirm this action and complete Hao643.com removal.
Delete Hao643.com from Safari
- Remove dangerous extensions
Open Safari web browser and click on Safari in menu at the top left of the screen. Once you do this, select Preferences. -
Here, select Extensions and look for Hao643.com or other suspicious entries. Click on the Uninstall button to get rid each of them.
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Change your homepage if it was altered by virus:
Open your Safari web browser and click on Safari in menu section. Here, select Preferences as it was displayed previously and select General. -
Here, look at the Homepage field. If it was altered by Hao643.com, remove unwanted link and enter the one that you want to use for your searches. Remember to include the "http://" before typing in the address of the page.
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Reset Safari
Open Safari browser and click on Safari in menu section at the top left of the screen. Here, select Reset Safari.... -
Now you will see a detailed dialog window filled with reset options. All of those options are usually checked, but you can specify which of them you want to reset. Click the Reset button to complete Hao643.com removal process.
About the author
References
- ^ Margaret Rouse. PUP (potentially unwanted program). Searchsecurity. Information Security information, news and tips.
- ^ Eliminate computer malware. IT News, Reviews and Malware elimination guides.
- ^ Grant Crowell. How search engines make money. Searchenginewatch. The authoritative guide to search engine marketing.