Xtconnect.com browser hijacker - How to remove

Xtconnect.com is another annoying browser hijacker by Airfind, which will replace your usual homepage, search provider and new tabs with its own stuffed site and Bing engine. Developers made Xtconnect.com virus as intrusive and as authoritative as JavaScript allows because to earn a significant revenue from online marketing you need to have a lot of victims who would noticeably increase traffic to sponsoring websites and generate pay-per-click bonus. This is why Airfind does not just rely on voluntary Xtconnect.com engine installations but takes advantage of malicious methods to spread around the globe.

Although Xtconnect.com is identical to Search.abcnews.io and very similar to Search.clarobuscar.com, Search.swiftsearch.co and Browserhome.net, it is no less malicious and can result in equally unpleasant damage. If your privacy, personal data and computer’s well-being are important to you, then you may want to read this article to learn why Xtconnect.com browser hijacker is harmful and how to remove it fast. Moreover, some users reported that not only their computers but smartphones were infected by Xtconnect.com virus too, so without waiting for hackers to fully take over your all digital devices, let’s get to what’s important.

What is Xtconnect.com virus

Xtconnect.com website is a special page, that was developed by Online marketing company Airfind, which seems to have a very well-prepared layout that provides users with all the most useful links and information. It displays top news, catchy articles on various topics, links to social media, weather forecast, top websites, free games and etc. And claims to be providing the most optimal search results. This nice all-in-one search engine might seem like a good tool, but there is a secret agenda behind the simplistic cover, which overshadows all the advantages and makes Xtconnect.com classify as malware.

Xtconnect.com and its subdomain tracfone.xtconnect.com are most prevalent in the United States but does have the ability to spread all over the virtual globe. Airfind in recent years shifted towards helping mobile operators, publishers, advertisers to promote their products and services, therefore a large number of infected smartphone users is not surprising. In Android or iPhone Xtconnect.com browser acts just like on the computer – it appears out of nowhere and becomes a burden that you need to see each time you browse online and won’t be able to get rid of easily.

2-viruses.com team figured that a very huge traffic leading to Xtconnect.com was from Facebook and surprisingly email, which makes us wonder about the unusual spreading techniques. But continuing on the subject of social media accounts, Xtconnect.com virus provides quick links to Twitter, Facebook, and Netflix, which can appear rather useful, but in reality, they are not there to serve the user. Xtconnect.com browser hijacker wants victims to login through their links because then they can gather login information, which will allow crooks to steal Netflix account and hack social media and start posting on your behalf, spreading more advertising to everyone from your contact list or giving away data to third-parties so they could bother you on every platform.

In order to avoid any lawsuit Xtconnect.com virus developers have written a pretty clear Privacy Policy, which We recommend to always read, which states all the malevolent actions this program performs. Basically, Xtconnect.com with the help of cross-site makes itself as a default browsing engine so that it could post all the ads, generate pop-ups, alter search engine results, offer products and services without interruption and gain all the revenue without having to compete with online marketing that is already posted on pages by the owner. Not only victim clicking on an advertisement brings money, but bringing traffic to some sites also pays off, that is why instead of its own unique search engine Xtconnect.com uses Bing. This allowed the company to build a revenue of $2.6 Million US dollars.

Unfortunately, that is not all that Xtconnect.com is capable of. It does record every move that is made on the internet starting with search queries, browsing history, visited pages but also personal information like credit card numbers, credentials, location, email, contact list and more. This information often gets sold for third parties for marketing reasons but can also be used against your will for more serious Cybercrimes like identity theft, virtual theft and etc.

How is Xtconnect.com browser hijacker spreading

Xtconnect.com browser hijacker has quite a few tricks upon its sleeve that allows it to get distributed widely around the Web. Starting with very usual and harmless methods and ending with sly and unfair forced installations Xtconnect.com virus is prepared to compromise systems by getting in one way or another.

The first technique, that may be familiar to you, is the voluntary installation. Airfind ‘did their homework’ and did invest time to make sure that Xtconnect.com search engine would look pleasant and useful. Good self-advertising, nice looks paid off because there were a lot of users that fell for the deceptive looks and installed Xtconnect.com hijacker themselves. Another distribution way is through Malvertising and other related products. Since Airfind has more that Xtconnect.com virus in their portfolio, they can easily bring another virus to an already compromised computer through exposed vulnerabilities. However, Xtconnect.com infection could have been the case of an accidental click on the wrong link or banner which initiated malicious codes download and Xtconnect.com virus setup.

Ultimately, Xtconnect.com could have been brought with other bundled software, which you got from torrent sites or shareware distributors. What users often forget about these mentioned services is that there is nothing free and if it seems otherwise from the beginning, there is a price that you will end up paying later. Xtconnect.com virus could have been added to some other software/fake update Setup Wizard as an optional application, which you may have missed because chose a Recommended installation. Many PUPs are invading computers like this because users are skipping the Custom installation process of choosing which programs can enter and which can’t. Mind you Xtconnect.com and others come selected to install by the default unless user unchecks them. (For more security tips read)

What is the best solution for Xtconnect.com hijacker infection

Obviously, the best solution for Xtconnect.com infection is a special tool that is developed to deal with malware viruses like this. That tool is an anti-spyware program. This security software has been originally created to help our antivirus which was used more for cyber threat prevention rather than cleaning, but now malware removal programs are so powerful that they can also assist you preventing browser and system infections to an extent. Since Xtconnect.com virus can hijack not only your system’s but also smartphone’s browsers, we advise getting either Spyhunter or Malwarebytes, because they both are compatible with either platform.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to delete Xtconnect.com virus without a software

How to remove Xtconnect.com browser hijacker using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Xtconnect.com browser hijacker install some of their components as regular Windows programs as well as additional software. This part of malware can be uninstalled from the Control Panel. To access it, do the following.

• Start→Control Panel (older Windows) or press Windows Key→Search and enter Control Panel and then press Enter (Windows 8, Windows 10).
• Choose Uninstall Program (if you don't see it, click in the upper right next to "View by" and select Category).
• Go through the list of programs and select entries related to Xtconnect.com browser hijacker . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Xtconnect.com browser hijacker easier to find.
• Click the Uninstall button. If you're asked if you really want to remove the program, click Yes.
• In many cases anti-malware programs are better at detecting related parasites, thus I recommend installing Spyhunter to identify other programs that might be a part of this infection.

How to remove Xtconnect.com browser hijacker from macOS

Delete Xtconnect.com browser hijacker from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the Xtconnect.com browser hijacker app.
5. Select it and right-click it (or hold the Ctrl and click the left mouse button).
6. In the dropdown, click Move to Bin/Trash. You might be asked to provide your login password.

TopHow To remove Xtconnect.com browser hijacker from Google Chrome:

• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select More Tools→Extensions
  
• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.
  
• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select Settings
  
• Select Manage Search engines
  
• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list
  
• Go back to settings. On Startup choose Open blank page (you can remove undesired pages from the set pages link too).
• If your homepage was changed, click on Chrome menu on the top right corner, select Settings. Select Open a specific page or set of pages and click on Set pages.
  
• Delete malicious search websites at a new Startup pages window by clicking “X” next to them.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to Xtconnect.com browser hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on a Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on theReset browser settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How To remove Xtconnect.com browser hijacker from Firefox:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (Or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything Xtconnect.com browser hijacker related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on the Firefox menu in the top right corner, select Options → General. Enter a preferable URL to the homepage field and click Restore to Default.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Xtconnect.com browser hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• ChooseTroubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on theReset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program to identify malicious entries.

How to remove Xtconnect.com browser hijacker from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.

• Click on the three-dot menu on the browser toolbar and Select Settings

• Select Privacy and Services and scroll down. Press on Address bar.

• Choose Manage search engines.

• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list: open the three-dot menu and choose Remove.

• Go back to Settings. Open On start-up.
• Delete malicious search websites at Open specific page or pages by opening the three-dot menu and clicking Delete.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Xtconnect.com browser hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings

• Click on Edge's menu button and select Settings. Click on the Reset Settings button on the left.
• Press the Restore settings to their default values option.

• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove Xtconnect.com browser hijacker from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall Xtconnect.com browser hijacker and other suspicious extensions.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences and choose General tab. Enter preferable URL to the homepage field.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings(older versions) If you are still experiencing any issues related to Xtconnect.com browser hijacker, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Reset Safari…
  
• Select which options you want to reset (usually all of them come preselected) and click on the Reset button.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

Below we present the manual removal methods for each browser separately, which you can use as a guide when trying to stop Xtconnect.com browser virus bothering you once and for all. Since Airfind is not new in the game and they know what they are doing manual removal may not always be enough to get rid of Xtconnect.com hijacker. Anyway, you should follow the instructions below and then if the problem persists take a glance at additional Google redirect virus removal steps, because you may need to restore Host file and DNS settings back to normal too.