It is possible that if you have come this far you are
having problems with your browser, and it is redirecting you to pages that you
do not want. This happens when malicious code like launchpage.org takes over
your browser. At that point it will start displaying sponsored search results
to redirect its victims to these pages. And furthermore, you will see that your
default search engine has changed and is now one called launchpage.
If you are seeing that URL in any of your web browsers,
then you are infected. If so, in this guide we show you everything you need to
know about this malware and also the steps you should follow in order not to
get infected again and to get rid of it in Windows. Not only to eliminate this
annoyance, but because in the future it could generate other security problems,
some of them serious.
WHAT IS LAUNCHPAGE.ORG AND HOW DOES IT INFECT
YOU?
Well, the developers of this code present it as a
reliable search engine to improve the browsing experience by showing optimized
results. That is, at first glance it could be an alternative to Bing, Google,
Yahoo, etc. But there is something else behind it, and that is that
launchpage.org collects a lot of user data. Yes, you may be thinking that this
is also done by Bing, Google and Yahoo, among others, and you are right.
But at least, on those legitimate search engines,
searches don't redirect you to where they "want" to be as direct as
this search engine does. Also, legitimate search engines can be displayed in
your browser if you want. And they can be easily configured to remove them, but
these types of search engines are usually very persistent.
On the other hand, there is the method in which they
reach you, and that is that they are installed together with other free
programs. When you download free programs from websites that are not the
official websites of the developer of said program, you already know that they
usually come with modified installers that include several programs in the
pack. If you use the default or standard installation, they will end up
installing the program you wanted along with other potentially unwanted
programs like launchpage.org.
WHO
IS AFFECTED?
It affects all browsers for Windows and MacOS, such as
Internet Explorer, Edge, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc. If they are affected, it
will show you lanuchpage.org as the home page so that the searches you do are
made through it and not your preferred search engine. So they can get more
information from you, that is, from the victim.
Dangerousness
Although it may not seem very critical, the truth is that
it has several functionalities that can end with much more serious security
problems:
The redirects or the content that this search engine
shows, can sometimes be even dangerous. And take you to places where you can
end up with more than one infection.
It can also display misleading pop-up ads, which can lead
to scams. Among these ads are fake Flash Player installers that if they are
followed you will end up with software that could also be dangerous installed
on your computer.
On the other hand, it monitors the activity of your
browser, an important privacy problem that can filter some of your personal
data, ID, IP, etc.
REMOVE
LAUNCHPAGE.ORG
You can eliminate this malware by following these simple
steps that I show you here. But first, you should know that you can eliminate
these types of threats in many ways automatically. One of them is using
specific programs to eliminate threats from your web browser and you will not
have to follow these steps of the manual method that I show you here.
The first thing is to uninstall the program from your Windows
or macOS operating system. To do this, you can follow these steps:
Windows: Go to Control Panel,
to the Programs section and then click on Uninstall a program. In the list,
look for the suspicious entry. In this case, one with a launchpage name. Once
selected, click on uninstall.
MACOS: If you are on an Apple
computer, go to the Applications menu, then look in the list of apps for the
name of the program you want to uninstall, right-click on it and click on Move
to Trash.
Delete
launchpage.org from your web browser
Once the focus of the problem is uninstalled, you will
have to clean your web browser from this search engine, since it has left
traces and will continue to bother you if you don't. As with the operating
system, depending on the affected web browser, the steps will vary slightly.
Here is how to do it in the most popular web browsers (in the rest it will be
similar):
Internet
Explorer: Go to the tools icon (the gear icon of your
browser), then Manage Add-ons, and there delete everything you see suspicious
such as entries with launchpage, Babylon, etc., depending on the problem that
is affecting you. Then, in the tools icon, go to Options and in the General
tab, remove the suspicious URL from the Home Page field. Quit IE and log back
in to verify that it worked. If you see that it has not worked, try to click
with the right button of the mouse on the IE icon, then go to Properties, and
in the path where it says "C: \… Internet Explorer.exe", you will see
that after this path there is a URL from http://launchpage.org that you must
remove, that is, everything after the last quotes. Accept and go.
Microsoft
Edge: Go to your browser, then in More (three points in the
upper right corner), Settings, and then click on the button to choose what you
want to remove from the navigation data cleaning section. Delete everything.
Then go to the Task Manager with Ctrl + Alt + Del, and find the Microsoft Edge
process in the list, right-click on it and choose View more details. It will
take you to another window, choose the processes that refer to Microsoft Edge
and with the right button click Finish Task. And ready.
Mozilla
Firefox: Go to the menu (three lines), then to
Add-ons, on the left click on Extensions. And now it will appear from the list
of extensions that you have installed. Select the suspect in your case (Babylon,
launchpage, etc.) and delete it. Then go back to the menu, go to Preferences,
Home, and change the URL of your home page and put your favorite search engine,
for example https://google.es. Save the changes and that's it. You can restart
the browser or exit and re-enter.
Google
Chrome: Go to the menu (three lines), then to Tools,
Extensions, and look for the suspicious search engine (launchpage, Babylon,
etc.) to eliminate it. Once eliminated by clicking on the trash icon, you can
return to the main menu, then to Settings, and there change the home page to
that of your favorite search engine, eliminating the problematic page from
there as well. Accept the changes and voila, you can restart or exit and
re-enter the browser to see the results.
Safari: Click
on Safari, then Preferences, select Extensions, and uninstall suspicious ones
such as launchpage, Babylon, etc., depending on the browser that torments you.
Go back to the Safari menu, Preferences, General, and in the Home Page area you
can change the URL to that of your preferred and legitimate search engine. Then
accept, restart or close
And re-enter your browser.
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