Remove Hi.ru from the Browser and Scan the System

Threat Summary

Name	Hi.ru
Type	Browser Redirect, Hijacker
Short Description	Hi.ru is a Russian website that may take over the user’s home or search page.
Symptoms	The user may have the website set as his homepage without his approval.
Distribution Method	Not clear yet.
Detection Tool	See If Your System Has Been Affected by Hi.ru Download Malware Removal Tool
User Experience	Join Our Forum to Discuss Hi.ru Browser Redirect.

Hi.ru is Russian website that is most likely neither malicious nor suspicious. However, according to user complaints, hi.ru takes over the browser and will continually redirect the user to it without his consent. Both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox can be affected. The redirect is reported to be persistent and difficult to remove. Hi.ru may have been brought by a potentially unwanted program that should be eliminated from the PC.

Update July 2017! There have been multiple different browser hijackers that are related to the hi.ru browser domain or domains similar to it. This has resulted in the global Alexa ranking of the site to increase.

Hi.ru Redirect Details

VirusTotal has analyzed Hi.ru. Only one anti-virus program detects it as malicious, and five solutions haven’t rated it.

Nonetheless, what is troublesome about it is the way it was brought to the user’s browser as a home page.

If the user has recently downloaded a piece of free software, hi.ru may have been included in the Download Agreement as a home page. However, more information is needed to confirm the ways hi.ru employs to hijack the browser.

To avoid being exposed to a malicious threat or unwanted software, the user should consider scanning his system. Additionally, he may want to think twice before clicking on an advertisement brought by hi.ru. Doing so may:

Redirect users to dubious websites employed for phishing or other forms of social engineering scams.
Add tracking technologies to the browser – persistent and Flash cookies, beacons, etc.
Collect relevant information about the user and his system.

Hi.ru Removal Options

As we already said in the beginning, hi.ru has been persistent in the attempts to be removed from Firefox and Chrome. There still may be an easy solution to rid the PC from the intrusive page.

Оne thing to be tried is launching the browser from the Start Menu instead of the taskbar. Unpinning it from the taskbar may also do the work. Also, try the steps at the bottom of the article. They are a proven solution for removing unwanted browser extensions with hijacking capabilities.

Note that running a full system scan to determine if there is potentially unwanted software hiding in your system may still be required.

Manually delete Hi.ru from Windows and your browser

Note! Substantial notification about the Hi.ru threat: Manual removal of Hi.ru requires interference with system files and registries. Thus, it can cause damage to your PC. Even if your computer skills are not at a professional level, don’t worry. You can do the removal yourself just in 5 minutes, using a malware removal tool.

1.Remove or Uninstall Hi.ru in Windows

2.Remove Hi.ru from Your Browser

3.Fix registry entries created by Hi.ru on your PC

Automatically remove Hi.ru by downloading an advanced anti-malware program

1. Remove Hi.ru with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool

2. Back up your data to secure it against attacks related to Hi.ru in the future

Back up your data to secure it against attacks in the future

IMPORTANT! Before reading the Windows backup instructions, we highly recommend to back up your data automatically with cloud backup and insure it against any type of data loss on your device, even the most severe. We recommend reading more about and downloading SOS Online Backup .

1. For Windows 7 and earlier

1. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10

1. Enabling the Windows Defense Feature (Previous Versions)

1-Click on Windows Start Menu

2-Type Backup And Restore
3-Open it and click on Set Up Backup

4-A window will appear asking you where to set up backup. You should have a flash drive or an external hard drive. Mark it by clicking on it with your mouse then click on Next.

5-On the next window, the system will ask you what do you want to backup. Choose the ‘Let Me Choose’ option and then click on Next.

6-Click on ‘Save settings and run backup’ on the next window in order to protect your files from possible attacks by Hi.ru.

1-Press Windows button + R

2-In the window type ‘filehistory’ and press Enter

3-A File History window will appear. Click on ‘Configure file history settings’

4-The configuration menu for File History will appear. Click on ‘Turn On’. After its on, click on Select Drive in order to select the backup drive. It is recommended to choose an external HDD, SSD or a USB stick whose memory capacity is corresponding to the size of the files you want to backup.

5-Select the drive then click on ‘Ok’ in order to set up file backup and protect yourself from Hi.ru.

1- Press Windows button + R keys.

2- A run windows should appear. In it type ‘sysdm.cpl’ and then click on Run.

3- A System Properties windows should appear. In it choose System Protection.

5- Click on Turn on system protection and select the size on the hard disk you want to utilize for system protection.
6- Click on Ok and you should see an indication in Protection settings that the protection from Hi.ru is on.

Restoring a file via Windows Defense feature:
1-Right-click on the encrypted file, then choose Properties.

2-Click on the Previous Versions tab and then mark the last version of the file.

3-Click on Apply and Ok and the file encrypted by Hi.ru should be restored.