How to get rid of "DNS Unlocker"?

Anonymous
2015-08-26T14:50:57+00:00

Windows Defender can't remove DNS Unlocker Malware although my Windows Defeneder is up to date!! What to do?

Windows for home | Other | Security and privacy

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2015-08-28T10:14:04+00:00

I am just copying some other person's solution which worked for me.

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After investigating, I found out that the damn "DNS Unlocker" had modified my DNS settings! After fixing this I was completely good! I have google chrome, so I am unsure if this fix persist to other browsers.

The path to do this follows:

Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center > Change Adapter Settings > Right-click your active internet connection (usually Wi-Fi since everyone uses that, unless your using a desktop) and click properties > Now under the Networking tab, scroll down until you find Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) > Highlight that then click on properties > Both options in this windows should be automatic! The first option should be set to "Obtain an IP address automatically" and the second should be set to "Obtain DNS server address automatically!" If your computer belongs to a company or you actually have a custom DNS then this would not apply to you. Once you are finish, click "OK" and close the windows > Now go back into Chrome and reset your settings one more time and boom! It should work just fine.

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Respect to the developers who build these malware!

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Anonymous
2015-08-26T15:30:01+00:00

See this free, multi-step removal guide from Malwaretips.com: http://malwaretips.com/blogs/ads-by-dns-unlocker-removal/

If you do not see the program in Control Panel that you think is responsible for the ads and popups or you cannot uninstall it then move on to steps 2 and 3 (scan with AdwCleaner and Malwarebytes Free). If necessary you can run Hitman Pro (Trial Version) as suggested in step 4.  You may need to reset your browsers (see step 5).

Good luck…

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152 additional answers

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-03-02T07:54:20+00:00

    i have a licensed anti-virus software but it is not blocking them....sigh. despite paying for the antivirus....

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-03-02T07:51:50+00:00

    i followed your instructions, but they are all default in my computer. nothing i can do on the settings. i guess problem still exist.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-02-29T08:51:39+00:00

    @SilviuG, that will be effective for a while but you're only treating the symptoms.  To get to the cause you need to get rid of DNS Unlocker from your machine and that will probably involve most, if not all of the steps others have mentioned.  It will probably also mean checking your registry and getting rid of all traces of DNS Unlocker from there too.

    To be honest I'm amazed that this wretched thing isn't high on the list of malware that security software checks for.  I've seen Windows Defender happily let the thing on to my machine and ESET wouldn't shift it.

    Mike,

    The fact is most people (including myself) report they tried everything but DNSUnlocker re-appeared after a while.

    Some reporters even mention clean OS re-install that still didn't help. 

    I never had anything to uninstall from Control Panel and never had my DNS settings changed.

    The thing is this is a script that is loaded from a remote source. 

    Blocking the source itself in the hosts file makes sense. Preventing malware access using the hosts file is nothing new.

    The only downside is it needs constant updates to the list of blocked URLs as subdomains like subdomain1.domain.com are basically changing all the time and there is no way of blocking them using wildchars like *.domain.com

    Regarding the fact that this infection is not treated more seriously by antivirus companies, please encourage every paying user of an Antivirus software to contact their company and challenge them as to why their product is not effective against this threat.

    It's the only way to get some answers, it seems.

    What do you mean by "checking your registry and getting rid of all traces of DNS Unlocker" ? Most of the tools mentioned already will scan your registry. ADWcleaner for one, but there are many others, like Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Just searching for the "DNSUnlocker" string won't help much either. If you have more specific info about registry cleaning please share.

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