What is COM surrogate virus? So called COM surrogate virus is a dangerous security threat. This security threat can perform a number of harmful actions of a authors’s choice on your machine. On current date, COM surrogate virus continues to increase the number of PC systems which have been infected.
On first run on the computer COM surrogate virus will hide itself in the system’s memory and files, modify some computer settings and configure itself to launch automatically when Windows starts. Once started, the virus can give a remote access to your system and use your personal computer’s resources to generate digital money. It will make your computer run very slow.
If you still are not sure that your machine is infected with malware, then check your PC system for the common symptoms of this infection:
- your browser displays advertisements where previously you have never seen;
- Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome displays lots of intrusive ads;
- internet browser settings such as homepage and search engine are hijacked;
- your antivirus software detects an infection;
- Internet connection may be slow.
We recommend you to remove COM surrogate virus and clean your PC system of any malware without a wait, until the presence of this virus has not led to even worse consequences. Follow the steps below that will assist you to completely remove COM surrogate virus, using only the built-in Windows features and a few of specialized free tools.
How to remove COM surrogate virus (Removal guide)
In order to remove COM surrogate virus from your machine, you should look up for suspicious entries, such as files, programs, web browser addons and shortcut files. However, if you want to remove COM surrogate virus easily, you should use reputable anti malware utility and let it do the job for you.
To remove COM surrogate virus, use the following steps:
- Remove PUPs through the Windows Control Panel
- How to remove COM surrogate virus with Zemana Anti-Malware
- Get rid of COM surrogate virus and malicious extensions with HitmanPro
- Remove COM surrogate virus with MalwareBytes Free
- Get rid of COM surrogate virus from Mozilla Firefox
- Remove COM surrogate virus from Internet Explorer
- Remove COM surrogate virus from Google Chrome
- Use AdBlocker to stay safe online
- To sum up
Remove PUPs through the Windows Control Panel
First, go to Microsoft Windows Control Panel and delete questionable programs, all applications you don’t remember installing. It’s important to pay the most attention to apps you installed just before COM surrogate virus appeared on your system. If you don’t know what a program does, look for the answer on the Net.
Make sure you have closed all web browsers and other applications. Press CTRL, ALT, DEL keys together to open the Windows Task Manager.
Click on the “Processes” tab, look for something suspicious that is the COM surrogate virus and other security threats then right-click it and select “End Task” or “End Process” option. In many cases, the virus masks itself to avoid detection by imitating legitimate Microsoft Windows processes. A process is particularly suspicious: it’s taking up a lot of memory (despite the fact that you closed all of your programs), its name is not familiar to you (if you are in doubt, you can always check the program by doing a search for its name in Google, Yahoo or Bing).
Next, uninstall any undesired and suspicious apps from your Control panel.
Windows 10, 8.1, 8
Now, press the Windows button, type “Control panel” in search and press Enter. Choose “Programs and Features”, then “Uninstall a program”.
Look around the entire list of apps installed on your PC system. Select the suspicious application or the program that name is not familiar to you and delete it.
Windows Vista, 7
From the “Start” menu in MS Windows, choose “Control Panel”. Under the “Programs” icon, choose “Uninstall a program”.
Select the dubious or any unknown apps, then click “Uninstall/Change” button to remove this unwanted program from your machine.
Windows XP
Click the “Start” button, select “Control Panel” option. Click on “Add/Remove Programs”.
Select an unwanted application, then press “Change/Remove” button. Follow the prompts.
How to remove COM surrogate virus with Zemana Anti-Malware
We suggest using the Zemana Free that are completely clean your system of the COM surrogate virus. The tool is an advanced malicious software removal program developed by (c) Zemana lab. It’s able to help you remove PUPs, viruses, adware, malware, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your computer for free.
Installing the Zemana is simple. First you will need to download Zemana Anti-Malware from the following link.
164032 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
Once the downloading process is complete, close all software and windows on your system. Double-click the install file named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up as displayed on the image below, click the “Yes” button.
It will open the “Setup wizard” which will help you setup Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) on your computer. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
Once install is complete successfully, Zemana will automatically start and you can see its main screen like below.
Now press the “Scan” button to begin scanning your PC for the COM surrogate virus and other malware and PUPs. This process may take quite a while, so please be patient. While the Zemana Free application is scanning, you can see how many objects it has identified as threat.
When the scan is finished, Zemana Free will produce a list of undesired programs. Review the scan results and then click “Next” button. The Zemana will remove COM surrogate virus and other security threats and move items to the program’s quarantine. After finished, you may be prompted to reboot the system.
Get rid of COM surrogate virus and malicious extensions with HitmanPro
Hitman Pro is a portable program which requires no hard installation to identify and get rid of COM surrogate virus related files, folders and registry keys. The program itself is small in size (only a few Mb). HitmanPro does not need any drivers and special dlls. It’s probably easier to use than any alternative malicious software removal tools you’ve ever tried. HitmanPro works on 64 and 32-bit versions of Windows 10, 8, 7 and XP. It proves that removal tool can be just as effective as the widely known antivirus applications.
Visit the following page to download the latest version of HitmanPro for Windows. Save it on your Desktop.
After the downloading process is finished, open the directory in which you saved it and double-click the HitmanPro icon. It will launch the Hitman Pro utility. If the User Account Control dialog box will ask you want to launch the application, click Yes button to continue.
Next, click “Next” for scanning your computer for the COM surrogate virus and other security threats. This procedure may take quite a while, so please be patient. While the utility is scanning, you can see number of objects and files has already scanned.
Once that process is finished, the results are displayed in the scan report as shown in the figure below.
Review the results once the utility has finished the system scan. If you think an entry should not be quarantined, then uncheck it. Otherwise, simply click “Next” button. It will open a prompt, click the “Activate free license” button. The HitmanPro will remove COM surrogate virus related files, folders and registry keys. When the cleaning procedure is complete, the tool may ask you to restart your PC system.
Remove COM surrogate virus with MalwareBytes Free
If you are having problems with the COM surrogate virus removal or just wish to scan your computer occasionally for malicious software, then download MalwareBytes Free. It’s free for home use, and detects and removes various undesired apps that attacks your PC system or degrades personal computer performance. MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) can remove adware, potentially unwanted software as well as malware, including ransomware and trojans.
- Installing the MalwareBytes Anti-Malware is simple. First you’ll need to download MalwareBytes Free from the link below. Save it to your Desktop.
Malwarebytes Anti-malware
326384 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
- At the download page, click on the Download button. Your browser will show the “Save as” dialog box. Please save it onto your Windows desktop.
- When the download is finished, please close all programs and open windows on your PC. Double-click on the icon that’s called mb3-setup.
- This will open the “Setup wizard” of MalwareBytes AntiMalware onto your computer. Follow the prompts and don’t make any changes to default settings.
- When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the MalwareBytes Anti-Malware will open and open the main window.
- Further, click the “Scan Now” button for checking your system for the COM surrogate virus and other security threats. A scan may take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the count of files on your computer and the speed of your PC. When a threat is detected, the number of the security threats will change accordingly. Wait until the the checking is finished.
- When the scanning is done, a list of all threats detected is produced.
- Review the scan results and then click the “Quarantine Selected” button. When disinfection is done, you may be prompted to restart the system.
- Close the Anti Malware and continue with the next step.
Video instruction, which reveals in detail the steps above.
Get rid of COM surrogate virus from Mozilla Firefox
If Mozilla Firefox web browser settings are affected by the COM surrogate virus, then ‘Reset Mozilla Firefox’ could solve this problem. However, your themes, bookmarks, history, passwords, and web form auto-fill information will not be deleted.
First, start the Mozilla Firefox. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It will show the drop-down menu. Next, press the Help button ().
In the Help menu click the “Troubleshooting Information”. In the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page click on “Refresh Firefox” button as displayed in the figure below.
Confirm your action, click the “Refresh Firefox”.
Remove COM surrogate virus from Internet Explorer
If you find that Internet Explorer web browser settings had been changed by the COM surrogate virus, then you may return your settings, via the reset internet browser procedure.
First, start the Internet Explorer. Next, click the button in the form of gear (). It will open the Tools drop-down menu, press the “Internet Options” as on the image below.
In the “Internet Options” window click on the Advanced tab, then click the Reset button. The Internet Explorer will show the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” window as on the image below. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box, then click “Reset” button.
You will now need to restart your PC system for the changes to take effect.
Remove COM surrogate virus from Google Chrome
Use the Reset browser tool of the Chrome to reset all its settings to original defaults. This is a very useful tool to use, if your PC is infected by COM surrogate virus.
- First, run the Chrome and press the Menu icon (icon in the form of three dots).
- It will open the Google Chrome main menu. Choose More Tools, then click Extensions.
- You’ll see the list of installed extensions. If the list has the extension labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following tutorial: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
- Now open the Chrome menu once again, click the “Settings” menu.
- Next, click “Advanced” link, that located at the bottom of the Settings page.
- On the bottom of the “Advanced settings” page, click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
- The Chrome will display the reset settings prompt as on the image above.
- Confirm the web-browser’s reset by clicking on the “Reset” button.
- To learn more, read the article How to reset Chrome settings to default.
Use AdBlocker to stay safe online
We recommend to install an ad-blocking application that can stop malicious webpages, intrusive advertisements and other annoying webpages. Experienced security researchers says that using ad-blocking software is necessary to stay safe when browsing the Internet.
- Download AdGuard by clicking on the following link. Save it to your Desktop.
Adguard download
26627 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- After downloading it, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
- After the installation is finished, click “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that will help you get to know AdGuard better.
- In most cases, the default settings are enough and you do not need to change anything. Each time, when you launch your PC, AdGuard will start automatically and stop unwanted advertisements, block harmful or misleading webpages. For an overview of all the features of the program, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the icon named AdGuard, that is located on your desktop.
To sum up
Now your PC system should be free of the COM surrogate virus . We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted pop up advertisements and annoying malicious websites) and Zemana Free (to periodically scan your PC system for new malware, hijacker infections and adware). Make sure that you have all the Critical Updates recommended for Windows operating system. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new hijackers, malicious programs and ad-supported software are released.
If you are still having problems while trying to get rid of COM surrogate virus from your PC, then ask for help here.