Remove TikoTin.com - DNS Hijacking (Manual Instruction )

remove tikotin.com and stop it from hijacking

OUTLINE

• Misconception about tikotin.com
• Some Features about tikotin.com
• Hidden Dangers from tikotin.com hijacker
• Follow removal thread to remove tikotin.com hijacker
• Final

Misconception about Tikotin.com

Tikotin.com is not virus. As a matter of fact, it is a browser hijacker, or one can simply take it as a traffic exchanging site since its frequent hijacking is to intercept traffic and re-allocate the traffic to its partners’ sites or the sites made by the same creator. This is the exact reason why anti-virus programs are not able to take down tikotin.com.

The industry tends to call tikotin.com as PUP (potentially unwanted program) as such items have been found by security companies to be capitalized by infections to execute evil deeds (more information will be provided below).

Some Features about Tikotin.com hijacker

Get to know the features about tikotin.com will help in understanding the potential dangers brought by the browser hijacker and why such application would be appealing to infections.

1. tikotin.com bundles with multiple applications and programs: to make itself popular, the browser hijacker would bundle as many programs as possible so that high exposure rate can be achieved.


2. tikotin.com loads random ads: one could notice the random ads displayed on the interface of the hijacker; with more ads and the corresponding cache loaded onto the target machine, CPU/internal resource will be consumed unreasonably to hinder smooth and normal operation.


3. tikotin.com, being one of the numerous hijackers, is not necessarily strictly built; thus bug can exist.


4. tikotin.com is driven by the ultimate goal of getting money within a short period of time. In such case, the hijacker will not filter out partners carefully, some suspicious applications could also be bundled with the hijacker.

Hidden Dangers from Tikotin.com DNS Hijacker

Attention should always be paid on the sticky programs that install without permission and knowledge as something’s changed in the system configuration, which could leave adverse impact on compactness to be susceptible to infections.

As a freeware, tikotin.com needs to bundle with third-party program for propagation. Therefore, it is undoubtedly that the browser hijacker would download and install those programs without asking for permission to the target machine. Consequently, the additional program would take up the limited resource and keep background processes busy, which could be easily taken advantage by infections. Besides, the data of random third-party program is stored in local disk by default. This could deteriorate the overall PC performance and the full play by critical part of a machine.

Remove Tikotin.com with Manual Steps

A. Reset browsers.


Internet Explorer: Tools menu > Internet Options > Advanced tab > Restore Defaults button > OK.



Mozilla Firefox:  Firefox button > Help > Troubleshooting information > ‘Reset Firefox’ button.


Google Chrome:‘Customize and Control Google Chrome’ menu > ‘Options’ > ‘Under the Hood’ > ‘Reset to Defaults’ button.

 
Opera: Show hidden files and folders > navigate to "C:\Users\user_name\AppData\Roaming\Opera\Opera\" > remove Operapref.ini.


Safari: Safari menu > ‘Reset Safari’ > tick all given options > ‘Reset’ button.




B. Access Task Manager to remove the items with the path directing to tikotin.com.

Windows
Ctrl+Alt+Del/Ctrl+Shift+Esc > access Task Manager > View >　select columns > tick "PID" and "Path name" > go to open up System Information > end the process with path name directing to tikotin.com's path or the path that doesn't belong to system.



select Colunms to tick PID and Path Name to find out the services and processes related to
tikotin.com

Mac OS X
Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor > click open the suspected processes > "Open ports and files" > end the process with path name directing to tikotin.com's path.


search for and open up Activity Monitor on Mac to stop the ads by tikotin.com from popping up

C. Show hidden files and folders to remove Temp file and the ones related to tikotin.com.





Windows 7/XP/Vista
‘Control Panel’ > 'user accounts and family safety' > 'Folder Options’ > View tab > tick ‘Show hidden files and folders' and non-tick 'Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)’ > ‘OK’.

Windows 8
Start screen > Windows Explorer > View tab > tick ‘File name extensions’ and ‘Hidden items’ options > OK button.

a.when done, remove the given items:

C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Local\Temp\
C:\WINDOWS\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\[user name]\Local Settings\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\[user name]\Local Settings\Temporary Internet File

b. navigate to the following directories and remove the items generated on and after the date when tikotin.com was firstly detected:

C:\Windows
%SystemDriver%\
C:\Program Files\
C:\windows\system32\
C:\users\user\appdata\local\
C:\Users\[your username]\Documents\
c:\users\[username]\appdata\locallow\

Mac OS X
Finder > Utilities folder > Terminal > copy and paste "defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES" > return key > copy and paste the "killall Finder" > return key.

a. remove temp files and folders:

Finder > Utilities folder > terminal:

1. type

   cd ~/Library/Logs
   sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Logs/*

   and press Return button.


2. type

   rm -rf ~/Library/Safari/Downloads.plist
   cd ~/Library/Caches
   sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/*

   and press Return button.

b. access the following locations to remove the items generated on and after the date when tikotin.com was firstly detected:

Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ 
Home folder/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ 
Applications
Dock
Display

D. Modify Hosts file.


Windows
Win+R key combination > type CMD > hit Enter key > type "ping tikotin.com" > Enter key > note down the IP address > navigate to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc > click open Hosts file > paste the IP address to the last line > save file.

Mac OS X
Finder launchpad icon > Utilities > Terminal > type "ping tikotin.com" > Enter/Return key > note down the IP address > shift+command+g key combination > type “etc” (/private/etc/hosts) > Enter/Return key > click open Hosts file > paste the IP address to the last line > save it to modify host file.

It is recommended to adopt manual way in removing tikotin.com as it contains no vicious attribute code. It is also advisable to remove all the related programs to the browser hijacker so that the PC performance will not be influenced badly and that its re-image will not occur easily until carelessness is again employed on the Internet. For corresponding solution, please navigate to virus reservoir.

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