Linkbucks.com Virus - How to remove

Linkbucks is described as an opportunity to make money by publishing various links and getting paid every time someone clicks on one of them. However, the problem is that this tool is too persistent – once installed, it won’t go away. You will get redirected to their website every single time you open a web browser on your computer and this problem might be difficult to solve. This website is labeled as browser hijacker, the same as SwagBucks virus, but operates a little bit differently. User descarao described his awful experience with Linkbucks.com browser hijacker on Microsoft community help forum (1):

Hi,

I need HELP!!! I think I have tried everything I know to remove the LINKBUCKS virus.  I ran every single anti malware software and antivirus and they wont detect it.  I opened task manager and I don´t see a random.exe file running or any potentially harm files.  I did a clean reinstall of Windows 8 where I deleted all partitions and formatted the hard drive twice and computers in my house are turned off just in case they are infected but when I open IE and click on a link it will redirect me to linkbucks.com.  This is so annoying and there are a lot of people with this problem and apparently there is no solution.  Any extra ideas I can use.  Thanks

So when you install this malicious tool on your computer, it will take advantage of the web browsers that you use. As far as we know, it can modify Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer web browsers. It will be added to them as browser extension and homepage will be set to linkcbucjs.com. From now on, this website will appear every time you open a web browser.

It seems like there is two versions of this virus. One is browser hijacker, which hijacks your homepage and sets it to linkbucks.com, while the other one is a search hijacker – you get redirected to linkbucks.com every time you search for something on Google. Either way, it is really annoying and you should stop it.

Why Linkbucks.com is dangerous?

Firstly, this virus is very annoying and will definitely waste your time. The worst part is, that users often struggle to get rid of it, because the virus manages to hide malicious processes.  User judson97 explained his struggle on the forum post on Toms Hardware forum (2):

Hi,

Im not entirely sure if I have the linkbucks browser hijacker but every time I start my computer, chrome opens up with 4 tabs of linkbucks ads… I have tried checking the task manager for unusual processes but can’t find any, I’ve scanned my computer with malwarebytes, adwcleaner, Micrsoft security essentials, HitmanPro and combofix to no avail (except for HitmanPro which found 3 threats which I can’t remove as there’s no option for a free trial and I’m not paying to remove 3 viruses). I’ve done a full scan on malwarebytes which found nothing and same with security essentials. Any Guide to deleting this stupid thing would be very much appreciated as it’s starting to do my nut in!!!

Thanks in advance,
Robbie

As you can see, HitManPro, Malwarebytes, Adwcleaner and Microsoft security essentials failed to deal with this infection. That’s why we suggest you to give Spyhunter a try. This program has proved to be efficient against eliminating infections like this and should remove linkbucks.com virus from your computer automatically. You can also go for manual removal – scroll down below this article and take a look at our step-by-step Linkbucks.com Virus manual removal guide.

Reference:

1. Solution to remove Linkbucks virus – answers.microsoft.com
2. How to get rid of linkbucks virus – tomshardware.co.uk

Automatic Malware removal tools

Clean your operating system from Linkbucks.com Virus

How to remove Linkbucks.com using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Linkbucks install some of their components as regular Windows programs as well as additional software. This part of malware can be uninstalled from the Control Panel. To access it, do the following.

• Start→Control Panel (older Windows) or press Windows Key→Search and enter Control Panel and then press Enter (Windows 8, Windows 10).
• Choose Uninstall Program (if you don't see it, click in the upper right next to "View by" and select Category).
• Go through the list of programs and select entries related to Linkbucks.com Virus . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Linkbucks.com  easier to find.
• Click the Uninstall button. If you're asked if you really want to remove the program, click Yes.
• In many cases anti-malware programs are better at detecting related parasites, thus I recommend installing Spyhunter to identify other programs that might be a part of this infection.

How to remove Linkbucks.com Virus from macOS

Delete Linkbucks.com from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the Linkbucks app.
5. Select it and right-click it (or hold the Ctrl and click the left mouse button).
6. In the dropdown, click Move to Bin/Trash. You might be asked to provide your login password.

TopHow To remove Linkbucks.com Virus from Google Chrome:

• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select More Tools→Extensions
  
• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.
  
• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select Settings
  
• Select Manage Search engines
  
• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list
  
• Go back to settings. On Startup choose Open blank page (you can remove undesired pages from the set pages link too).
• If your homepage was changed, click on Chrome menu on the top right corner, select Settings. Select Open a specific page or set of pages and click on Set pages.
  
• Delete malicious search websites at a new Startup pages window by clicking “X” next to them.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to Linkbucks, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on a Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on theReset browser settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How To remove Linkbucks.com Virus from Firefox:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (Or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything Linkbucks.com Virus related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on the Firefox menu in the top right corner, select Options → General. Enter a preferable URL to the homepage field and click Restore to Default.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Linkbucks, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• ChooseTroubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on theReset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program to identify malicious entries.

How to remove Linkbucks.com Virus from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.

• Click on the three-dot menu on the browser toolbar and Select Settings

• Select Privacy and Services and scroll down. Press on Address bar.

• Choose Manage search engines.

• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list: open the three-dot menu and choose Remove.

• Go back to Settings. Open On start-up.
• Delete malicious search websites at Open specific page or pages by opening the three-dot menu and clicking Delete.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Linkbucks, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings

• Click on Edge's menu button and select Settings. Click on the Reset Settings button on the left.
• Press the Restore settings to their default values option.

• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove Linkbucks.com Virus from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall Linkbucks and other suspicious extensions.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences and choose General tab. Enter preferable URL to the homepage field.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings(older versions) If you are still experiencing any issues related to Linkbucks.com Virus, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Reset Safari…
  
• Select which options you want to reset (usually all of them come preselected) and click on the Reset button.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.