Erasing Digital Coin Tracker Redirect (Browser Hijacker/PUP)

What is Digital Coin Tracker? And how does it function?

Digital Coin Tracker is another browser hijacker developed by no other than Polarity Technologies Ltd. – a company known for developing browser hijackers and other unwanted programs. This program is a typical browser hijacker aiming to redirect its users to its affiliated websites.
Digital Coin Tracker is promoted as a program that supposedly provides users with the latest information on Bitcoin, Ethereum and many more. It is designed to configure the new tab page so that the new tab page will have links to News.bitocin.com, Coindesk.com/information/ and Cointelegraph.com as well as a search result by Yahoo. In the samples taken from the Chrome Web Store, Digital Coin Tracker, according to its developer, can:

Search and access popular crypto news quick links instantly from your new tab page!
Search your favorite Crypto currency news instantly from your home and new tab page!
Access Crypto currency news with just one click!
This extension configures your New Tab page to Digital Coin Tracker™. With it, you can easily access your favorite Crypto currency news sites with one click of the mouse!
The Digital Coin Tracker™ extension offers convenient web search and quick links to popular Crypto currency news sites from the Chrome New Tab page.
You can uninstall the extension at any time.

If you are using Bitcoins or other crypto-currency, you might be swayed to install this program. However, know that this program is not safe to use and that you might be redirected to suspicious websites that might try to get your personal information or worse install a malicious program on your system.
How is Digital Coin Tracker distributed online?
Digital Coin Tracker is distributed in the Chrome Web Store. Aside from that, it is also found being distributed on peer-to-peer networks or free sharing sites where it is added as a component in a software bundle among other free programs. This kind of distribution is not uncommon for unwanted programs like Digital Coin Tracker so you have to be careful when installing any freeware or shareware package to avoid installation of any unwanted program that might cause harm to your system. In addition, installation of programs using the Advanced or Custom setup would also help in avoiding these kinds of programs.
To erase Digital Coin Tracker from your browsers and computer, refer to the following instructions.
Step 1: Close all the browsers that are compromised with Digital Coin Tracker. And if you find it hard to close them, you simply use the Task Manager just tap on Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
Step 2: After you open the Task Manager, go to the Processes tab and look for the infected browser’s process and end it.
Step 3: Edit your Hosts File

Tap the Win + R keys to open then type in %WinDir% and then click OK.
Go to System32/drivers/etc.
Open the host’s file using Notepad.
Delete all the entries containing Digital Coin Tracker.
After that, save the changes you’ve made and close the file.

Step 4: Reset all your browsers to default to their default state.
Google Chrome

Launch Google Chrome, press Alt + F, move to More tools, and click Extensions.
Look for Digital Coin Tracker or any other unwanted add-ons, click the Recycle Bin button, and choose Remove.
Restart Google Chrome, then tap Alt + F, and select Settings.
Navigate to the On Startup section at the bottom.
Select “Open a specific page or set of pages”.
Click the More actions button next to the hijacker and click Remove.

Mozilla Firefox

Open the browser and tap Ctrl + Shift + A to access the Add-ons Manager.
In the Extensions menu Remove the unwanted extension.
Restart the browser and tap keys Alt + T.
Select Options and then move to the General menu.
Overwrite the URL in the Home Page section and then restart the browser.

Internet Explorer

Launch Internet Explorer.
Tap Alt + T and select Internet options.
Click the General tab and then overwrite the URL under the homepage section.
Click OK to save the changes.

Step 5: Open Control Panel by pressing the Windows key + R, then type in appwiz.cpl and then click OK or press Enter.

Step 6: Look for any suspicious program that is affiliated with Digital Coin Tracker and then Uninstall it.

Step 7: Hold down Windows + E keys simultaneously to open File Explorer.
Step 8: Navigate to the following directories and look for suspicious files associated to Digital Coin Tracker and delete it/them.

%USERPROFILE%\Downloads
%USERPROFILE%\Desktop
%TEMP%

Step 9: Close the File Explorer.
Step 10: Empty the Recycle Bin.
Follow the advanced instructions below to ensure the removal of Digital Coin Tracker as well as all the file residues it left behind.
Perform a full system scan using SpyRemover Pro. To do so, follow these steps:

Turn on your computer. If it’s already on, you have to reboot
After that, the BIOS screen will be displayed, but if Windows pops up instead, reboot your computer and try again. Once you’re on the BIOS screen, repeat pressing F8, by doing so the Advanced Option shows up.

To navigate the Advanced Option use the arrow keys and select Safe Mode with Networking then hit
Windows will now load the SafeMode with Networking.
Press and hold both R key and Windows key.

If done correctly, the Windows Run Box will show up.
Type in explorer http://www.fixmypcfree.com/install/spyremoverpro

A single space must be in between explorer and http. Click OK.

A dialog box will be displayed by Internet Explorer. Click Run to begin downloading the program. The installation will start automatically once a download is done.