What is Astromenda.com - How to remove Astromenda.com?

My computer is encountering Astromenda.com virus infection. It has taken over all browsers installed on my computer. This virus may slip into my machine when I accidentally click on the pop-up ads in a strange website. This nuisance changes my browsers’ default homepage and search engine without my knowledge. I have done the basic attempts to remove this virus but in vain. Can anyone help me to resolve this problem?

Symptoms of Astromenda.com Infection
• You computer suffers from a suspicious slowdown in performance.
• Your homepage and search engine are replaced by Astromenda.com.
• Your search results are redirected to irrelevant websites.
• Numerous ads keep popping up when you are surfing the Internet.
• Network speed gets very slow and you cannot access the security-related websites.
• Unknown toolbars appears on your browsers, which you have never installed.

Description of Astromenda.com
Astromenda.com is nasty redirect virus used by cyber hackers to make great profits. By modifying users’ browser settings, it can keep redirecting their search results to specified websites which promote certain products or services. Once the redirect virus sneaks into your computer, it alters Proxy settings and Windows Hosts files so that it can block you from browsing the Internet as usual. Then, it changes your default homepage to Astromenda.com, and correspondingly the search engine is changed to a new one. Every time you run the browser, the strange website will appear as your homepage, offering an unknown search engine with which you can search for web, images or videos. However, if you search for something using the new search engine, you may be always redirected to some irrelevant websites. By redirecting you to particular domains, the webmasters of those websites may earn money. It is important that you think twice before buying any products or services promoted in the websites you are redirected to, or you may just pay money for some useless products or non-existing services. Additionally, this redirect virus may install some unwanted toolbars onto your browser, which may pop up a lot of commercial ads on the web pages you are viewing. To deliver more precise ads to you, Astromenda.com redirect virus will also collect your personal information by monitoring your online activities. If you don’t want to end up being a victim of identity theft, you should take immediate actions to remove this redirect virus as soon as you notice its presence.

How Does Astromenda.com Infect Your PC and How to Avoid Such Infection?
The redirect virus often comes bundled with applications which you have free downloaded from the Internet. To avoid it, you should choose Advanced or Custom installation option and deselect all unwanted optional applications. Besides, it is better that carefully read the terms and agreements before installing any application on your computer. This may save you a lot of unexpected trouble. Additionally, the redirect virus may infect your computer via spam email attachments. Opening attachments specially sent by cyber hackers runs the high risk of downloading malware like Astromenda.com redirect virus to your computer. A good way to avoid the infection is to ignore all spam emails. You should neither open the seemingly legitimate attachments, nor click on the attractive-look links in the message. Besides, you can configure your email server to block or remove emails containing file attachments that are commonly used to spread malware, like .vbs, .bat, .exe, .pif and .scr files. Another common tool used by the redirect virus to invade your PC is malicious websites or legitimate websites that have been hacked by the rogue hackers. When you happen to click on the suspicious links or pop-ups within the websites, you may unintentionally download the redirect virus or other malware to your machine. So, you should only browse those reliable websites, and avoid clicking on any unknown pop-ups or links. Finally, you should make sure that a reliable firewall and anti-malware program have been installed on your computer to block and remove the malicious attacks from the online world.