Remove "goodluckday" browser hijacker

[Android Central Question]

On my Pixel 2 XL the Chrome browser has been constantly attacked by the "goodluckday.site" virus for the past several days. I have repeatedly cleared data, disabled and then renabled Chrome, but the virus keeps popping up.

Also tried AVG virus scan. Found nothing.

So I am forced to use the Firefox browser, which so far is unaffected by this virus.

How do I get rid of this

 

[Rukbat]

First, try Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

If that doesn't do it, see this page.

 

[dagius]

1) Installed and ran MalwareBytes, nothing found
2) Scanned All Apps for 'malware' and 'hijack'. Found one app with 'Malware' in its name. MalwareBytes! (I don't understand why you think malware would have such an "obvious" name. )

How can I list Android Apps by their install date. I rarely install anything anymore, so can't remember the last one I installed. That would seem the logical order to look for offending apps. Right?

 

[belodion]

If it happens on WiFi, block the site.

 

[dagius]

"... on WiFi, block the site."

It's happening on my cell phone, and only on the Chrome browser. Firefox works fine.
I'm not navigating to this site. It has somehow hijacked the browser and pops up continuously while I'm trying to access any site. It acts like a popup, but according to my Chrome browser settings, popups have been disabled.

It seems to have hidden itself in some app that has access to the browser and continuously injects itself into the Chrome browser.

If you google "goodluckday.site" you'll see that this is a fairly new virus on Android, been around for a while on Apple.

After googling 'remove goodluckday' I noticed the first web site returned in the qurery was 'https://www.2-spyware.com/remove-goodluckday-site.html', which looks a little suspicious because a lot of the advice doesn't make sense and it contains a picture of a hysterical lady pulling her hair because of the virus. It's mostly 'shotgun' trouble-shooting, i.e. 'download this, then download that, and if that doesn't work download something else, etc'

I don't want to install anything because it might be part of another malware scam. I'm looking for some website that knows what this malware is and precisely how to disable it using only built-in OS settings.

 

[dagius]

If it happens on WiFi, block the site.

The malware is on my cell phone and only hijacks the Chrome browser, not Firefox or any other web client. Also, I am not trying to access the site, rather it has somehow pushed itself into my browser and pops up on every web page I tried to access [even though 'popups' are disabled in the Chrome settings].

I don't want to have to download any additional software to remove this virus if possible, I'd prefer to disable it with client settings or configuration changes.

Has anyone else had any experience with goodluckday malware?

 

[belodion]

Remove "goodluckday" browser hijacker

I meant, does it happen while you are connected to wifi? I understand that it happens while you are using Chrome, but is this when you are connected to wifi?

 

[dagius]

Re: Remove "goodluckday" browser hijacker

"... does it happen while you are connected to wifi?"

Normally I'm connected to both the cell network data and home Wifi. And for the past few days have found Chrome unusable because of the "goodluckday" malware.
So this morning I tried connecting Wifi only and cellnet only to see what would happen. The results were negegative because the malware did not occur on either network. I tried all of the usual places where it had been hijacking me and, unfortunately, could not get it to attack me this morning.

So, the problem may have fixed itself, or perhaps Google became aware of it and changed something behind the curtains. Hopefully it won't come back, but if it does I will try the experiment again. (My Netgear router has a USB port for NAS storage, which I have never activated, but perhaps it was lurking somehow in the router.)

Thanks for you help.

 

[belodion]

There are many sites offering removal software in return for money, and that is no doubt what you saw when you Googled it. By contrast, the Chrome support site describes methods of fixing these things yourself. There will not be pictures of women tearing out their hair.
We shan't be satisfied until this is properly fixed, so keep posting if you still have trouble.