While on your Computer or mobile device, you notice an annoying pop-up advertisement, and regardless of how often you close it, it keeps reappearing. Chances are its Adware.
Adware is short for advertisement and Software. It is an advertising-supported Software. It is the name given to programs that are designed to display advertisements on your Computer, redirect your search to advertising websites, and collect data about you. For example, it receives a history of sites the user visits, and this sends this information back to the ad company. The information collected is often used to deliver custom advertisements to you.
Adware is a financially supported Software, and most times, developers bundle them with other files that you’ve downloaded. They might be malicious in nature so you must run a scan using Adware Removal tool. Sometimes they are not harmful, but they have the potential to be, and users see them as an invasion of privacy and distraction.
How Adware is Installed
Are you in a situation where specific advertisements keep showing up on your Computer, whether in any of your browsers or sites you’ve never seen ads before? If you answer ‘yes’ to this question, your system might be affected by Adware that injects ads into websites as you browse.
Aside from getting rid of Adware; a big question you might be asking is how did it get there initially?
Adware overtime has been responsible for many successful and prevalent programs including AOL instant messenger, Endora and many more. A method in which Adware can get into your system is when you download a free program. Other times, producers of software bundler pay for ads to appear when you search for specific Software. These adverts lead you to download a software bundler instead of the free, neat Software you were hoping for, leaving you with many ad injections.
Another method which is as well insidious occurs when you’re visiting a website. It doesn’t matter if it’s a trusted site or a sketchy one. Whichever way, your device can be infected with Adware. This way takes advantage of the vulnerability of your browser. The Adware burrows in, start collecting information, redirects you to malicious sites and pop up more advertisement.
How Adware affects your Computer
Sometimes, adware fall under the category of malicious software ‘malware.’ Adware is often harmless, but are now used in bad manners to exploit your system. Below are ways Adware can affect your Computer.
Slows down your Computer
The first warning of malicious Adware is the deterioration in your Computer’s performance. Adware has a reputation of engaging resources and in turn, hurting performance and speed. Adware runs continuously in the background without your knowledge and uses valuable resources such as memory processor speed.
Increase Bandwidth Usage
Adware does this by downloading unwanted stuff. When you authorize the download of Software, new Software is downloaded and installed simultaneously. Many adware programs enter into your Computer unknowingly. These programs invade your Computer and run in your Computer’s background, eating up bandwidth. If you notice a constant use of your internet, but you can’t find any program regularly using this bandwidth on your Computer. It is likely Adware.
Make Computing Experience Worse
Adware is an annoyance to most computer users. For the majority of people, the primary problem with Adware is its ability to display advertisements in a pop-up form whenever it wants. These adverts grab your attention, and if you click on them, they install Software on your system without your permission. These installed Software keeps displaying adverts related to whatever you have clicked before. This pop up over a user’s work can plague the user.
Costs Money
Shopping is now a lot easier with the availability of online stores. The idea that one can buy anything from the comfort of their home is soothing. Right products, reasonable prices, and new offers/discounts are some of those things that make online shopping attractive. However, there are dangers associated with online shopping. Adware throws fake advertisements for an online store at a user. These ads are illegitimate, and most times, they offer a ridiculously low price of an item or a service that is hard to pass up on. Once a user clicks on it, a malicious user can steal their info (credit card info, for example).
Invades Privacy
Another negative side is an invasion of privacy. Some adware programs can download and install spyware. These programs can capture user personal information, and they send confidential information to advertisers or criminals. Additionally, they can collect browsing history and send it to ad managers.
How to Get Rid of Adware
Look out for suspicious/unknown name in installed programs and remove it.
As discussed earlier, most pop-up ads install a program on your Computer. Though not as a general rule, you’ll need to check for malicious programs to remove it.
Navigate your way to the programs screen and scroll through the list of currently installed programs. Look for recently installed unknown programs, any other unwanted or unknown program and uninstall from your Computer.
Depending on what application has installed the adware infection, the program may have a different name on your Computer. If you cannot find any unwanted or unknown programs on your Computer, then you can proceed with this next step.
Look out for suspicious/unknown name in installed browser extensions and remove it.
Adware generally bombards web browsers with ads. An important step is to look out for unknown extension and uninstall it.
Besides, you can reset Internet Explorer settings or other browsers to return them to the state they were in on the first installation on your PC. This reset feature fixes many issues while saving essential information like bookmarks, passwords, web form auto-fill information, browsing history, and open tabs.
Install MalwareFox
As easy as the above steps look like, things are not completely easy in most cases. There are situations in which these programs might be hiding deep in system setting and prove challenging to remove.
In cases like this, it is reasonable to scan the system with adware removal tool like MalwareFox. MalwareFox performs deep cleaning, detects, and cleans Adware; removing annoying ads, toolbar, and search in a click.
Additionally, MalwareFox restores performance by deleting adware infections which engages resources. With this method, there’s a gain of lost power of the computer system.