Category Archives: pop-ups

Remove ad3.popnw.com Pop Up Ads

Did you just get a pop-up from ad3.popnw.com and wonder where it came from? Did the ad3.popnw.com ad appear to have been launched from a web site that under normal circumstances don’t use advertising such as pop-up windows? Or did the ad3.popnw.com pop-up show up while you clicked a link on one of the major search engines, such as Google, Bing or Yahoo?

Here’s how the ad3.popnw.com pop-up looked like when I got it on my computer:

ad3.popnw.com pop up

(I know, lots of watermarks. Have to do it to stop the copy-cats.)

If this description sounds like what you are seeing, you apparently have some adware installed on your computer that pops up the ad3.popnw.com ads. So don’t write angry emails to the website you were browsing, the ads are most likely not coming from them, but from the adware on your machine. I’ll do my best to help you with the ad3.popnw.com removal in this blog post.

If you have been visiting this blog already know this, but if you are new: A little while back I dedicated some of my lab computers and deliberately installed some adware programs on them. Since then I have been monitoring the behaviour on these machines to see what kinds of advertisements that are displayed. I’m also looking on other interesting things such as if the adware updates itself automatically, or if it installs additional unwanted software on the computers. I first spotted the ad3.popnw.com pop-up on one of these lab machines.

ad3.popnw.com resolves to 64.20.35.186 and popnw.com to the 104.27.167.212 IP address.

So, how do you remove the ad3.popnw.com pop-up ads? On the machine where I got the ad3.popnw.com ads I had PineTree, GamesDesktop and CPUMiner installed. I removed them with FreeFixer and that stopped the ad3.popnw.com pop-ups and all the other ads I was getting in Mozilla Firefox.

Judging from Alexa’s traffic rank, ad3.popnw.com is getting quite a lot of traffic:

popnw.com traffic

The bad news with this type of pop-up is that it can be launched by many variants of adware. This makes it impossible to say exactly what you need to remove to stop the pop-ups.

Anyway, here’s my suggestion for the ad3.popnw.com ads removal:

The first thing I would do to remove the ad3.popnw.com pop-ups is to examine the programs installed on the machine, by opening the “Uninstall programs” dialog. You can find this dialog from the Windows Control Panel. If you are using one of the more recent versions of Windows Operating System you can just type in “uninstall” in the Control Panel’s search field to find that dialog:
Uninstall a program search

Click on the “Uninstall a program” link and the Uninstall programs dialog will open up:
Uninstall a program dialog

Do you see something suspicious listed there or something that you don’t remember installing? Tip: Sort on the “Installed On” column to see if something was installed about the same time as you started getting the ad3.popnw.com pop-ups.

Then you can examine you browser add-ons. Adware often appear under the add-ons menu in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari or Opera. Is there anything that looks suspicious? Something that you don’t remember installing?
Firefox add-ons manager

I think you will be able to find and remove the adware with the steps outlined above, but in case that did not work you can try the FreeFixer removal tool to identify and remove the adware. FreeFixer is a freeware tool that I started develop many years ago. Freefixer is a tool designed to manually find and remove unwanted software. When you’ve identified the unwanted files you can simply tick a checkbox and click on the Fix button to remove the unwanted file.

FreeFixer’s removal feature is not crippled like many other removal tools out there. It will not require you to pay for the program just when you are about to remove the unwanted files.

And if you’re having difficulties determining if a file is safe or adware in FreeFixer’s scan report, click on the More Info link for the file. That will open up a web page which contains more details about the file. On that web page, check out the VirusTotal report which can be quite useful:

FreeFixer More Info link example
An example of FreeFixer’s “More Info” links. Click for full size.

Here you can see FreeFixer in action removing pop-up ads:

Did this blog post help you to remove the ad3.popnw.com pop-up ads? Please let me know or how I can improve this blog post.

Thank you!

Remove soccerjoke.com Pop Up Ads

Having troubles with pop-ups from soccerjoke.com? If so, you may have adware installed on your computer. I got the soccerjoke.com pop-ups in Firefox, but they can appear if you are using Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari or Opera too.

Here is a screenshot on the soccerjoke.com pop-up from my system:

soccerjoke.com pop up

If this sounds like what you are seeing on your computer, you most likely have some adware installed on your machine that pops up the soccerjoke.com ads. So there’s no idea contacting the owner of the web site you were browsing. The ads are not coming from them. I’ll do my best to help you with the soccerjoke.com removal in this blog post.

Those that have been spending some time on this blog already know this, but here we go: A little while back I dedicated a few of my lab computers and deliberately installed some adware programs on them. I have been monitoring the actions on these machines to see what kinds of advertisements that are displayed. I’m also looking on other interesting things such as if the adware updates itself automatically, or if it installs additional unwanted software on the systems. I first observed the soccerjoke.com pop-up on one of these lab systems.

soccerjoke.com resolves to 178.33.231.96.

So, how do you remove the soccerjoke.com pop-up ads? On the machine where I got the soccerjoke.com ads I had PineTree, CPUMiner and GamesDesktop installed. I removed them with FreeFixer and that stopped the soccerjoke.com pop-ups and all the other ads I was getting in Mozilla Firefox.

The issue with this type of pop-up is that it can be initiated by many variants of adware, not just the adware on my machine. This makes it impossible to say exactly what you need to remove to stop the pop-ups.

To remove the soccerjoke.com pop-up ads you need to check your computer for adware or other types of unwanted software and uninstall it. Here’s my suggested removal procedure:

The first thing I would do to remove the soccerjoke.com pop-ups is to examine the programs installed on the machine, by opening the “Uninstall programs” dialog. You can open this dialog from the Windows Control Panel. If you are using one of the more recent versions of Windows Operating System you can just type in “uninstall” in the Control Panel’s search field to find that dialog:
Uninstall a program search

Click on the “Uninstall a program” link and the Uninstall programs dialog will open up:
Uninstall a program dialog

Do you see something shady listed there or something that you don’t remember installing? Tip: Sort on the “Installed On” column to see if some program was installed approximately about the same time as you started getting the soccerjoke.com pop-ups.

The next thing to check would be your browser’s add-ons. Adware often show up under the add-ons menu in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari. Is there anything that looks suspicious? Something that you don’t remember installing?
Firefox add-ons manager

I think you will be able to find and remove the adware with the steps outlined above, but in case that did not work you can try the FreeFixer removal tool to identify and remove the adware. FreeFixer is a freeware tool that I started develop many years ago. Freefixer is a tool built to manually identify and uninstall unwanted software. When you’ve found the unwanted files you can simply tick a checkbox and click on the Fix button to remove the unwanted file.

FreeFixer’s removal feature is not crippled like many other removal tools out there. It won’t require you to pay a fee just when you are about to remove the unwanted files.

And if you’re having a hard time figuring out if a file is legit or malware in FreeFixer’s scan result, click on the More Info link for the file. That will open up your web browser with a page which contains more details about the file. On that web page, check out the VirusTotal report which can be very useful:

FreeFixer More Info link example
An example of FreeFixer’s “More Info” links. Click for full size.

Did you find any adware on your machine? Did that stop the soccerjoke.com ads? Please post the name of the adware you uninstalled from your machine in the comment below.

Thank you!

Remove pre.scandibonus.com Pop Up Ads

Sound familiar? You see pop up ads from pre.scandibonus.com while browsing at web sites that mostl of the time don’t advertise in pop-up windows. The pop-ups manage to bypass the built-in pop-up blockers in Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer or Safari. Perhaps the pre.scandibonus.com pop-ups show up when clicking search results from Google? Or does the pop-ups appear even when you’re not browsing?

Here is a screenshot on the pre.scandibonus.com pop-up from my machine, when it showed up in a new tab:

pre.scandibonus.com pop up

If this sounds like what you are seeing on your computer, you presumably have some adware installed on your computer that pops up the pre.scandibonus.com ads. There’s no use contacting the owners of the website you were browsing. The ads are not coming from them. I’ll try help you with the pre.scandibonus.com removal in this blog post.

Those that have been spending some time on this blog already know this, but here we go: Recently I dedicated some of my lab systems and deliberately installed a few adware programs on them. I’ve been tracking the actions on these computers to see what kinds of ads that are displayed. I’m also looking on other interesting things such as if the adware auto-updates, or if it downloads and installs additional unwanted software on the systems. I first spotted the pre.scandibonus.com pop-up on one of these lab computers.

So, how do you remove the pre.scandibonus.com pop-up ads? On the machine where I got the pre.scandibonus.com ads I had Wajam, YTDownloader, PhaseProfessor, WebShield, SSFK.exe, mystartsearch, PrimaryColor, SFKEX64.exe and FastSearch installed. I removed them with FreeFixer and that stopped the pre.scandibonus.com pop-ups and all the other ads I was getting in Mozilla Firefox.

PrimaryColor was the adware that caused the pop-ups in my case.

The bad news with this type of pop up is that it can be initiated by many variants of adware. This makes it impossible to say exactly what you need to remove to stop the pop-ups.

So, what can be done to solve the problem? To remove the pre.scandibonus.com pop-up ads you need to check your system for adware or other types of unwanted software and uninstall it. Here’s my suggested removal procedure:

The first thing I would do to remove the pre.scandibonus.com pop-ups is to examine the software installed on the machine, by opening the “Uninstall programs” dialog. You can open this dialog from the Windows Control Panel. If you are using one of the more recent versions of Windows you can just type in “uninstall” in the Control Panel’s search field to find that dialog:
Uninstall a program search

Click on the “Uninstall a program” link and the Uninstall programs dialog will open up:
Uninstall a program dialog

Do you see something dubious in there or something that you don’t remember installing? Tip: Sort on the “Installed On” column to see if something was installed about the same time as you started observing the pre.scandibonus.com pop-ups.

Then I would check the browser add-ons. Adware often appear under the add-ons dialog in Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari. Is there something that looks suspicious? Something that you don’t remember installing?
Firefox add-ons manager

I think most users will be able to track down and uninstall the adware with the steps outlined above, but in case that did not work you can try the FreeFixer removal tool to identify and remove the adware. FreeFixer is a freeware tool that I started develop many years ago. Freefixer is a tool designed to manually find and remove unwanted software. When you’ve identified the unwanted files you can simply tick a checkbox and click on the Fix button to remove the unwanted file.

FreeFixer’s removal feature is not locked like many other removal tools out there. It will not require you to pay for the program just when you are about to remove the unwanted files.

And if you’re having difficulties determining if a file is clean or unwanted in the FreeFixer scan report, click on the More Info link for the file. That will open up a web page which contains more details about the file. On that web page, check out the VirusTotal report which can be quite useful:

FreeFixer More Info link example
An example of FreeFixer’s “More Info” links. Click for full size.

Here’s a video tutorial which shows FreeFixer in action removing adware that caused pop-up ads:

Did you find any adware on your machine? Did that stop the pre.scandibonus.com ads? Please post the name of the adware you uninstalled from your machine in the comment below.

Thank you!

Remove quizzitch.net Pop Up Ads

Did you just get a popup from quizzitch.net and wonder where it came from? Did the quizzitch.net ad appear to have been popped up from a web site that under normal circumstances don’t use advertising such as pop-up windows? Or did the quizzitch.net pop-up show up while you clicked a link on one of the major search engines, such as Google, Bing or Yahoo?

Here is how the quizzitch.net ad looked like on my system:

quizzitch.net pop up

(Sorry for the watermarks. Need to add them to prevent the most blatant attempts of other bloggers using my screenshots without attribution)

If you also see this on your system, you most likely have some adware installed on your machine that pops up the quizzitch.net ads. So don’t blame the people that runs the site you were at, the ads are most likely not coming from that site, but from the adware that’s installed on your machine. I’ll do my best to help you remove the quizzitch.net pop-up in this blog post.

I found the quizzitch.net pop-up on one of the lab computers where I have some adware running. I’ve talked about this in some of the previous blog posts. The adware was installed on purpose, and from time to time I check if something new has appeared, such as pop-up windows, new tabs in the browsers, injected ads on web site that usually don’t show ads, or if some new files have been saved to the hard-drive.

quizzitch.net resolves to 77.235.50.213. quizzitch.net was created on 2015-02-17.

So, how do you remove the quizzitch.net pop-up ads? On the machine where I got the quizzitch.net ads I had Movie Wizard, istartsurf and MedPlayerNewVersion installed. I removed them with FreeFixer and that stopped the quizzitch.net pop-ups and all the other ads I was getting in Mozilla Firefox.

It seems as quizzitch.net is getting quite a lot of traffic, based on Alexa’s traffic rank:

quizzitch.net traffic rank

The issue with pop-ups such as this one is that it can be popped up by many variants of adware, not just the adware on my machine. This makes it impossible to say exactly what you need to remove to stop the pop-ups.

Anyway, here’s my suggestion for the quizzitch.net ads removal:

The first thing I would do to remove the quizzitch.net pop-ups is to examine the software installed on the machine, by opening the “Uninstall programs” dialog. You can open this dialog from the Windows Control Panel. If you are using one of the more recent versions of Windows you can just type in “uninstall” in the Control Panel’s search field to find that dialog:
Uninstall a program search

Click on the “Uninstall a program” link and the Uninstall programs dialog will open up:
Uninstall a program dialog

Do you see something suspicious listed there or something that you don’t remember installing? Tip: Sort on the “Installed On” column to see if something was installed approximately about the same time as you started getting the quizzitch.net pop-ups.

The next thing to check would be your browser’s add-ons. Adware often show up under the add-ons menu in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari. Is there anything that looks suspicious? Anything that you don’t remember installing?
Firefox add-ons manager

I think most users will be able to find and uninstall the adware with the steps outlined above, but in case that did not work you can try the FreeFixer removal tool to identify and remove the adware. FreeFixer is a freeware tool that I started develop about 8 years ago. Freefixer is a tool built to manually track down and uninstall unwanted software. When you’ve identified the unwanted files you can simply tick a checkbox and click on the Fix button to remove the unwanted file.

FreeFixer’s removal feature is not locked down like many other removal tools out there. It won’t require you to pay for the program just when you are about to remove the unwanted files.

And if you’re having issues figuring out if a file is legitimate or malware in FreeFixer’s scan report, click on the More Info link for the file. That will open up a web page which contains more details about the file. On that web page, check out the VirusTotal report which can be very useful:

FreeFixer More Info link example
An example of FreeFixer’s “More Info” links. Click for full size.

Here’s a video tutorial on how to remove the pop-ups with FreeFixer:

Did you find any adware on your machine? Did that stop the quizzitch.net ads? Please post the name of the adware you uninstalled from your machine in the comment below.

Thank you!

Remove mediplayer.net Pop Up Ads

Did you just get a popup from mediplayer.net and wonder where it came from? Did the mediplayer.net ad appear to have been launched from a web site that under normal circumstances don’t use advertising such as pop-up windows? Or did the mediplayer.net pop-up show up while you clicked a link on one of the major search engines, such as Google, Bing or Yahoo?

Here’s a screenshot of the mediplayer.net pop-up ad when it showed up on my computer:

mediplayer.net pop up

(I know, lots of watermarks. Have to do it to stop the copy-cats.)

If this description sounds like your experience, you most likely have some adware installed on your system that pops up the mediplayer.net ads. There’s no use contacting the owners of the website you currently were browsing. The ads are not coming from them. I’ll do my best to help you with the mediplayer.net removal in this blog post.

I found the mediplayer.net pop-up on one of the lab machines where I have some adware running. I’ve talked about this in some of the previous blog posts. The adware was installed on purpose, and from time to time I check if anything new has appeared, such as pop-up windows, new tabs in the browsers, injected ads on website that usually don’t show ads, or if some new files have been saved to the hard-drive.

mediplayer.net resolves to the 52.21.93.46 IP address.

So, how do you remove the mediplayer.net pop-up ads? On the machine where I got the mediplayer.net ads I had MedPlayerNewVersion, Movie Wizard and istartsurf installed. I removed them with FreeFixer and that stopped the mediplayer.net pop-ups and all the other ads I was getting in Mozilla Firefox.

The issue with this type of pop-up is that it can be initiated by many variants of adware, not just the adware running on my system. This makes it impossible to say exactly what you need to remove to stop the pop-ups.

To remove the mediplayer.net pop-up ads you need to review your computer for adware or other types of unwanted software and uninstall it. Here’s my suggested removal procedure:

  1. Check what programs you have installed in the Add/Remove programs dialog in the Windows Control Panel. Do you see anything that you don’t remember installing or that was recently installed?
  2. How about your add-ons you installed in your browsers. Anything in the list that you don’t remember installing?
  3. If that did not help, you can give FreeFixer a try. FreeFixer is built to assist users when manually tracking down adware and other types of unwanted software. It is a freeware utility that I’ve been working since 2006 and it scans your machine at lots of locations where unwanted software is known to hook into your computer. If you would like to get additional details about a file in FreeFixer’s scan result, you can just click the More Info link for that file and a web page with a VirusTotal report will open up, which can be very useful to determine if the file is safe or malware:

    FreeFixer More Info link example
    An example of FreeFixer’s “More Info” links. Click for full size.

Here you can see FreeFixer in action removing pop-up ads:

Did this blog post help you to remove the mediplayer.net pop-up ads? Please let me know or how I can improve this blog post.

Thank you!

Remove updateauto.freecodecheck.com Pop Up Ads

Did you just get a pop-up from updateauto.freecodecheck.com and wonder where it came from? Did the updateauto.freecodecheck.com ad appear to have been initiated from a web site that under normal circumstances don’t use advertising such as pop-up windows? Or did the updateauto.freecodecheck.com pop-up show up while you clicked a link on one of the big search engines, such as Google, Bing or Yahoo?

Here’s how the updateauto.freecodecheck.com pop-up looked like when I got it on my computer:

updateauto.freecodecheck.com pop up

If this description sounds like your story, you probably have some adware installed on your machine that pops up the updateauto.freecodecheck.com ads. Contacting the site owner would be a waste of time. The ads are not coming from them. I’ll do my best to help you with the updateauto.freecodecheck.com removal in this blog post.

Those that have been reading this blog already know this, but for new visitors: Some time ago I dedicated some of my lab machines and intentionally installed some adware programs on them. Since then I have been tracking the actions on these machines to see what kinds of advertisements that are displayed. I’m also looking on other interesting things such as if the adware updates itself, or if it downloads additional unwanted software on the systems. I first spotted the updateauto.freecodecheck.com pop-up on one of these lab machines.

updateauto.freecodecheck.com was created on 2015-11-27. updateauto.freecodecheck.com resolves to the 37.48.124.203 IP address.

So, how do you remove the updateauto.freecodecheck.com pop-up ads? On the machine where I got the updateauto.freecodecheck.com ads I had CPUMiner, GamesDesktop and PineTree installed. I removed them with FreeFixer and that stopped the updateauto.freecodecheck.com pop-ups and all the other ads I was getting in Mozilla Firefox.

Judging from Alexa’s traffic rank, updateauto.freecodecheck.com is getting quite a lot of traffic:

freecodecheck.com traffic

The problem with pop-ups such as this one is that it can be launched by many variants of adware. This makes it impossible to say exactly what you need to remove to stop the pop-ups.

So, what can be done? To remove the updateauto.freecodecheck.com pop-up ads you need to check your system for adware or other types of unwanted software and uninstall it. Here’s my suggested removal procedure:

The first thing I would do to remove the updateauto.freecodecheck.com pop-ups is to examine the software installed on the machine, by opening the “Uninstall programs” dialog. You can find this dialog from the Windows Control Panel. If you are using one of the more recent versions of Windows Operating System you can just type in “uninstall” in the Control Panel’s search field to find that dialog:
Uninstall a program search

Click on the “Uninstall a program” link and the Uninstall programs dialog will open up:
Uninstall a program dialog

Do you see something dubious listed there or something that you don’t remember installing? Tip: Sort on the “Installed On” column to see if some program was installed approximately about the same time as you started seeing the updateauto.freecodecheck.com pop-ups.

The next thing to check would be your browser’s add-ons. Adware often appear under the add-ons dialog in Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer or Safari. Is there something that looks suspicious? Something that you don’t remember installing?
Firefox add-ons manager

I think you will be able to track down and uninstall the adware with the steps outlined above, but in case that did not work you can try the FreeFixer removal tool to identify and remove the adware. FreeFixer is a freeware tool that I started develop about 8 years ago. It’s a tool designed to manually find and remove unwanted software. When you’ve identified the unwanted files you can simply tick a checkbox and click on the Fix button to remove the unwanted file.

FreeFixer’s removal feature is not locked down like many other removal tools out there. It won’t require you to pay for the program just when you are about to remove the unwanted files.

And if you’re having problems deciding if a file is legit or adware in FreeFixer’s scan result, click on the More Info link for the file. That will open up your browser with a page which contains additional details about the file. On that web page, check out the VirusTotal report which can be very useful:

FreeFixer More Info link example
An example of FreeFixer’s “More Info” links. Click for full size.

Here’s a video tutorial showing FreeFixer in action removing pop-up ads:

Did you find any adware on your machine? Did that stop the updateauto.freecodecheck.com ads? Please post the name of the adware you uninstalled from your machine in the comment below.

Thank you!

Remove pwrtrade.com Pop Up Ads

Did you just get a pop-up from pwrtrade.com and ask yourself where it came from? Did the pwrtrade.com ad appear to have been popped up from a web site that under normal circumstances don’t use advertising such as pop-up windows? Or did the pwrtrade.com pop-up show up while you clicked a link on one of the major search engines, such as Google, Bing or Yahoo?

Here is how the pwrtrade.com ad looked like on my machine:

lps.pwrtrade.com pop up

If this description sounds like what you are seeing, you presumably have some adware installed on your system that pops up the pwrtrade.com ads. So there’s no use contacting the site owner. The advertisements are not coming from them. I’ll do my best to help you with the pwrtrade.com removal in this blog post.

Those that have been visiting this blog already know this, but here we go: A little while back I dedicated a few of my lab systems and intentionally installed some adware programs on them. I’ve been monitoring the actions on these systems to see what kinds of advertisements that are displayed. I’m also looking on other interesting things such as if the adware updates itself, or if it installs additional unwanted software on the systems. I first noticed the pwrtrade.com pop-up on one of these lab systems.

pwrtrade.com resolves to the 104.20.21.60 IP address and lps.pwrtrade.com to 107.180.51.7.

So, how do you remove the pwrtrade.com pop-up ads? On the machine where I got the pwrtrade.com ads I had SSFK.exe, FastSearch, PhaseProfessor, YTDownloader, WebShield, SFKEX64.exe, PrimaryColor, mystartsearch and Wajam installed. I removed them with FreeFixer and that stopped the pwrtrade.com pop-ups and all the other ads I was getting in Mozilla Firefox.

The problem with pop-ups like this one is that it can be popped up by many variants of adware, not just the adware on my machine. This makes it impossible to say exactly what you need to remove to stop the pop-ups.

Anyway, here’s my suggestion for the pwrtrade.com ads removal:

  1. What software do you have installed if you look in the Add/Remove programs dialog in the Windows Control Panel? Something that you don’t remember installing yourself or that was recently installed?
  2. You can also check the add-ons you installed in your browsers. Same thing here, do you see anything that you don’t remember installing?
  3. If that does not help, you can give FreeFixer a try. FreeFixer is built to assist users when manually tracking down adware and other types of unwanted software. It is a freeware utility that I’ve been working since 2006 and it scans your system at lots of locations where unwanted software is known to hook into your computer. If you would like to get additional details about a file in FreeFixer’s scan result, you can just click the More Info link for that file and a web page with a VirusTotal report will open up, which can be very useful to determine if the file is safe or malware:

    FreeFixer More Info link example
    An example of FreeFixer’s “More Info” links. Click for full size.

Did this blog post help you to remove the pwrtrade.com pop-up ads? Please let me know or how I can improve this blog post.

Thank you!

Remove itrack.click Pop Up Ads

Does this sound familiar? You see pop-up ads from itrack.click while browsing on websites that in general don’t advertise in pop-up windows. The pop-ups manage to get round the built-in pop-up blockers in Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer or Safari. Perhaps the itrack.click pop-ups appear when clicking search results from Google? Or does the pop-ups appear even when you’re not browsing?

Here’s how the itrack.click pop-up looked like when I got it on my machine:

itrack.click pop up

(I’m sorry for the many watermarks. If I don’t add them, the screenshot always show up at some copy-cat blogs.)

If this sounds like what you are seeing on your machine, you probably have some adware installed on your machine that pops up the itrack.click ads. There’s no use contacting the owners of the web site you currently were browsing. The ads are not coming from them. I’ll try help you to remove the itrack.click pop-ups in this blog post.

If you have been reading this blog already know this, but if you are new: Recently I dedicated some of my lab computers and deliberately installed some adware programs on them. I have been monitoring the behaviour on these computers to see what kinds of advertisements that are displayed. I’m also looking on other interesting things such as if the adware updates itself automatically, or if it installs additional unwanted software on the computers. I first spotted the itrack.click pop-up on one of these lab machines.

itrack.click resolves to 178.62.155.89. itrack.click was registered on 2015-12-28.

So, how do you remove the itrack.click pop-up ads? On the machine where I got the itrack.click ads I had gosearch.me, Windows Menager, Live Malware Protection and SmartComp Safe Network installed. I removed them with FreeFixer and that stopped the itrack.click pop-ups and all the other ads I was getting in Mozilla Firefox.

The issue with this type of pop-up is that it can be launched by many variants of adware. This makes it impossible to say exactly what you need to remove to stop the pop-ups.

Anyway, here’s my suggestion for the itrack.click ads removal:

The first thing I would do to remove the itrack.click pop-ups is to examine the software installed on the machine, by opening the “Uninstall programs” dialog. You can reach this dialog from the Windows Control Panel. If you are using one of the more recent versions of Windows Operating System you can just type in “uninstall” in the Control Panel’s search field to find that dialog:
Uninstall a program search

Click on the “Uninstall a program” link and the Uninstall programs dialog will open up:
Uninstall a program dialog

Do you see something strange-looking in there or something that you don’t remember installing? Tip: Sort on the “Installed On” column to see if some program was installed approximately about the same time as you started seeing the itrack.click pop-ups.

Then you can examine you browser add-ons. Adware often appear under the add-ons dialog in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari. Is there anything that looks suspicious? Anything that you don’t remember installing?
Firefox add-ons manager

I think you will be able to identify and remove the adware with the steps outlined above, but in case that did not work you can try the FreeFixer removal tool to identify and remove the adware. FreeFixer is a freeware tool that I’ve developed since 2006. Freefixer is a tool designed to manually track down and uninstall unwanted software. When you’ve found the unwanted files you can simply tick a checkbox and click on the Fix button to remove the unwanted file.

FreeFixer’s removal feature is not locked down like many other removal tools out there. It won’t require you to pay a fee just when you are about to remove the unwanted files.

And if you’re having difficulties determining if a file is clean or adware in the FreeFixer scan result, click on the More Info link for the file. That will open up a web page which contains more details about the file. On that web page, check out the VirusTotal report which can be quite useful:

FreeFixer More Info link example
An example of FreeFixer’s “More Info” links. Click for full size.

Did you find any adware on your machine? Did that stop the itrack.click ads? Please post the name of the adware you uninstalled from your machine in the comment below.

Thank you!

Remove chakari4terium.com Pop Up Ads

Did you just get a pop-up from chakari4terium.com and wonder where it came from? Did the chakari4terium.com ad appear to have been launched from a web site that under normal circumstances don’t use advertising such as pop-up windows? Or did the chakari4terium.com pop-up show up while you clicked a link on one of the big search engines, such as Google, Bing or Yahoo?

Here is how the chakari4terium.com ad looked like on my computer:

chakari4terium.com pop up

If you also see this on your machine, you most likely have some adware installed on your computer that pops up the chakari4terium.com ads. So there’s no use contacting the site owner. The ads are not coming from them. I’ll try help you to remove the chakari4terium.com pop-ups in this blog post.

Those that have been spending some time on this blog already know this, but here we go: Recently I dedicated a few of my lab machines and intentionally installed a few adware programs on them. I have been monitoring the behaviour on these systems to see what kinds of advertisements that are displayed. I’m also looking on other interesting things such as if the adware updates itself, or if it installs additional unwanted software on the computers. I first spotted the chakari4terium.com pop-up on one of these lab computers.

chakari4terium.com was created on 2015-12-17. chakari4terium.com resolves to 104.24.127.128.

So, how do you remove the chakari4terium.com pop-up ads? On the machine where I got the chakari4terium.com ads I had Windows Menager, SmartComp Safe Network, gosearch.me and Live Malware Protection installed. I removed them with FreeFixer and that stopped the chakari4terium.com pop-ups and all the other ads I was getting in Mozilla Firefox.

The problem with pop-ups such as this one is that it can be launched by many variants of adware, not just the adware that’s installed on my system. This makes it impossible to say exactly what you need to remove to stop the pop-ups.

So, what can be done? To remove the chakari4terium.com pop-up ads you need to review your computer for adware or other types of unwanted software and uninstall it. Here’s my suggested removal procedure:

  1. Check what programs you have installed in the Add/Remove programs dialog in the Windows Control Panel. Do you see something that you don’t remember installing or that was recently installed?
  2. How about your add-ons you installed in your browsers. Anything in the list that you don’t remember installing?
  3. If that did not help, I’d recommend a scan with FreeFixer to manually track down the adware. FreeFixer is a freeware tool that I’m working on that scans your computer at lots of locations, such as browser add-ons, processes, Windows services, recently modified files, etc. If you want to get additional details about a file in the scan result, you can click the More Info link for that file and a web page will open up with a VirusTotal report which will be very useful to determine if the file is safe or malware:

    FreeFixer More Info link example
    An example of FreeFixer’s “More Info” links. Click for full size.

Here you can see FreeFixer in action removing the adware that caused pop-up ads:

Did you find any adware on your machine? Did that stop the chakari4terium.com ads? Please post the name of the adware you uninstalled from your machine in the comment below.

Thank you!

Remove alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com Pop Up Ads

Did you just get interrupted by a pop-up ad from alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com? You are not alone. I also get the alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com pop-ups while browsing. Do the pop-ups also get round the pop-up blocker in Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari. Then read on…

Here is a screenshot on the alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com pop-up from my computer:

alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com pop up

 

(I’m sorry for the many watermarks. If I don’t add them, the screenshot always show up at some copy-cat blogs.)

If this sounds like what you are seeing on your machine, you presumably have some adware installed on your computer that pops up the alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com ads. Contacting the owner of the website would be a waste of time. They are not responsible for the ads. I’ll do my best to help you remove the alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com pop-up in this blog post.

I found the alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com pop-up on one of the lab machines where I have some adware running. I’ve talked about this in some of the previous blog posts. The adware was installed on purpose, and from time to time I check if something new has appeared, such as pop-up windows, new tabs in the browsers, injected ads on site that usually don’t show ads, or if some new files have been saved to the hard-drive.

alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com resolves to the 192.96.205.167 address and feelfree4update.com to 162.255.119.251. alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com was registered on 2015-11-12.

So, how do you remove the alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com pop-up ads? On the machine where I got the alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com ads I had PineTree, CPUMiner and GamesDesktop installed. I removed them with FreeFixer and that stopped the alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com pop-ups and all the other ads I was getting in Mozilla Firefox.

If you are wonder if there are many others out there also getting the alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com ads, the answer is probably yes. Check out the traffic rank from Alexa:

feelfree4update.com traffic

The problem with pop-ups like this one is that it can be launched by many variants of adware, not just the adware that’s installed on my computer. This makes it impossible to say exactly what you need to remove to stop the pop-ups.

So, what should done to solve the problem? To remove the alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com pop-up ads you need to check your system for adware or other types of unwanted software and uninstall it. Here’s my suggested removal procedure:

The first thing I would do to remove the alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com pop-ups is to examine the programs installed on the machine, by opening the “Uninstall programs” dialog. You can open this dialog from the Windows Control Panel. If you are using one of the more recent versions of Windows OS you can just type in “uninstall” in the Control Panel’s search field to find that dialog:
Uninstall a program search

Click on the “Uninstall a program” link and the Uninstall programs dialog will open up:
Uninstall a program dialog

Do you see something dubious in there or something that you don’t remember installing? Tip: Sort on the “Installed On” column to see if something was installed approximately about the same time as you started getting the alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com pop-ups.

Then I would check the browser add-ons. Adware often appear under the add-ons dialog in Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer or Safari. Is there anything that looks suspicious? Something that you don’t remember installing?
Firefox add-ons manager

I think you will be able to identify and remove the adware with the steps outlined above, but in case that did not work you can try the FreeFixer removal tool to identify and remove the adware. FreeFixer is a freeware tool that I’ve developed since 2006. It’s a tool built to manually track down and uninstall unwanted software. When you’ve identified the unwanted files you can simply tick a checkbox and click on the Fix button to remove the unwanted file.

FreeFixer’s removal feature is not crippled like many other removal tools out there. It won’t require you to pay for the program just when you are about to remove the unwanted files.

And if you’re having problems figuring out if a file is clean or adware in FreeFixer’s scan report, click on the More Info link for the file. That will open up your browser with a page which contains more details about the file. On that web page, check out the VirusTotal report which can be very useful:

FreeFixer More Info link example
An example of FreeFixer’s “More Info” links. Click for full size.

Did you find any adware on your machine? Did that stop the alwaysnewsoft.feelfree4update.com ads? Please post the name of the adware you uninstalled from your machine in the comment below.

Thank you!