Remove Cantataweb – Adware Removal Instructions

Welcome! Found another adware called Cantataweb right now. This appears to be yet another variant of BrowseFox/AltBrowse that I’ve previously written about. According to the other anti-malware bloggers, Cantataweb has been around since August 2014.

If you got Cantataweb installed on your computer, you will see new add-ons added in Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer and a folder called Cantataweb added under the Programs Files folder. I’ll show how to remove Cantataweb in this blog post with the FreeFixer removal tool.

cantataweb in the program files folder cantataweb 1.0.1 listed as a firefox add-on Cantataweb is "ready for use" in in Internet Explorer

Cantataweb is bundled with a number of downloads. Bundling means that software is included in other software’s installers. When I first found Cantataweb, it was bundled with a software download claiming to be an episode of the Game of Thrones TV show. The download was digitally signed by New IT Limited.

New IT Limited in the User Account Control notification dialog Cantataweb bundled in the installer

Generally, you can avoid bundled software such as Cantataweb by being careful when installing software and declining the bundled offers in the installer.

As usual when I stumble upon some new bundled software I uploaded it to VirusTotal to test if the anti-malwares there find anything suspicious. 40 of the scanners detected the file which is a pretty good detection rate. The Cantataweb files are detected as Win32:BrowseFox-AW [PUP] by Avast, Application.Win32.Altbrowse.AK by Comodo, a variant of Win32/BrowseFox.F by ESET-NOD32 and PUP.Optional.Cantataweb.A by Malwarebytes.

Cantataweb virustotal report

You probably came here looking for removal instructions for Cantataweb and you can do so with the FreeFixer removal tool. Just select the Cantataweb files/settings as the screenshots below shows. A reboot of your computer may be required to complete the removal. Problem solved.

cantataweb firefox extension cantatawebbho.dll in freefixer

Hope this helped you remove the Cantataweb adware.

Do you also have Cantataweb on your system? Any idea how it was installed? Please let me and the readers know by posting a comments. Thank you!

Hope you found this useful and thanks you for reading.