Antivirusgaming.com Ads Removal. How to stop pop-up?

Written by Valdis Koks

Antivirusgaming.com search hijacker is a sort of virus that squeezes into your computer, and after that switches the browser search engine configurations in your web browser to one which it wants. It additionally makes different unwanted changes that may cause private data leakages, in addition to other malware delivery. In this post, you will see the guide of Antivirusgaming.com hijacker removal in a couple of techniques, and also the technique of making your browser like new.

icon hijacker - Do I really need it?

Antivirusgaming.com Info

Name Antivirusgaming.com extension
Type Browser hijacker1
Short Description The unwanted software that amends important browser settings without the user’s permission.
Symptoms The Antivirusgaming.com hijacker replaces the browser parameters set by the users and replaces these settings with its own values.
Distribution Method Bundling with Freeware or Shareware, misleading pop-up ads produced by adware.
Detection Tool Inspect If Your System Has Been Affected by the Antivirusgaming.com hijacker.

The ways of injection of Antivirusgaming.com search hijackers are diverse. The majority of them belong to the malware spreading through the malvertising or malevolent web links of various websites. In some cases, your system might be infected with this malware through the trojan-downloader, which is put to use to disperse numerous other malware. There is a single form of this undesirable program – web browser plugin that might build right into any web browser which supports the add-on setup2.

You will not likely add this plugin on your own, because their names are highly dubious, and the usefulness is very debatable. The “creators” of Antivirusgaming.com hijacker typically state that it can save the .doc/.docx files from the web pages already to .pdf format, or to download the entire site on your disk. It is really hard to imagine if someone may be needed in such functions in 2023, when the Web access is not time-limited as well as every PC has the ability to start the needed .docx files at Google Docs.

However, besides their uselessness, they can easily be discovered in the Chrome Web Store. Certainly, virus experts sound the alarm regarding such spam right into the legit source of browser extensions, asking for the Google response – getting rid of these extensions from their place. But they are still not hurrying to deal with that safety issue.

Icon - Your PC hijacker

Is the Antivirusgaming.com virus?

At the first sight, you may think that these redirects are just aggravating, but not dangerous. As a result of this reason a number of people are just playing for time rather than removing this malware, obtaining increasingly more possibilities of being contaminated with numerous other infections, which are a lot more severe than Antivirusgaming.com is.

Besides the changed search engine or search engine result, you can additionally see different ads even on those sites that do not have any advertisements on it by default. And you can easily misclick while closing the ad, and begin the downloading of an unknown file, which can be a malware, or a potentially undesirable application, and even ransomware – whatever the maintainers of this hijacker desire.

If your web browser is corrupted as a result of the Azorult trojan task, the system can begin malfunctioning quickly – this symptome is one of the most typical in case of trojan penetration.

Icon - remove Antivirusgaming.com hijacker

How to remove Antivirusgaming.com?

First, let me say several words about prevention the Antivirusgaming.com malware infiltration. It is really simple to speak about the techniques of shielding your personal computer from such annoying items as browser hijackers, but it is very simple to be caught on this bait even being a professional user. As it was stated above, this unwanted program may hide after the attractive (at the first sight) ad, or in packs with various other adware you may get in dozens of methods. However, despite the usual complexity of the penetration methods, it is really simple to stay clear of the Antivirusgaming.com hijacker presence in your system:

  • Do not follow the dubious links;
  • Restrict the usage of pseudo-free software (one which is offered as free, but has an additional unwanted programs in its pack);
  • Leave the habit of clicking advertisements on the web. If you need to buy something, it is better to google it;
  • Avoid downloading the files from dubious sources, like forums or file sharing websites.

Preparation before removing Antivirusgaming.com.

Before starting the actual uninstall procedure, we recommend that you do the following introductory milestones.

  • Ensure you have this manual tutorial constantly prepared to utilize.
  • Perform a back-up of every one of your data, including the kept logins, passwords and also various other credentials. You need to support your info with a cloud backup solution and also make certain your data are shielded from any type of type of loss, also from the most severe infections.
  • Wait till the lasting back-up process is over.

Step 1: Uninstall Antivirusgaming.com and related software from Windows

Here is a method in few simple steps that ought to have the ability to uninstall most applications. Either you use Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP, these milestones will work well. Moving the app or its folder to the Trash can be a very wrong idea. In case you do that, remnants of the app may remain, and that can cause the unstable performance of your system, malfunctions with the file type associations and other unpleasant behavior. The effective solution to get an app off your device is to remove it manually. To do that:

1. Keep holding the Windows Logo Button and “R” on your keyboard. A Pop-up window will soon arrive.

Windows keyboard R

2. In the field that appeared, type in “appwiz.cpl” -1  and choose OK – 2.

Run appwiz.cpl

 

3. This will open a window with all the apps available on the device. Choose the app that you want to get rid of, then choose “Uninstall

Follow the steps above and you will successfully get rid of most unwanted apps.

Step 2: Get rid of Antivirusgaming.com from all your available browsers.

Mozilla FirefoxGoogle ChromeInternet ExplorerMicrosoft Edge

1. Launch Mozilla Firefox. Go to its menu window

2. Choose the “Add-ons” icon in the menu.

3. Find the unwanted extension and select “Remove

Mozilla Firefox Add-ons Remove

4. Upon deleting the extension, reload Mozilla Firefox, closing it with the help of a red “X” button in the upper right corner and start it again.

1. Launch Google Chrome and go to its drop menu

Google Chrome drop menu click

2. Click on “Tools” and then in the extended menu select “Extensions

Google Chrome Tools select Extensions

3. In the “Extensions” menu find the unwanted extension and apply the “Remove” button related to it.

Google Chrome Extensions Remove

4. As soon as the extension is deleted, reload Google Chrome by closing it by means of the red “X” button at the top right corner and launch it again.

1. Launch Internet Explorer

2. Click on the gear icon marked ‘Tools’ to open the drop menu and choose ‘Manage Add-ons’

Manage-add-ons

3. In the “Manage Add-ons” window, locate the extension you want to delete and then click “Remove”. A pop-up window will come up to inform you that you are about to delete the selected extension, and some more add-ons might be disabled as well. Leave all the boxes checked, and choose “Remove”.

Internet Explorer extension removal

4. Once the unwanted extension is deleted, reload Internet Explorer by shutting it down from the red “X” button located at the top right corner and launch it again.

1. Launch Edge

2. Access the drop menu by clicking on the icon at the top right corner.

3. From the drop menu choose “Extensions”.

Microsoft Edge menu Extensions

4. Locate the suspected dangerous extension you want to delete and then click on the Remove button.

Microsoft Edge Extensions Remove

Step 3: Clean any registries that could be added by Antivirusgaming.com on your device.

The usually attacked registries of Windows machines are the following:

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

You can access them by going to the Windows registry editor and getting rid of any values added by Antivirusgaming.com. Follow the steps below:

  1. Start the Run Window command once again, type “regedit” and click OK.Window command regedit
  2. As soon as you open it, you can freely go to the Run and RunOnce keys, whose locations are displayed above.Window command Run and RunOnce keys
  3. You can delete the value of the virus by right-clicking on it and deleting it.Window command regedit delete the value virus

Tip: To locate a virus-created value, you can right-click on it and select “Modify” to find which file it is set to run. If this is the malware file location, delete the value.

Step 4: Scan for Antivirusgaming.com with Loaris Trojan Remover

1. Click on the “Download” button to proceed to Loaris Trojan Remover download.

It is recommended to run a scan before purchasing the full version of the software to make sure that the current version of the malware can be detected by Trojan Remover. Click on the corresponding links to check License AgreementPrivacy Policy.

2. Click “Install” to start.

Loaris Trojan Remover Install

There were 4 scan types suggested:

  • Standard Scan.
  • Full Scan.
  • Custom Scan.
  • Removable Scan.

 

3. After the installed has finished, click on the ‘Scan’ tab. Click on ‘Full Scan’.

Loaris Trojan Remover Full Scan

4. Once the scanning is started, Loaris will initiate the thorough analysis of your device and may soon identify specific threats currently slowing down the performance of your system. Make sure to wait until the scanning is completed to let the software fully evaluate the safety of your workstation.

Loaris Trojan Remover - scan in process

5. After Loaris Trojan Remover has finished scanning your PC for any files of the associated threat and found them, you can try to get them removed automatically and permanently by clicking on the ‘Apply’ button. There were options to move the files to quarantine, ignore or delete them.

Loaris Trojan Remover - show viruses

If any threats have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart your PC.

 

  1. About browser hijackers on Wikipedia
  2. Possible danger of free browser extensions

About the author

Valdis Koks

Security engineer, reverse engineering and memory forensics

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