How To Remove AdClick “Virus”

Like many others of its kind, AdClick “Virus” is categorized as an Adware. Adware is a program, which sole purpose is to collect browsing information from your internet activity. It may do so by integrating itself in your browser – Chrome or Firefox, it does not matter. With the gathered information the adware enters a never-ending cycle of constantly customizing itself with newer “offers” that it sends your way. One of the things not a lot of people know is that just like all other Adware products, AdClick “Virus” may sell your browsing information to 3^rd party companies, which in turn may use it however they want.

How does Adware work?

AdClick “Virus” could be easily identified by the sudden appearance of pop-up Ads, banners, unwanted toolbars and even additions to your search results. The fact that AdClick “Virus” may integrate itself to your browser means that it may have a lot of control over what you see, and thus it may take any form of the above mentioned. This article aims to help you remove the given problem, in any stage of its occurrence. It is good to know that Adware is harder to be removed once it has already been installed than it is to keep your computer and browser safe from it by using a couple of safe practices.

Most Adware programs work in similar patterns. Once they have gotten a hold of your browser, they offer a variety of offers and services to the user, most of which have limited usefulness. With an end goal to flood your computer with Ads and to potentially gather money via the so called Pay-Per-Click scheme. This is why it could be a bad idea to click on offers that suddenly appear on your screen. AdClick “Virus” may redirect you to websites that you have recently visited. However it could happen that some of the links may lead to dangerous websites, which is a process called Malvertising. It is good to know however, that just like most Adware, AdClick “Virus” is not a virus. Viruses tend to cause a great deal of harm to the computer, replicate themselves and are malicious in nature. While Adware is usually mostly annoying and quite harmless in fact.

How did I end up with this?

It is good to be familiar with how AdClick “Virus” could have gotten into your computer. Most of the cases usually are as a result of the so called “software bundling”. In short, this occurs when a user proceeds with the installation of software, mostly downloaded from free websites, without checking the installation menus first. A good practice is to always use the Custom or Advanced tab in the installation window to see exactly what you are prompting the installer to put on your hard drive. It could also be a good idea to always read all the menus in the installer unless you are absolutely sure where its origins are. A very big percent of Adware cases originate from such “software” bundles. Another way to become infected with AdClick “Virus” is to download files from torrent sites. Many of these websites have little protection in this regard and some may even endorse malicious practices.

How to deal with it?

One of the reasons why Adware, like AdClick , is considered an unwanted program, is the fact that it may contribute to a bad internet experience for the user. A lot of them are annoying with their constant bombardment of offers, and may potentially even promote the installation of software products of questionable quality. One should always be careful when installing software or clicking on links that have been provided by an unknown Ad service.

For the removal of AdClick it is probably best to use specialized software in order to spare yourself a lot of headaches. Mainly due to the fact that most of the Adware manifestations are not being closely monitored by Anti-Virus databases, because of their harmless nature, they do not detect them as effectively and thus are not able to remove them most of the time. Thus it is best to use a specialized anti-adware tool. One built solely around the purpose of clearing browser infections and it may be a good idea to keep it installed and frequently scan your browser and computer.

AdClick is just one of the many Adware programs on the Internet, and like such it is to be treated the same way as all the others of this kind. This article aims to cover all of the core problems of an Adware infection, and its removal.

AdClick Removal Instructions

Many types of malware will restrict your access to their core files. It is highly recommended that you reboot your PC in safe mode before attempting to use this guide.

• To enable Safe Mode reboot you PC, then hit F8 repeatedly. When the corresponding menu opens please select Safe Mode with Networking.

WARNING! If you are using Windows 8,0 or later and/or your operating system is installed on a fast SSD drive this may fail to work. In this case click here to see how to start your PC in Safe Mode.

#1: Uninstall the malicious program from your control panel

Enter control panel to look for any suspicious programs, which may have installed on your PC. To do that:

1. Navigate to your Desktop
2. Press simultaneously the Win button together with the R button (Win+R)
3. In the Run window that just opened type appwiz.cpl

4. Go through the list of programs and find AdClick or anything else that may seem suspicious. Right-click on it and choose the uninstallation option

WARNING! Carefully read any confirmation messages that may be created in the process. Sometimes you may get offers to download more Adware applications and this can be linked to either the Yes or the No answer depending on the wording!

• Optional:

Go through the list of programs again and check online for any potentially unwanted programs. We have an article that covers this awesome free software that makes sure that your computer is free from bloatware and programs that you don’t need.

#2: Remove AdClick From Chrome

Now we’ll remove the extensions that the malware has attached to your browser.

1. Open your Google Chrome browser.
2. Type chrome://extensions/  in the URL address bar and press Enter.
3. Click on “Developer Mode” on the top right and look for the extension installed by AdClick and anything that might be related to it. Copy their IDs (the string of letters), then remove them by clicking on the trash bin icon.

1. Type Regedit in the Windows Start Menu and press Enter. Go in : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\Chrome\Extensions and delete the entries corresponding to the suspicious IDs you recorded.

#3: Remove AdClick From Firefox

1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. Type “about:support” in the URL address bar and press Enter.
3. Click on the “Refresh Firefox” button on the right and confirm.

#4 Remove AdClick From Internet Explorer

1. Open your Internet Explorer internet browser.
2. Click on the Gear icon on the up right, then on manage add-ons.
3. Go through the list disable any suspicious extensions.

#5 Remove any leftover parasitic processes

From the task manager:

1. Use Ctrl + Shift + Esc and open the Task manager, then click on the Processes
2. Go through the list of processes and look for unknown or otherwise suspicious entries.
3. If you see anything suspicious right click on the process and shoes Open File Location, then terminate the process and delete any files you find in the directory.

WARNING! If the directory you open from this menu has no files inside of it it’s probably because the malware has hidden them. You need to reveal hidden files and folders in order to be able to see them. Click here if you don’t know how to do that.

From the start menu:

1. Press simultaneously the Win button together with the R button (Win+R)
2. In the Run window that just opened type msconfig
3. Click on the Startup tab.

This menu controls which programs are loaded when windows starts after a reboot. Disable anything that seems suspicious. Optionally you can also disable any program that you don’t need and also has a high impact on your startup time.

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