Welcome, reader, to our Nw.exe “Virus” removal guide. The following instructions will aid you in removing the unwanted software from your PC.
The matter we are discussing below is what comes as a result of a contamination with Nw.exe. This program belongs to the family of ad-displaying products known generally as Adware. All of these programs have been specially set to show as many banners, pop-ups, tabs and other online ads as possible. Such ad-displaying software affects all browsers equally – the infection may appear on your Chrome, Firefox and Opera, as well as on your Explorer browser.
The nature of the infection with Nw.exe “Virus”
Catching this ad-generating program is referred to as an infection. Nw.exe does NOT have any malicious features like those of a proper virus such as ransomware, though. No Adware has ever had any, as a matter of fact. Most infections with viruses could result in many technical issues and serious problems like identity theft, using banking credentials, hacking social media accounts or destroying the entire OS of a machine. Nothing like that can ever happen because of Nw.exe. So in general it must be said that Nw.exe should not be considered a computer virus.
However, what may come across as suspicious is…
… this software’s capability of keeping track of your personal interests, by carefully reviewing your browsing history. Consequently, all the pop-ups that are shown on your screen may contain only the products and services you have recently shown interest in. Still, this feature is not really considered harmful and it certainly isn’t illegal. After all, no one has ever caught any form of Adware without authorizing it to infiltrate their system, no matter whether that happened knowingly or unknowingly.
Where does Adware come from?
This kind of software comes from the mutual desire of web developers and goods producers to make a profit. The first ones do that by programming Adware to display the biggest number of advertisements it possibly can. The second ones make money by selling their effectively promoted products to the users and pay the programmers for every single ad in order to achieve more sales.
How may it infect your computer?
The potential sources of Nw.exe could vary extremely. Such a source of ad-generating programs could be any torrent, any spam letter or any contagious web page. The biggest number of contaminations, though, happens thanks to program bundles. In order to spread Adware around, programmers assemble software bundles full of various apps, new programs and games. All these programs are usually offered for free to users and many of them would carelessly download the bundles, being interested in the main install, while often remaining completely ignorant of the added content. Actually, no infection has ever resulted from simply downloading a software bundle – most of them occurred as a result of improperly installing it. What you are supposed to do in order to stay safe from ad-generating software, however, so as to still be able to use something from a given bundle, is to select the right installation option and to opt out of the Adware inside the bundle. Such a feature of any wizard is the one providing a Custom or Advanced installation process. Always use this one. All the other potential installation options are highly undesirable. Avoid all the promises of an easy or quick installation. Stay safe!
How to prevent an infection
It is very fortunate that Adware-based programs might be avoided and it is not that complicated to do so. Some tips for staying away from ad-producing programs are the following:
- Install any new program the smart way, as described above.
- Keep all the installed apps and games, as well as your anti-malware tool, always up-to-date. Don’t miss installing updates – they will keep the software less vulnerable.
- Allow your pop-up blockers to function – they will at least stop the webpage-hosted ads.
- Allow your Firewall to work – keep it switched on. It may warn you about potentially dangerous web addresses.
- Don’t open anything that comes as spam or comes from an unknown source – neither the emails, nor their attachments. They might be contagious.
- Avoid any streaming websites, as well as illegal pages.
- Make sure you don’t click on any suspicious online advertisement. It may lead to the appearance of many more.
How to remove a contamination
Hopefully, the successful solution to your problem will be provided by the Removal Guide below. Try to solve your problem by implementing the uninstallation instructions within it, but also feel free to use our Nw.exe removal tool to make sure no leftover components remain on your system.
Nw.exe Removal
I – Uninstallation
- Use the Winkey+R keyboard combination, write Control Panel in the search field and hit enter.
- Go to Uninstall a program under Programs.
- Seek the unwanted software, select it and then click on Uninstall
- If you are unable to spot Nw.exe, search for any unrecognized programs that you do not remember installing on your PC – the unwanted software might disguise itself by going under a different name.
II – Safe mode and revealing hidden files
III – Cleaning all your browsers
- Go to your browser’s icon, right-click on it and select Properties.
- Go to the Shortcut tab and in the Target make sure to delete anything written after “.exe”.
- Now, open your browser and follow the instructions below depending on whether you are using Chrome, Mozilla or IE.
- Chrome users:
- Go to your browser’s main menu located in the top-right corner of the screen and select Settings.
- Scroll down, click on Show Advanced Settings and then select Clear browsing data. Just to be sure, tick everything and clear the data.
- Now, in the left pane, go to Extensions and look through all extensions that are integrated within your browser. If you notice any suspicious add-on, disable it and then remove it.
- Firefox users:
- Similarly to Chrome, go to the main menu and select Add-ons and then Extensions.
- Remove any suspicious browser extensions that you may have even if they do not have the name Nw.exe on them.
- IE users:
- Go to Tools and select Manage add-ons.
- Click on all add-on types from the left pane and check if there is anything suspicious in the right panel. In case you find anything shade, make sure to remove it.
IV – Removing Shady processes
- Go to your start menu, type Task Manager in the search field and from the results open View running processes with Task Manager.
- Thoroughly look through all processes. The name Nw.exe might not be there, but if you notice any shady looking process that consumes high amounts of memory it might be ran by the unwanted program.
- If you spot the process ran by Nw.exe, right-click on it, open its file location and delete everything in there. Then go back to the Task Manager and end the process.
V – DNS check
- In the start menu search box write View Network Connections and open the first result.
- Right-click on the network connection you are using and go to Properties.
- Select Internet Protocol Version (TCP/IPv4) and click on Properties.
- If Obtain DNS server addresses automatically is not checked, check it.
- Go to Advanced and select the DNS If there is anything in the DNS server addresses field, remove it and click OK.
- Click OK on the rest of the opened windows.
