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NW.exe “Virus” Removal

Edmend Stewart

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In this article we are going to try and help you remove NW.exe “Virus”. Our instructions cover all Windows versions as well as most browsers – Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer etc.

NW.exe “Virus” is a program that may become the cause for much annoyance. If still haven’t heard its name, maybe you are already aware of what it usually does and this is why you are now reading the information on this page. What we can say for sure is that you are now dealing with a piece of ad-generating software that could make all popular browsers (Chrome, Firefox, etc.) produce a great number of pop ups, banners, boxes, tabs and other versions of online ads. Such a mass production of advertisements may appear really irritating and slightly intrusive to you. For more details, proceed with reading this article to the end.

Is NW.exe a “Virus”?

No, it is not a virus. We are going to explain exactly what NW.exe is. As an Adware-type product, it could be spread in many diverse ways. Its favorite means of transport, though, are program bundles. These are the products of the process called software bundling. Programmers create them for two main purposes:

  1. By mixing different software, they get the chance to be paid by certain interested vendors to distribute a piece of software that can display ads promoting their services and products. The money that comes from such marketing campaigns is real and its amount increases as the number of the shown and clicked on advertisements rises. Simple as that: the more, the better;
  2. By creating software bundles, many developers actually put their own original programs and distribute them for free so that they could be popularized among the users worldwide.

After creating tempting bundles that may actually contain interesting and useful software, programmers have had to think about a way to make their pay-per-click system work. Of course, they have found one – by letting the unsuspecting user install the Adware from the bundle unknowingly along with all the other programs there. Many users may be too naive and fall into this trap. The secret in this case, when you need a program from the bundle, but you want to keep your computer clean from NW.exe and other Adware, is to install only the necessary piece of software, not all the content of the particular software combo. Only one option of the installation wizard could give you such a chance: the advanced or the customized one. By selecting this feature, you get the opportunity to be given all the information about the content of a given bundle, as well as the opportunity to install only what you need from it. In case you choose or you have already installed a bundle by using any of the other features, this may be the probable source of the infection that is now affecting all of your browsers – Firefox, Opera, Explorer or Chrome.

Generally, we are talking about an infection caused by NW.exe. Nonetheless, do not let yourself be fooled. An infection is NOT always the result of virus activity. Thus, NW.exe cannot be considered a virus as it is UNABLE to spy on you or any of your social media or bank accounts or steal any data from them; neither is it able to crash your PC or hijack any of your files and then demand ransom for giving you back the control over them. The only shady activity that it is capable of performing is the review of your search requests that this Adware creates based on your recent surfing records. Every browser records your surfing preferences in its history, unless you specifically set it not to keep track of your requests, and NW.exe might use that data to match the ads it displays to the products and services you have currently been looking for. Honestly, in certain cases such a matching policy may even come in handy to you as it may show you the best deals. Nevertheless, in most cases many users are likely to consider it suspicious enough. This is the reason why some programmers refer to NW.exe and all the other Adware-like programs as to potentially unwanted ones. Another thing about Adware-type programs may bother users and this is the thought that some of the generated ads might in fact redirect you to contaminated Internet sources and you may even get infected with horrible cyber threats like Ransomware.

How can you remove NW.exe from your machine?

One of the possibilities for uninstalling NW.exe is by following the removal steps of our uninstallation guide, which you are going to see at the end of the page. If you are careful enough, you should be able to clean the Adware from your computer.

NW.exe “Virus” Removal

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.

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

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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

  1. Go through the list of programs and find NW.exe 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!

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 NW.exe 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 NW.exe 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 NW.exe 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 NW.exe 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

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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.

Feel free to write to us in the comment section with any questions that you may have. Also if we have been helpful to you please share this article to help us reach more people like you.  

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