Welcome to our Pwwysydh removal guide. The following instructions will aid you in removing the unwanted software from your PC.
A browser hijacker infection can be very annoying to say the least. An infection with Pwwysydh is no different: it will in the same way take over your Chrome, Firefox or other browser and will change its homepage and set a new default search engine to redirect you to sponsored pages. This is typical of any browser hijackers and is what sets them apart from other types of software. In this article we aim to explain everything there is to know about this type of programs and why it’s best that you remove them from your computer. In addition to this, we have also attached a removal guide to this page, which will assist you in removing Pwwysydh.com from your system.
What Pwwysydh.com is and what to expect from it
We’ve already concluded that this particular program can be annoying. That is mainly because of the changes it enforces on your browser, as well as the numerous popup, banner, box message, hyperlink and other ads that it starts displaying after it gets installed. But what is it really doing? What purpose dose it serve? All browser hijackers are advertising tools, servants of the online marketing industry. If you’re seeing tons of ads on your screen, that means someone paid for you to be seeing them. And in most cases it’s the providers and/or producers of the respective services/goods you’re seeing. They pay the browser hijacker developers to include their ads in their ad-distributing software, only this payment is made per view or click on the particular ads. This is the so-called Pay Per Click scheme at work, where your separate clicks generate income for the hijacker developers.
Thus, programs like Pwwysydh usually strive to display as many adverts as they possibly can. Furthermore, they aim to place them as inconveniently for the user as they can, too. Obviously this is done so that you don’t miss the chance of clicking on the ads, because that it how the developers earn revenue. However, there’s also another tactic that they rely on to gain more clicks. Hijackers like Pwwysydh.com are most times programmed to look through your browsing history and monitor your behavior online. They’re particularly interested in what you search for, what websites you visit, what content you like and share on social media, etc. All of this helps them build a sort of interest profile on you, which in turn tells them what kind of ads you are more likely to click on. Thus, after researching your preferences, the hijacker starts filtering what ads it displays on your screen, modifying the ad flow to suit your interests. For example, if you were to search for hunting gear online today, tomorrow your screen will most likely be plastered in ads promoting various hunting themed products and services.
With all that being said, it’s easy to see how programs like these can easily become unwanted. So much so that experts often classify them as potentially unwanted programs or PUP’s. But that’s not the only reason for this either. Have you ever wondered where Pwwysydh actually came from? Well, a lot of people do when they get infected by a browser hijacker or similar program. And that is because of the stealth installation methods they employ. Don’t get us wrong, they cannot literally infect your PC the way viruses do. Meaning they cannot self-install. Instead, they hide in the installers of other programs that you may willingly download. Usually these desired programs are offered for free and are available on various open source download platforms, file sharing sites, torrent sites and similar. Once you download the program, you will need to install it and that process will determine whether or not you will end up invaded by ads or not. Always customize the installation settings by opting for the custom/advanced setup. This will inform you of any added content in the bundle and you will be able to deselect any unwanted programs or programs you don’t recognize.
In the meantime, we would also like to advise you against interacting with any of the ads. It’s fairly unlikely, but with the rise of threats like ransomware and Trojan horse viruses, it is possible that those ads could potentially expose your machine to malware. Therefore, simply avoid clicking on any of the numerous banners and popups and head to the removal guide below.
Pwwysydh 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 Pwwysydh, 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 Pwwysydh 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 Pwwysydh 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 Pwwysydh, 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.
