Taporinx “Virus” Removal (Android/iOS)

If you find yourself being bothered by different pop-ups and banners that get displayed onto your device’s screen or you get frequent redirects from the newly set search engine and/or homepage in your Chrome, Firefox or Safari browser, then you’ve probably had Taporinx “Virus” installed onto your smartphone or tablet. This is a potentially unwanted application of the Browser Hijacker type and though it is not some sort of malicious virus such as Ransomware or a Trojan horse, we do believe that uninstalling and fully removing Browser Hijackers from one’s device is the best course of action. You can find instructions on how to do that within our removal guide below, but before you go there, read the rest of this article to learn more essential information regarding Taporinx “Virus” and Browser Hijackers in general.

Are Hijackers threatening?

As was said earlier, software the likes of Taporinx is normally not harmful or threatening on its own. Nevertheless, it could still potentially make your device more vulnerable to actual security threats the likes of Trojans, Spyware, Ransomware, etc. For example, some of the pop-ups that get generated by the intrusive software can potentially serve as links to websites that could be illegal and dangerous. That is why we advise our readers to do everything they can so as to avoid interacting with anything coming from the Hijacker. Note that the annoying banners generated by it are unlikely to go away unless the application that causes them is fully removed from your device.

Distribution of Hijackers

Most users that have gotten Taporinx on their smartphone or tablet have done so by having had installed a certain application that contained the Hijacker. There are a lot of applications out there that seem fine and reliable but once they get installed, the user realizes that they’ve gotten more than they’ve bargained for.

A good piece of advice in order to prevent this from happening to you in the future would be to avoid downloading applications that are not from the Google Play Store or the AppStore. However, oftentimes this is not enough to prevent Hijackers from getting inside your system, which is why an additional precaution that you should always take would be to research applications that you want to install if you are not certain about how safe they are. Bear in mind that sometimes the rating system and the reviews in the Store are manipulated through use of fake profiles, so do not always fully trust what you see there.

Taporinx “Virus” Removal

iOS Removal Guide

STEP 1

If you have any popup ads that are open at this time, you will need to close them all.

• Before closing the ad, check to see whether or not the pop-up has a box called “Don’t show more alerts from this webpage”. If it does, be sure to tick it.
• After you close the ad, a “Block Alerts” button may appear on your screen. If this happens, be sure to tap the button in order for you to no longer receive alerts from that page.

In the event that the above instructions did not succeed in closing the pop-up:

• If this is happenning on your Mac desktop computer, you will need to close your Safari browser by force. To do that, use the following key combination: Command-Option-Esc. A list of apps will appear, where you will need to locate and select Safari. Force close it. After this, restart the browser and press and hold the Shift key on your keyboard, once the browser opens. This will stop any ads from appearing.
• If you are using an iPod Touch, an iPhone or iPad, double-press the home button. The screen will then show you all the most recently used applications. Swipe until you have located Safari and then swipe it up so as to close it forcibly. After this, head over to Settings -> Safari -> Clear History, as well as Website Data. This will prevent ads from opening automatically when you open your browser. But note that the above will also delete your browsing history and cookies, so be sure to export them if they are important to you.

STEP 2

In the Safari menu, select Preferences. Then:

1. Click on the Security icon, after which click on the “Block pop-up windows” option. This will prevent a large variety of different pop-ups from appearing.

2. Once this is done, check the homepage and search engine settings in your browser. Adware often tends to change those. We can’t offer any more specific guides as to how to do that, due to the fact that they may vary from browser to browser.
   • Click on the General icon and notice the Homepage field. Make sure that it is either empty or contains the URL of the Homepage of your choice.
   • Do the same for the Search icon. It should, again, display either the default search engine or the one you had appointed yourself. Please note that in certain versions of Safari you will be able to find these settings in the General panel.

STEP 3

Open your Safari browser and click the Extensions button. Most of the time Adware programs rely on integrating extensions with your browser, so as to generate the pop-ups that appear on your screen. Scan the extensions and take note of those you don’t recall installing. Be sure to then remove them all, as they were most probably placed there by the Adware. 

Android Removal Guide

STEP 1

Regardless of the type of browser you are currently using, be it the default “Internet” App or another one, such as Google Chrome, head over to:
Settings/More/Application Manager/All

Find the Browser or the App you’re using and tap on it.

STEP 2

Here you will basically be doing the same thing if you’re using the “Internet” App, or a different browser of your choice, such as Chrome or others. However, below are instructions for both cases:

For user of the “Internet” App:

Tap the Force Stop button.

Move down and tap the Clear Data and Clear Cache Buttons.

For Google Chrome Users:

Tap on  Force Stop.

Then tap on the buttons labelled as Clear Data and Clear Cache.

STEP 3

Restart your browser. You might want to consider rebooting your Android device, as well.

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