How to Stop an Adware Attack?

What is Adware?

Adware is malicious software that downloads and displays advertisements in the form of online banners or pop-ups. It can also be defined as Browser hijacker, as it’s a never-ending process whenever user’s attempt to open anything on the browser, they get redirected to an advertisement.

These pop-ups and unwanted annoying notifications are the results of well-targeted open source adware which at present seems to have no end!

Once the adware is installed, it would always be running in the background consuming the CPU power, which would then slow down the processing of the computer.

Thus, it is important to use adware removal software to remove adware or malicious content, saving you the time and struggle of hunting down various malicious files.

How Adware Get Inside Your PC?

Here are some other distribution techniques which cyber criminals opt to inject malicious content in the targeted system:

• Spam emails
• Social click jacking
• Pirated and free software’s
• Torrents & P2P File Sharing
• Via portable storage devices like a USB stick, portable hard drive or through a disk.
• Fake advertisement’s or download portals, etc.

How do I know if I have Adware on my PC?

Common symptoms of compromised system include:

1. Browser crashes & instabilities

1. The web browser might show signs of unstable behavior and frequent crashes.
2. The default home page and the default search engine changes to a different website.
3. The victim might see new add-on toolbar and extension in the top panel of your web browser.
4. New icons are added to the desktop or suspicious programs are installed from unknown sources.

2. Poor system performance

• Poor system performance, slow response time as ads would be the priority, which will result in reduced internet speed.
• Internet connection stops unexpectedly.
• Poor program execution, slow response time as the ads would fly out of the blue.

3. Advertising and Promotion

• Whenever victim tries to open anything he is been redirected to some random untrustworthy website which may either display advertisement banners or would give fake security warnings.
• New tabs open in browser to display ads which remarkably affects user web browsing experience..
• New icons are added to desktop pretending to be for some kind of security alerts.
• Fake warnings, notifications, and pop-up ads to update your system.

Further, Adware connects your PC to “Control and Command Centre” which is operated by the cyber-criminals.

Hackers use adware to accumulate and steal confidential files (banking details), IP-address, location, browser type, Operating System details, etc.

This personal information, later, maybe sold to third parties which can lead to serious privacy violations, financial loss or even theft.

How can adware be prevented?

To avoid adware infections, users should read end user license agreements and all terms and conditions while installing a free software or a game from the web.

If reading the complete terms and condition is too much then during the installation process if it offers you “custom and automatic installation,” we always recommended you to choose the custom process installation as this would disclose other programs that might get installed along with it.

If you see any additional add-ons or toolbars checked, then don’t forget to uncheck them. This would avoid the installation of the adware or any other malicious programs.

5 Tips to Avoid Adware Attack

1. Beware of freeware software

When it comes to adware, these malicious programs are bundled with other free software and shareware software that you download from the Internet, and in this case, the user is equally responsible for authorizing the installation of such malicious software without reading the terms and conditions.

2. Disable the auto run feature from your PC

Whenever you plug in any portable device like USB stick into your computer, if a window pops up giving you options to view folders or files, then your system’s auto run feature is enabled.

This feature is one of the common ways to install adware or other malicious content on an infected system without user consent.

3. Beware of popup ads

You must have come across online ads that come out of the blue. Hackers use such tempting advertisements to provoke or let us say in fooling the users to click on the ads, i.e., Update your flash player or win an iPhone.

Never respond to such fake ads in any way. Even if they show “Cancel” or “Close” buttons, do not click it. Simply right-click on the top border of the window and select “Close”.

4. Never download spam email attachments

These cyber attackers can get into your system through malicious email attachments, and download links present the body of the mail. 

This emails usually appear to be from a reputed organization, i.e., Banks and marketing companies.

5. Keep OS and other security programs up and running

An outdated OS or software could be a cyber criminal’s doorway to your system. An outdated software application contains vulnerabilities which can be easily manipulated by a hackers to inject the adware and other malicious content on your system.

Now, attackers have learned to make their malware more adaptable, resilient and more damaging.

Common antivirus software cannot protect you from all such cyber threats at the same time, so a significant way to prevent such adware from infecting your computer is by using the best adware remover tool.

Adware scan will help you in eliminating the adware and providing your PC a robust firewall with real-time protection.