Mar 30, 2015

Happy2Save Pop-up Ads Removal

I accidentally downloaded a video player and then it installed Happy2Save adware/pop-up together without asking my permission. This nasty thing is playing havoc with my internet. It is very slow and causes constant crashes, because it’s trying to list all the crazy pop-up ads. The software won’t show up in Add/Remove Programs, so I can’t uninstall it there. I ran a 9-hour full scan using Windows Defender and Malwarebytes, but the ads are still there and won’t go away. That is really annoying! What do I do to get rid of the pop-up ads completely?

Happy2Save Pop-up Ads Description:

If tons of ads that titled with “ads by Happy2Save”, “Powered by Happy2Save” or “Brought by Happy2Save” keep showing up on your web browser and harass you, your system must have been infected with adware or some kind of browser hijacking malware. Adware is the abbreviation for advertising-supported software which may seem as a regular program, but in reality it performs suspicious operations and tries to promote various commercial websites once it is installed. This unpleasant program can be downloaded from its official website. However, most of the users complain that they see Happy2Save ads everywhere although they have never downloaded this program. Generally speaking, this application can enter the system along with other free programs the user has previously installed. Therefore, users who are active in downloading and installing freeware need to pay close attention to what else they install into their computers, in addition to the main applications of their choice.

Once adware gets installed, it will perform evil actions to interrupt your browsing activities. You may see various ads windows during your browsing session, especially while you are shopping on ebay or Amazon. The adware aims to lure those who like to shop into clicking its ads so it displays various coupons and discounts information. On the other side, it tracks your browsing history, so it could create more and more ads relevant to your interests. Most of the ads are associated with dubious third parties and they are in different forms such as in-text, pop-up, pop-under, contextual and banner advertisements. They can show up no matter what browser you use including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome or Safari. Undoubtedly, they are very annoying and they disturb your regular browsing experience. Besides, your Internet speed will be much more slower than it used to be. Happy2Save is also affiliated with browser hijackers and it may refer to the ZeroAccess Rootkit which can be used to steal private information or install rogue security programs, therefore you should get rid of it immediately once it is installed.

If you’re not a computer savvy and not sure how to start the manual removal procedure during the process, please live chat with YooCare Expert now.

How Do You Know Your Browser Is Hijacked?

If you open your browser window (includes IE, Firefox, Safari and Google Chrome etc.) and notice immediately that your home page has been changed to a page you do not recognize, then your browser may have been hijacked by adware. For this type of adware, it can keep giving you Happy2Save pop-up ads. Other malicious activities can be shown on your computer after hijacked are listed below:
1. It can not only change your web pages, but also alter other settings to add toolbars, pop-up advertisements, and bookmarks that you did not create.
2. It can modify the homepage settings of your web browser, more commonly by reducing your internet security options. And the worse thing is it prevents you from changing them back.
3. New toolbars or Favorites are installed that give you icons and links to web pages that you don’t want.
4. It may block you from visiting certain website you’d like to visit and show an error page instead.
5. It will display constant pop-up ads, sometimes in such large amounts that you are not able to close neither the ads nor the browser.

Happy2Save Browser Hijacker Manual Removal Guides:

Happy2Save pop up hijacks your browser to redirect your web search results and changes the homepage and browser settings. To completely uninstall it from an infected system, manual removal is the first choice because sometimes antivirus software cannot pick up the exact computer threat timely or remove it permanently. Now most browser hijackers are quite similar to spyware and adware threats and therefore cannot be removed with the help of popular antivirus products. Users can follow the manual guide here to get rid of this browser hijacker completely.

1. Clear all the cookies of your affected browsers.

Since this tricky hijacker virus has the ability to use cookies for tracing and tracking the internet activity of users, it is suggested users delete all the cookies before a complete removal.

Google Chrome:

Click on the “Tools” menu and click the “Clear browsing data” button.
Select “Delete cookies and other site data” to delete all cookies from the list.

clear browser data

Internet Explorer:
Open Internet explorer window
Click the “Tools” button
Point to “safety” and then click “delete browsing history”
Tick the “cookies” box, then click “delete”

delete browsing history

Mozilla Firefox:

Click on Tools, then Options, select Privacy
Click “Remove individual cookies”
In the Cookies panel, click on “Show Cookies”
To remove a single cookie click on the entry in the list and click on the “Remove Cookie”
To remove all cookies click on the “Remove All Cookies” button

Remove All Cookie

2. End the malicious process from Task Manager.

Once Happy2Save adware is installed, computer user may notice that CPU usage randomly jumps to 100 percent. At any time Windows always has many running processes. A process is an individual task that the computer runs. In general, the more processes, the more work the computer has to do and the slower it will run. If your system’s CPU spike is constant and remain at a constant 90-95%, users should check from Task Manager and see if there is a suspicious process occupying the system resources and then end it immediately.

(The name of the virus process can be random.)

Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to quickly bring up Task Manager Window:

task manager

3. Show hidden files and folders.

Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Folder Options.

Click the View tab.

Under Advanced settings, click Show hidden files and folders, uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) and then click OK.

show-hidden-files

4. Remove all the malicious files related to Happy2Save ads hijacker manually.

%AppData%Local[random].exe
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\*.exe

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main StartPage
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Video Shows You How to Safely Modify Windows Registry Editor:

Happy2Save is an adware that enters users’ computers without them even being aware of that. It works as a browser add-on that can be added to all most popular web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and even Safari. Once downloaded, it performs tons of malicious activities on your machine especially for interrupting your browsing sessions. It uses browser helper objects and third party malware including sponsored adware and spyware platforms to change your homepage and modify your browser settings without your permission. Also it tracks user’s web browsing habits, records addresses of visited sites in order to display constant ads for computer users and then redirects them to malicious web pages. As a result, your computer will be ruined and your information could be exposed as well.
Note: If you are not a computer expert and have no idea how to perform the removal, please contact experts from YooCare Online Tech Support for further help. This application provides no uninstall feature and hides from the user in order to obstruct its removal as much as possible so you had better remove Happy2Save manually instead.

Published by & last updated on March 30, 2015 1:34 am

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