I had a nasty adware called PUP-FNK that blocked me from using the computer properly. My antivirus popped up this virus every 5 mins but it just didn’t away. Every time I browse online, it displays a large number of pop-up ads and may redirect me to shady website that I have never seen before. What should I do? How to clean up my computer and remove PUP-FNK completely?
PUP-FNK is categorized as adware that can place on random computers without any permission and consent. If you keep seeing crazy pop-up ads during your online session, it is a clear sign that your computer is infected with PUP-FNK adware. Technically speaking, this program itself is not harmful but it can perform lots of harmful activities to interrupt your browsing activities and even violate your privacy. This adware is normally bundled with freeware or shareware programs. This is the most common method for software developers to distribute adware or potentially unwanted programs and generate income. As we all know, adware can bring PC users a large number of pop-up ads. If you install a legitimate adware, those ads will be gone after you uninstall the adware. However, PUP-FNK adware is not a legitimate one, even though you have uninstalled it, the ads will still be there and won’t go away. As a consequence, when you shop online or search information on the web, there will be various pop-ups that come out of nowhere to bother you and interrupt what you are doing. Those ads will show you something attractive like coupon codes, special offers that help you save money. But don’t take any risk to clicking on them because it could redirect you to unknown webpage that contains viruses. All those offers will be displayed in an annoying manner of advertisements, such as pop-up, pop-under, in-text and banner advertisements. They appear on your web browsers including IE, Chrome or Firefox from time to time or randomly. In reality, those ads will only leave you endless trouble and make the net surfing really hard.
When it hijacks your browser, it downloads potentially unwanted programs in the background that will display more and more ads on your computer and probably collect your information or track your cookies. Those ads will be displayed as a form like pop-up, pop-under, in-text and banner advertisements and they appear from time to time on your browser. Once your computer is occupied by potentially unwanted programs, it will work slower and slower, just like a snail. It also can redirect web browser to a predefined site whenever the user enters invalid address or performs an Internet search. Hence, to protect your computer from being ruined, you have to get rid of PUP-FNK adware as quickly as possible.
Slow down your PC speed notably.
Add other dangerous Trojan or Spyware to your system secretly.
Allow the hacker to access your entire system.
Collect all your personal information and transfer to a remote hacker.
Destroy critical system files and make PC unstable.
From malicious drive-by-download scripts from corrupted porn and shareware / freeware websites.
Through spam email attachments, media downloads and social networks.
When clicking suspicious pop-ups or malicious links.
Open unknown email or download media files that contain the activation code of the virus.
Note: No matter how the virus accesses your PC, users should know that there are no tools can remove this pesky Trojan automatically at this moment, it is suggested users not spend much time in downloading or paying any security software which claims can delete this stubborn virus. It is totally useless. To completely get rid of PUP-FNK, professional manual guide is needed.
Currently many computer users had the same experience that this virus couldn’t be removed by any anti-virus applications. So the manual approach is always required to combat this virus. And here is the step-by-step removal guide for all computer users.
1. End the malicious process from Task Manager.
Once PUP-FNK virus 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 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：
2. 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.
3. Open Registry entries. Find out the malicious files and entries and then delete all.
Attention: Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.
a. Press Windows key + R to open Run box. In the “Open” field, type “regedit” and click the “OK” button.
Then a Registry Editor window will pop up as the following picture shows:
b. Search malicious files and registry entries and then remove all of them:
%AllUsersProfile%\[random]
%AppData%\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates\[random]
%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\[random]
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Temp
PUP-FNK is a malicious adware that can install on a compromised PC without any knowledge and load up random ads pop-ups or banners whenever you browse online. It also adds unwanted toolbar and add-ons to the compromised browser without any consent. Apparently this adware is annoying as it disrupts your Internet browsing and poses a huge risk for computer security. Software developers create PUPs like PUP-FNK to generate revenue through advertising. If this threat is installed on your computer, it will drop several malicious files and creates a couple of folders under Application Data folder, making users get confused about how to distinguish and find out from all the legal system files. Also the program won’t show itself in control panel so it will be complicated for users to uninstall it. To completely get rid of PUP-FNK adware, please follow the manual removal guide above.
Note: If you are not knowledgeable enough to be able to distinguish the location of this virus, or you are afraid of making mistake during the manual removal, please contact experts from Yoocare Online Tech Support for further help.
Published by & last updated on October 20, 2014 4:04 am
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