I opened an additional tab in Google Chrome and tried to enter a football site in my Favorite, but it seems to redirect me to another site with the URL: Virusdefense.info. A screen popped up that said “System at risk” and asked me to call a support number. I attempted to close the tab and was challenged with the options of: “Leave this page” or “Stay on this page.” Although I clicked on “leave this page” two times, it continued to challenge me with the same two options. Is there really a virus in my computer? Is my data like bank information still safe? If this is a fake message, how do I get rid of it from my system?
“Virusdefense.info” pop up is a fake message associated with browser hijacker, adware or potentially unwanted programs. This message usually pretends like a legitimate system alert sent from Microsoft claiming that suspicious and illegal activity detected on the computer so your internet connectivity has been restricted or your computer may have been infected and you need to call a toll free number to fix the problem. The deceptive pop-up aims to trick users into calling their support number and promote them useless products. These types of ads are common in many corners of the internet. Most pop-up ads are caused by adware program which usually gets downloaded along with freeware like video player, adobe flash player, MP3 player or PDF and download-managers. Once inside, it not only interrupts your online activities, but also has the ability to monitor your browsing history and generate personalized ads. Virusdefense.info alert warning is far from real, not to mention it is a scam with an aim to extort money from you. Don’t hesitate to get rid of it from your system if you detect it on the machine.
Virusdefense.info pop-up always infiltrates into computers without users’ consent. It is designed specifically to make money and promote fake antivirus programs. It generates web traffic, collects sales leads for other dubious sites, and will display advertisements and sponsored links within your web browser. The pop up links unwary users to a fake and paid tech support service who asks for remote control in order to “fix” PC issues but actually your PC is working fine except for the adware you installed by accident. People fallen to the scam have reported seeing many sites with the phone number showing on webpages and they get many unwanted changes on the web browser. It affects Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari. Do NOT call the number in any circumstances. It is not free, and a single call may cost you a fortune. Users should realize that Virusdefense.info alert warning is caused by browser hijacker and adware which should be deleted in time.
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 Virusdefense.info 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.
1. You keep getting random pop-ups opening in new browser tabs.
2. When clicking on Google search links you get taken to sites that have nothing to do with the subject you searched for.
3. Anti-virus and firewall software won’t start.
4. Internet stops working.
5. Unknown software has been installed without your authorization.
6. You can’t access reputable sites unless you type the URL into the navigation bar
Virusdefense.info adware 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 adware 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.
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”
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
2. End the malicious process from Task Manager.
Once Virusdefense.info hijacker 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：
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.
4. Remove all the malicious files related to Virusdefense.info pop up 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
Virusdefense.info is a fake alert that can appear anytime on your web browser and block you from surfing the web properly. It is a scam that goes something like this: the user gets a pop-up in their browser that tells them that they are infected and says to call a number (toll free of course) to get virus removal support. Once the user calls this number they will be directed to a website that allows the scammers (*agents*) to connect to the PC. Once the scammers get connected they will show the user all the “infections” but in most cases they are just regular system files. In the end they start selling their expensive product claiming it is a good protection for your PC. In fact, Virusdefense.info pop-up is only designed to sell potentially unwanted program and it’s 100% fake although it looks like a warning from Microsoft. What you are seeing is just a misleading alert generated by adware. So you should never call the given tech support number or allow strangers to connect to your PC. Do not give any credit card info to somebody claiming to be from Microsoft. All you have to do is to remove this adware from your system as quickly as possible.
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.
Published by & last updated on March 6, 2016 5:12 am
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