Coupon Cactus is classified as an adware program just like Savings Addon focusing on delivering banner ads to computer users. Most computer users feel annoyed with Coupon Cactus pop-up after the browser is affected by an adware because it can cause poor performance on all the browsers you have installed including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or even Google Chrome. Most of time, the software may not be listed on the Add/Remove Program in Control Panel, but it will exist as add-on or plug-in on your browser and make chaos. Whenever you surf Internet, you will be redirected to www.coupon-cactus.com or other ads site without your permission.
Like other Adware programs, Coupon Cactus alters internet browser settings without consent of the computer user. As soon as it invades, it tracks your Internet surfing habits in order to serve ads related to you. It also installs a coupon tag in the top right corner to help you find as much coupon as possible but doesn’t allow you to uninstall it. After that, it may keep displaying a list of potentially malicious advertisements, coupons, and deals to disturb you. Users find the add-on so annoying due to its pop-up box that blocks user’s view of the web page, but most of them don’t know how dangerous if an adware is installed. Coupon Cactus can slow down your PC work and make it operate weirdly. It can change your homepage without your permission. In addition, it cann gather data of user’s interests while browsing the web. This data is compiled and analyzed by the adware in order to display relevant ads. Therefore, users should remove Coupon Cactus as quickly as possible.
1. It can redirect you to malicious websites with numerous pop up ads to interrupt and stop you from doing anything on your computer;
2. It can turn your computer to run slowly and pose sudden death;
3. It can introduce more unwanted viruses and rogue programs to do further harms;
4. It can help cyber criminals track your online activities and capture significant personal data to cause you a loss of value.
5. It can change your default DNS configuration and block you accessing your favorite sites.
6. It forcibly customizes the default homepage, search engine and bookmarks of your computer.
Coupon Cactus adware may be installed if a computer user has ever visited illegal or malicious websites or downloaded freeware or shareware from untrustworthy sources. It can cause annoying redirection to disturb users. This problem happen when you use Internet explorer, Mozilla Firefox, even Google Chrome to browse online. Being as a redirect virus, it keeps tracking of computer users’ online activity and causing web browser to display unwanted advertisements and pop-up windows. It poses huge risk for all the computer systems. If you have been forced to visit those unwanted websites against your authorization, particularly for this domain, you must immediately remove Coupon Cactus as soon as possible in order to secure your computer.
Considering this malware can’t be fixed by any security tools, uses can use the manual guide below to fix this issue without any risk.
1. Clear all the cookies of your affected browsers.
Since tricky hijacker virus has the ability to use cookies for tracing and tracking the internet activity of users, it is suggested users to delete all the cookies before a complete removal.
Google Chrome:
Click on the “Tools” menu and select “Options”.
Click the “Under the Bonnet” tab, locate the “Privacy” section 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 button”
To remove all cookies click on the “Remove All Cookies button”
2. Remove all add-ons and extensions
Google Chrome: Wrench Icon > Tools > Extensions
Mozilla Firefox: Tools > Add-ons (Ctrl+Shift+A)
Internet Explorer: Tools > Manage Add-ons
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 manually.
%AppData%\Local\[random].exe
%AllUsersProfile%\{ Akkreditivsearch.net\*.lnk
HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\{random}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current\Winlogon\”Shell” = “{random}.exe”
Coupon Cactus can be manually downloaded from their website, but also bundles with third party software and files. After successfully installed, it may collect data including internet activity, including browser history, bookmarks, stored data, and more. This virus also utilizes browser hijackers, including third-party browser add-ons, extensions, and toolbars to display pop up advertisements that promote suspicious coupons and deals while browsing the internet. It will install additional programs on your computer system, such as unwanted toolbars, add-ons or some start-up processes, which could lead to annoying website diversions. In a word, it is suggested users to use the manual removal instructions above to remove Coupon Cactus completely and permanently.
If you are not a computer wiz and afraid of making mistake, please contact experts from YooCare Online Tech Support for further help.
Published by & last updated on April 29, 2013 12:27 am
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.