Have you been redirected while surfing online every once in a while to some ads web sites asking if you want to install free add-ons? Have you recently just got redirected to a webpage about a Discount Buddy browser plug-in? Is this browser add-on legit? Is it going to stop popping up if one installs it?
Discount Buddy is one of the browser add-ons that we come across on our browsers including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome every once in a while. These browser add-ons usually provide conveniences and shortcuts on many things especially free online coupons, discounts and similar things. They help you search and find out these good stuff when you are surfing online. This Discount Buddy is an extension created by the 215 Apps. It says it will help you “Save more money when you shop online”. One can click on “Download now!” green button in the bottom and install this plug-in on Google Chrome, Firefox or IE. Once it’s installed, you will be able to save more money when shopping online because it can provide you with different kinds of discounts and coupons. However, this Discount Buddy add-on is not very friendly. First of all, it’s installed without consent. And second of all, it can redirect you to unwanted and annoying places online.
DiscountBuddy unwanted coupon ads screen-shot:
From the above screen-shot of this Discount Buddy add-on we can see that it persuades computer users to download and install it through providing services like “Finding out how many coupons we have available for the site you are on is effortless. Just check out the coupon tag in the top right corner.” and “We’ve made sure that Discount-Buddy will help you save on 1000s of merchants, like: Toys R Us, Walmart, Petsmart, and Best Buy!” But as mentioned above that this Discount Buddy can also install itself without permission from the PC owners. It can come bundled with the free programs you download from the internet. The developers of these free programs often add some unwanted software or browser add-ons to them. To avoid this from happening, one should always be careful and read the agreements of these programs closely. Usually, you can select the bundling programs you don’t want to be installed together and thus avoid these unwanted applications efficiently.
Open Windows Task Manager to end suspicious processes related to Discount Buddy adware. To do that, hit Ctrl+Alt+Del keys at the same time to pull up Window Task Manager.
Open Control Panel from Start menu and search for Folder Options.
Go to Folder Options window, under View tab, tick Show hidden files and folders and non-tick Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) and then click OK.
Check extensions and remove unfamiliar add-ons or plug-ins.
Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox
Press Windows+R keys to pull up Run box and type in regedit to open Registry Editor.
Delete all these associating files and registry entries in Registry Editor as below:
%AppData%\Protector\””
%AllUsersProfile%\Programs\{random}\
%CommonStartMenu%\Programs\Users\””[rnd]
HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Regedit
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System “DisableRegedit” = “”.exe.dll
HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Settings\{.exe}
Change home page URLs back from the domain of this Discount Buddy
Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox
Similar video on how to remove unwanted Discount-Buddy thing:
Nowadays, these browser add-ons have caused many troubles to annoy PC users. Similar to PricePeep browser add-on, Discount Buddy also causes browsing problems constantly. You may be redirected to its domain page every once in a while. It may also install itself together with other free software that you have installed on the computer. Once this adware is installed, it may help you find out coupons and discounts online; but it could also redirect you to places like unwanted ads and annoying pop ups constantly. You won’t be able to surf the internet properly with this redirect problems. The surfing environment may also be affected by this Discount Bubby adware and becomes unsafe. Other than that, this unwanted browser add-on can also cause browsing issues like slowness and frequent browser frozen. If PC hackers are behind this and get associated with it, they will probably be able to record your online activities and collect browsing histories for benefit later on! There might be privacy issues caused by this unwanted plug-in. Therefore, it’s better to surf the internet without this Discount Buddy thing. One should install it completely.
Can’t seem to get rid of this Discount-Buddy adware from Control Panel? Still have it on browser(s) after the manual removal? Contact YooCare Online Expert right away if you have failed on the removal. It may take some more steps than usual to finally get this unwanted software off your computer. Advanced computer skills may be required.
Published by on March 29, 2013 3:59 am, last updated on March 29, 2013 3:59 am
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