{"id":9338,"date":"2018-12-07T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2018-12-07T17:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/?p=9338"},"modified":"2020-08-26T15:10:05","modified_gmt":"2020-08-26T22:10:05","slug":"how-to-remove-adware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-adware\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Remove Adware"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re seeing popup ads on your computer, it might be infected by adware. While adware makes computer painfully slow with annoying ads, it can also contain spyware to track down your activities, which is why it\u2019s important to remove it.<\/p>\n<p>Before we begin, you must know if you\u2019re infected by adware. Here are some symptoms.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The homepage of your browser has changed without your consent<\/li>\n<li>There are popup ads on your computer<\/li>\n<li>Web links redirect to unwanted pages<\/li>\n<li>Your computer starts installing unwanted programs<\/li>\n<li>Browser crashes often<\/li>\n<li>There are new plugins or toolbars on your browser<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While adware is generally annoying because of all the loud ads, it also slows down the network. Having adware on your device is a frustrating experience.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re sure you\u2019ve got adware, here are the steps to remove it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Disconnect your device<\/strong><br>\nClose the browsers and disconnect the internet connection. If you\u2019re connected through the Ethernet cable, you can pull it out. If you\u2019re connected through Wi-Fi, you can turn off the router or go to the network settings to disable the Wi-Fi network on your computer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Find the culprit<\/strong><br>\nVisit the control panel to find out if there are some programs that you didn\u2019t install. The adware just might be a program that installed because you clicked on \u201cI agree\u201d without noticing. It might be listed in the Control Panel programs.<\/p>\n<p>If you find it there, uninstall it. And then restart your computer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Scan using an antivirus<\/strong><br>\nOnce you\u2019ve restarted the system, make sure you scan it using an antivirus. It\u2019s advised to always have an antivirus on your system. But if you don\u2019t have it already, install one now. There are free as well as paid options and you can use one of them.<\/p>\n<p>Also, make sure you keep the antivirus updated. This way, it will keep blocking any future viruses.<\/p>\n<p>This step may or may not resolve the problem. If your antivirus is unable to remove the adware, you\u2019ll need to use a more specialized program. Some good adware removal tools are MalwareBytes and HitmanPro.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stay vigilant<\/strong><br>\nNow that you\u2019ve removed the adware, you need to take care so that your computer stays clean. Make sure you don\u2019t click on suspicious links. Also, if you don\u2019t know the sender of an email, don\u2019t download its attachments.<\/p>\n<p>Adware can also get installed when you download an unverified torrent or visit shady websites.<\/p>\n<p>With these tips, you can recognize and remove adware on your system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re seeing popup ads on your computer, it might be infected by adware. While adware makes computer painfully slow with annoying ads, it can also contain spyware to track down your activities, which is why it\u2019s important to remove it. Before we begin, you must know if you\u2019re infected by adware. Here are some &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-adware\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;How To Remove Adware&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":9508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,845],"tags":[540,660,1045,1062,1048,168,400],"class_list":["post-9338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-guides","tag-ads","tag-advertising","tag-adware","tag-anti-malware","tag-anti-spyware","tag-malware","tag-spyware"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.9 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How To Remove Adware<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you\u2019re seeing popup ads on your computer, it might be infected by adware. While adware makes computer painfully slow with annoying ads, it can also\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-adware\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How To Remove Adware\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you\u2019re seeing popup ads on your computer, it might be infected by adware. While adware makes computer painfully slow with annoying ads, it can also\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-adware\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PIA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/privateinternetaccess\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-07T17:00:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-26T22:10:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/adware2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Summer Hirst\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/SummerHirst\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@buyvpnservice\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Summer Hirst\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-adware\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-adware\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Summer Hirst\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2d04b026aeb7f847da3f92b1d9bd9416\"},\"headline\":\"How To Remove Adware\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-07T17:00:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-26T22:10:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-adware\/\"},\"wordCount\":433,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-adware\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/adware2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"ads\",\"advertising\",\"adware\",\"anti-malware\",\"anti-spyware\",\"malware\",\"spyware\"],\"articleSection\":[\"General Privacy News\",\"Guides\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-adware\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-adware\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-adware\/\",\"name\":\"How To Remove Adware\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-adware\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-adware\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/adware2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-07T17:00:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-26T22:10:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"If you\u2019re seeing popup ads on your computer, it might be infected by adware. 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