Recently, I saw a huge amount of posts like “my browser presents me unwanted Smoothsearch.online pop-up ads, is it a computer virus?” or “these Smoothsearch.online pop-up ads in my Chrome making me crazy, how to deal with them?”. Due to the stats for last months, pc virus distributors started a massive adware distribution campaign. Let me demonstrate you, how you can delete the computer viruses from your computer, and forget about the annoying Smoothsearch.online pop-ups.
Pop-Ups : Discovering The Nature
You can admit that some websites (like a Smoothsearch.online) use you pop-up ads. The message can have something like “do you want to receive notifications regarding the latest news?” or “permit alerts to be reported about new price cuts?”. Normally, such messages are riskless, and may only distract you with its sudden appearing. Plus it can be quickly disabled, in case notifications from this website are no longer desired.
Pop-up notices are quite an reliable advertising and marketing tool. If you have an interest in products of some kind, you can enable pop-ups from the web site where you can buy this stuff, and as quickly as these things are in store again, or if you can have a price cut – you will certainly get the alert regarding this. The counterparty – online sellers, car lending companies, etc – will be in profit, too – customer will surely get a suggestion about the product he/she meant to pay for. And such an advertising and marketing method is nearly free of charge – this element is very essential for companies.
| Site | Smoothsearch.online |
| IP Address | 104.18.44.14 |
| Infection Type | Adware, Push notifications, Unwanted Ads, Pop-up Ads |
| Symptoms | Annoying pop-up ads in the right corner. |
| Similar behavior | Streambeesearch.com, Topsw.me, Prw-news1.club |
Smoothsearch.online Pop-Ups Are Not So Safe
But occasionally pop-up ads can show up without your permission, and also with a content which is completely different from your present interests or search questions. And also, besides unwanted Smoothsearch.online pop-ups from the unknown resource, you can simultaneously see a great deal of ads, consisting of ones on the web pages which at first have no ads at all. Such a situation can be the sign of adware existence.
Adware is the kind of malware which infiltrates into your PC, after that begins displaying you numerous ads. Their material typically has no correlation with your normal search queries. Besides banner promotions, your browser can additionally suggest you a huge number of various Smoothsearch.online pop-up advertisements, which appear in the lower right corner.
The model of adware usage is really sly. The large pack of adware is dispersed via trojan viruses, which are infiltrated in your computer previously. Advertisements, which are suggested to you by malicious app, are paid by their creators. In a couple of weeks, all antivirus programs began to stop these adware, therefore, trojan sheds in productivity. And to finish the user’s computer system, virus distributors begin ransomware distribution through these trojans.
Even if there is no active ransomware distribution, your PC can still be influenced by adware virus. A huge quantity of promotions in addition to Smoothsearch.online pop-ups can make your PC as slow as snail, so your regular tasks will be difficult to execute in typical manner.
How Can I Deal With Smoothsearch.online Pop-Ups?
Assuming the text above: your desktop, and your data, is in a significant danger. To stop this virus, you need to utilize antivirus software. Microsoft Defender, which is installed in every Windows 10 distribution, is able to deal with Smoothsearch.online pop-ups malware. However, it can’t reset the browser alterations which were applied by malicious program. Another drawback of the anti-virus by Microsoft is its specific vulnerability: viruses can disable Microsoft Defender through the Group Policies after being infiltrated to your desktop.
To be 100% sure that your personal computer is clean of any viruses now, and will be clean in future, I can advice you to use GridinSoft Anti-Malware.
To detect and eliminate all malicious programs on your PC, including Smoothsearch.online pop-ups virus, with GridinSoft Anti-Malware, it’s better to use Standard or Full scan. Quick Scan is not able to find all the malicious programs, because it checks only the most popular registry entries and directories.
You can observe the detected viruses sorted by their possible hazard simultaneously with the scan process. But to choose any actions against malware, you need to hold on until the scan is over, or to stop the scan.
To set the action for every spotted malicious or unwanted program, click the arrow in front of the name of detected malware. By default, all the viruses will be moved to quarantine.
Reverting browser settings to original ones
To reset your browser settings, you are required to use the Reset Browser Settings option. This action is not able to be counteracted by Smoothsearch.online malware, hence, you will surely see the result. This option can be found in the Tools tab.
After pressing the Reset Browser Settings button, the menu will be displayed, where you can specify, which settings will be reverted to original.
Reset browser setiings without making use of third-party applications
Besides using antivirus software for browser restoration, you can choose the “Reset browser settings” option, which is usually embedded in all popular browsers.
Reset Microsoft Edge ⚙ Settings
- Open "Settings and more" tab in upper right corner, then find here "Settings" button. In the appeared menu, choose "Reset settings" option:
- After picking the Reset Settings option, you will see the following menu, stating about the settings which will be reverted to original:
Reset Mozilla Firefox ⚙ Settings
- Open Menu tab (three strips in upper right corner) and click the "Help" button. In the appeared menu choose "troubleshooting information":
- In the next screen, find the "Refresh Firefox" option:
- Open Settings menu by pressing the gear icon in the toolbar (left side of the browser window), then click "Advanced" option, and choose "Browser" button in the drop-down list. Scroll down, to the bottom of the settings menu. Find there "Restore settings to their original defaults" option:
- After clicking the "Restore settings..." button, you will see the window, where all settings, which will be reset, are shown:
- Open Settings tab, find the "Advanced" button. In the extended tab choose the "Reset and clean up" button:
- In the appeared list, click on the "Restore settings to their original defaults":
- Finally, you will see the window, where you can see all the settings which will be reset to default:
After choosing this option, you will see the next message:
Reset Opera ⚙ Settings
Reset Google Chrome ⚙ Settings
As an afterword, I want to say that the time plays against you and your PC. The activity of browser hijacker Smoothsearch.online must be stopped as soon as possible, because of possibility of other malware injection. This malware can be downloaded autonomously, or offered for you to download in one of the windows with advertisements, which are shown to you by the hijacker. You need to act as fast as you can.
