This page aims to help you remove Adfocus “Virus”. These Adfocus removal instructions work for Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer, as well as every version of Windows. Adfocus is similar to other Ad-distributing platforms like Adfly, Linkbucks, Hitleap and others.
The Adfocus bot redirection
Adfocus is a type of Browser Hijacker, and if you have already been infected by it – you can surely guess what the term means. Basically, it’s a type of program designed to distribute ads. And although this may seem harmless to you at first, we don’t recommend you allow Adfocus to stay present on your computer for much longer. Don’t get us wrong – it’s not a virus of any sorts and shouldn’t be treated as some of the nastier instances of PC infection like ransomware, for example. Ransomware will encrypt your files, where this program will merely annoy you by displaying adverts. But despite it not being a direct threat to your system, there are several red flags about Browser Hijackers, which we will discuss shortly. Adfocus “Virus” is not actually a virus, but a rather annoying platform created to distribute advertisements through browser redirects. This can be done either through an Adfocus bot or through classic URL shortening system. The bottom line is that it’s in your best interest to get rid of Adfocus as soon as you can and to help you do that, we have designed a very simple, user-friendly guide with step-by-step removal instructions to walk you through the process.
Red flag No1
We mentioned that Adfocus bot distributes advertisements and these come in various shapes and sizes: pop-ups, banners, random hyperlinks that appear in plain text, page redirects, etc. All of this can be greatly annoying and can make simple webpage navigating a nightmare, but what is the ultimate point of it all? Money. The Browser Hijacker developers make their money from every time you click on one of their ads, based on the so called Pay per click scheme. In order for this to be more effective, however, they need to maximize their chances of gaining your attention and how would they do that? By getting a feel of what interests you, which in turn is done by gathering your browsing info. Not creeped out yet? Then let this sink in: all the websites you visit, the frequency with which you visit them, everything you search for online and all the pages you bookmark, together with any personal details of yours – all of that is recorded and analyzed in order to produce content that is more relevant to you. And once all that’s been done, your personal details can easily be sold on to someone else, which is oftentimes the case.
Red flag No2
For those of you who need more convincing – we’ve got you covered. Most of the ads displayed on your screen by Adfocus rarely turn out to be what they claim they are, once you’ve clicked on them. They can be as misleading as an election promise. And you can’t really blame them for it, since all they’re interested in is your click, they don’t necessarily care with how happy you are after you’ve clicked. But the issue here is that not only can those links and pop-up mislead you, they can also direct you to some pretty dangerous websites that can be loaded with malware. Your click can even land on a thing called malvertisement, which will essentially download malware onto your computer – with or without your consent. And the consequences of that can be quite devastating. Naturally you want to remove Adfocus “virus” from your machine as fast as possible.
Distribution and safety measures
Before we move on, there’s actually another red flag, but it seemed too insignificant in comparison with the other two to have a separate paragraph. Browser Hijackers are also notorious for its potential of slowing down your computer, worsening its general performance and even crashing your browser. There, now you have it. As for distribution, chances are you might not even know where Adfocus came from and how it got on your computer. The most commonly applied technique is called program bundling and is the practice of packaging one program (a potentially unwanted one) together with another, which you would actually want to have, for whatever reason. Thus, when you’ve downloaded the desired program and proceed to install it, you are typically given the option of choosing between default and custom setup. If you picked the former, you’ve automatically surrendered any further choices to the developers and they could have set practically any other software up for installation alongside this one. The easiest way to prevent this from happening is to opt for the custom (advanced) setup and then you will have the option of seeing what else has been bundled in and deciding whether or not you want it.
Obviously, basic measures of cyber security should be taken to ensure maximum safety while browsing the web. This includes first and foremost a trusted antivirus program, which should be on at all times and which you should use to perform virus scans on a regular basis. Avoiding shady websites like the ones described above would also be ideal and will go a long way.
SUMMARY:
| Name | Adfocus |
| Type | Browser Hijacker |
| Detection Tool | Some threats reinstall themselves if you don't delete their core files. We recommend downloading SpyHunter to remove harmful programs for you. This may save you hours and ensure you don't harm your system by deleting the wrong files. |
OFFERAdfocus “Virus” Removal
You are dealing with a malware infection that can restore itself unless you remove its core files. We are sending you to another page with a removal guide that gets regularly updated. It covers in-depth instructions on how to:
1. Locate and scan malicious processes in your task manager.
2. Identify in your Control panel any programs installed with the malware, and how to remove them. Search Marquis is a high-profile hijacker that gets installed with a lot of malware.
3. How to clean up and reset your browser to its original settings without the malware returning.
You can find the removal guide here.
For mobile devices refer to these guides instead: Android , iPhone
Leave a Comment