Advfandom Virus

Browser Hijacker
by Brandon Skies
December 26, 2022

Advfandom

Advfandom is a browser-rerouting junwkare app that generates ads in the browser and constantly tries to page-redirect the user to some sponsored sites. While not directly harmful, Advfandom has the potential to link you to potentially hazardous web content so it is advisable to uninstall it ASAP.

Advfandom

You may not think much of the random pop-up ads that may be showing on your screen whenever you are in your browser surfing the Internet but you should know that being annoying isn’t the only unpleasant feature of the different forms of banners, box messages and page-redirects that might be interrupting your browsing activities. Sometimes, a given web ad or banner or redirect may actually be a gateway for serious malware threats like Ransomware, Trojans and others, that could allow them to attack your computer. This is why you shouldn’t trust every web ad that you see on the Internet. Unfortunately, if Advfandom or some other browser hijacker app is in your Firefox or Google Chrome or another browser, the ads won’t go away no matter what you do. Also, there may be changes to the search engine service and the homepage of the browser that could make the amount of advertising content that pops-up on your screen even greater. Generally, the representatives of the so-called browser hijacker category are seen as undesirable form of software exactly because of their tendency to cause irritation through their endless display of ads and through the unauthorized browser changes that they may introduce to the user’s browser. And while all this isn’t some sort of malicious and criminal activity aimed at harming your computer or compromising your online privacy and security, it is still important to be aware of the potential hazards that software like Advfandom and Omnatuor could lead to. Obviously, it is better if you do not keep such browser hijackers in your computer and if you do not allow them to operate within your browser. For those of you who need help with the uninstallation of the Advfandom hijacker, you can find the needed assistance in the next guide.

SUMMARY:

NameAdvfandom
Type Browser Hijacker
Danger LevelMedium (nowhere near threats like Ransomware, but still a security risk)
Symptoms Intrusive browser ads and changes to the homepage or the search engine service without your permission.
Distribution MethodSoftware installation packages also known as program bundles.
Detection Tool

Please follow all the steps below in order to remove Advfandom!

How to remove Advfandom

  1. First, click the Start Menu on your Windows PC.
  2. Type Programs and Settings in the Start Menu, click the first item, and find Advfandom in the programs list that would show up.
  3. Select Advfandom from the list and click on Uninstall.
  4. Follow the steps in the removal wizard.

What we suggest you do first is, check the list of programs that are presently installed on the infected device and uninstall any rogue software that you find there:

  • From the Start Menu, navigate to Control Panel ->>> Programs and Features ->>> Uninstall a Program.
  • Next, carefully search for unfamiliar programs or programs that have been installed recently and could be related to Advfandom.
  • If you find any of the programs suspicious then uninstall them if they turn out to be linked to Advfandom.
  • If a notification appears on your screen when you try to uninstall a specific questionable program prompting you to just alter it or repair it, make sure you choose NO and complete the steps from the removal wizard.

Remove Advfandom from Chrome

  1. Click on the three dots in the right upper corner
  2. Go to more tools
  3. Now select extensions
  4. Remove the Advfandom extension
  • Once you open Chrome, click on the three-dots icon to open the browser’s menu, go to More Tools/ More Options, and then to Extensions.
  • Again, find the items on that page that could be linked to Advfandom and/or that might be causing problems in the browser and delete them.
  • Afterwards, go to this folder: Computer > C: > Users > *Your User Account* > App Data > Local > Google > Chrome > User Data. In there, you will find a folder named Default – you should change its name to Backup Default and restart the PC.
  • Note that the App Data folder is normally hidden so you’d have to first make the hidden files and folders on your PC visible before you can access it.

How to get rid of Advfandom on FF/Edge/etc.

  1. Open the browser and select the menu icon.
  2. From the menu, click on the Add-ons button.
  3. Look for the Advfandom extension
  4. Get rid of Advfandom by removing it from extensions

If using Firefox:

  • Open Firefox
  • Select the three parallel lines menu and go to Add-ons.
  • Find the unwanted add-on and delete it from the browser – if there is more than one unwanted extension, remove all of them.
  • Go to the browser menu again, select Options, and then click on Home from the sidebar to the left.
  • Check the current addresses for the browser’s homepage and new-tab page and change them if they are currently set to address(es) you don’t know or trust.

If using MS Edge/IE:

  • Start Edge
  • Select the browser menu and go to Extensions.
  • Find and uninstall any Edge extensions that look undesirable and unwanted.
  • Select Settings from the browser menu and click on Appearance.
  • Check the new-tab page address of the browser and if it has been modified by “Advfandom” or another unwanted app, change it to an address that you’d want to be the browser’s new-tab page.

How to Delete Advfandom

  1. Open task manager
  2. Look for the Advfandom process
  3. Select it and click on End task
  4. Open the file location to delete Advfandom
  • Access the Task Manager by pressing together the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys and then selecting Task Manager.
  • Open Processes and there try to find a process with the name of the unwanted software. If you find it, select it with the right button of the mouse and click on the Open File Location option.
  • If you don’t see a “Advfandom” process in the Task Manager, look for another suspicious process with an unusual name. It is likely that the unwanted process would be using lots of RAM and CPU so pay attention to the number of resources each process is using.
  • Tip: If you think you have singled out the unwanted process but are not sure, it’s always a good idea to search for information about it on the Internet – this should give you a general idea if the process is a legitimate one from a regular program or from your OS or if it is indeed likely linked to the adware.
  • If you find another suspicious process, open its File Location too.
  • Once in the File Location folder for the suspicious process, start testing all of the files that are stored there by dragging them to our free online scanner available below.
  • Each file will be scanned with up to 64 antivirus programs to ensure maximum accuracy
    This scanner is free and will always remain free for our website's users.
    This file is not matched with any known malware in the database. You can either do a full real-time scan of the file or skip it to upload a new file. Doing a full scan with 64 antivirus programs can take up to 3-4 minutes per file.
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    • If the scanner finds malware in any of the files, return to the Processes tab in the Task Manager, select the suspected process, and then select the End Process option to quit it.
    • Go back to the folder where the files of that process are located and delete all of the files that you are allowed to delete. If all files get deleted normally, exit the folder and delete that folder too. If one or more of the files showed an error message when you tried to delete them, leave them for now and return to try to delete them again once you’ve completed the rest of the guide.

    How to Uninstall Advfandom

    1. Click on the home button
    2. Search for Startup Apps
    3. Look for Advfandom in there
    4. Uninstall Advfandom from Startup Apps by turning it off
    • Now you need to carefully search for and uninstall any Advfandom-related entries from the Registry. The easiest way to do this is to open the Registry Editor app (type Regedit in the windows search field and press Enter) and then open a Find dialog (CTRL+F key combination) where you have to type the name of the threat. 
    • Perform a search by clicking on the Find Next button and delete any detected results. Do this as many times as needed until no more results are found. 
    • After that, to ensure that there are no remaining entries lined to Advfandom in the Registry, go manually to the following directories and delete them:
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Random Directory. 
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run/Random
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/Main/Random

    Is Advfandom dangerous?



    As we said, despite being different and far less harmful from Trojan Horses, Spyware, Ransomware and other nasty and nefarious malware programs, the browser hijacker apps like Advfandom, Advatravel and Expo Captcha are still not the safest form of software that you could have within your computer’s system. The hijacker itself normally contains no malicious code and doesn’t have the ability to harm the computers it’s installed on. However, the main hazard for your virtual security are actually the adverts themselves. You should be well aware of the fact that you can’t trust every online banner or advert that you see on the Internet since you cannot know what their origins are and what they may be linked with. The same applies to the advertising materials that Advfandom or another hijacker app may show in your browsing program. Since the ads never really stop as long as the hijacker is operational, it is very difficult to avoid all of the advertisements. Therefore, the best option you have in such a situation is to eliminate and fully uninstall the invasive ad-generating application and in that way free your browser of the invasive commercial messages.


    About the author

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    Brandon Skies

    Brandon is a researcher and content creator in the fields of cyber-security and virtual privacy. Years of experience enable him to provide readers with important information and adequate solutions for the latest software and malware problems.

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