Blanket Extension Virus

Browser Hijacker
by Violet George
February 6, 2023
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Blanket Extension

The current article is dedicated to a recently reported browser hijacker called Blanket Extension. Blanket Extension can take over your main browsing app and cause it to generate ads during your browsing sessions.

Blanket Extension

If you are on this page due to the fact that Blanket Extension has mysteriously taken over your Chrome, Firefox, Explorer or any other browser that you are using – stay with us. We will tell you exactly how to remove the Blanket Extension and uninstall all the nagging changes that it might have imposed on your machine.

Namely, these could be related to replacements in your browser’s homepage or search engine tool, installation of new buttons, toolbars and new-tab links and the unstoppable generation of hundreds of ads, banners, and pop-ups. Many users may experience difficulty to browse the web while Blanket Extension is operating in their system mostly because the program tends to initiate automatic redirects to pre-defined websites and to fill the screen with sponsored ads that constantly prompt them to click on various offers.

Another thing that tends to create a lot of panic and confuses people is the fact that when they try to remove the ads from the screen or to uninstall the imposed changes, they get re-installed again. Thus, every time you re-open your browser, you are greeted by the same sponsored homepage, search engine, buttons and ads. This alone is enough to make some users believe that they have been infected by some nagging virus or malware (probably ransomware or some stealthy Trojan) that doesn’t want to go away. However, to your relief, this is not the case with browser hijackers. These pieces of software can be nagging, but they are not malicious and in the removal guide below we will show you how to quickly deal with them.

SUMMARY:

NameBlanket Extension
TypeBrowser Hijacker
Danger LevelMedium (nowhere near threats like Ransomware, but still a security risk)
Detection Tool

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Please follow all the steps below in order to remove Blanket Extension!

How to remove Blanket Extension

  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 Blanket Extension in the programs list that would show up.
  3. Select Blanket Extension 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 Blanket Extension.
  • If you find any of the programs suspicious then uninstall them if they turn out to be linked to Blanket Extension.
  • 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 Blanket Extension 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 Blanket Extension 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 Blanket Extension 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 Blanket Extension 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 Blanket Extension extension
  4. Get rid of Blanket Extension 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 “Blanket Extension” or another unwanted app, change it to an address that you’d want to be the browser’s new-tab page.

How to Delete Blanket Extension

  1. Open task manager
  2. Look for the Blanket Extension process
  3. Select it and click on End task
  4. Open the file location to delete Blanket Extension
  • 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 “Blanket Extension” 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.
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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 Blanket Extension

    1. Click on the home button
    2. Search for Startup Apps
    3. Look for Blanket Extension in there
    4. Uninstall Blanket Extension from Startup Apps by turning it off
    • Now you need to carefully search for and uninstall any Blanket Extension-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 Blanket Extension 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

    What is Blanket Extension?


    Programs like Blanket Extension, Apps Extension, Searchesmia are nothing more than advertising tools that serve the interests of the online marketing industry. They are programmed to generate a massive amount of online promotional materials, such as banners, pop-ups, redirect links and pay-per-click ads, during your regular web surfing and to prompt you to visit specific pages. But what for?
    Well, browser hijackers are essentially the result of business collaboration between software developers and manufacturers or distributors of different products, services, and websites. These programs serve as a medium that promotes specific advertising messages directly on the users’ monitor for a fee, which is usually calculated on a pay-per-click basis. The more people click on the displayed ads and sponsored messages, the more traffic and exposure the advertisers get and, respectively, the more profits the program generates for its developers.
    This seems to be a lucrative method which does not cause direct harm to the system but sometimes can allow room for some rather unpleasant marketing tactics such as automatic redirects, sponsored browser changes, and excessive exposure to commercial content during web browsing. In some instances, the activity of the browser hijacker may also contribute to accidental encounters with security hazards, (such as real viruses like ransomware and Trojan horses) namely because it may redirect the users to various unfamiliar web locations. For this reason, it is generally advisable to keep away from the click prompts that programs like Blanket Extension may display or better, get rid of them permanently.


    About the author

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    Violet George

    Violet is an active writer with a passion for all things cyber security. She enjoys helping victims of computer virus infections remove them and successfully deal with the aftermath of the attacks. But most importantly, Violet makes it her priority to spend time educating people on privacy issues and maintaining the safety of their computers. It is her firm belief that by spreading this information, she can empower web users to effectively protect their personal data and their devices from hackers and cybercriminals.

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