Today’s article is about MetroHotspot – a toolbar that generates intrusive pop ups. If you need it deleted from your system you’ll find the removal guide below, but before that we’ll discuss how these things operate and what is the best course of action when dealing with them. So without further ado lets begin with…
A short introduction to MetroHotspot and Adware in general.
Adware – the type MetroHotspot belongs to – is a compound word made out of Ads and Malware fused together. It is generally used as a generic term for all viruses that generate unwanted messages /ads/ on your computer. If you are reading this article then you are probably already familiar with what these ads look like. There are two important things to understand about them:
- As long as you ignore them and don’t download and install anything you are relatively safe.
- If you interact with them you put your computer into the risk of becoming infected with more viruses.
IMPORTANT! Besides the usual ads you may also be seeing a number of other items that are also ads, but are probably made not to look like one. Things like:
- Pop-ups about missing required plug-ins that you need to install.
- Media windows that want something downloaded before they can show the video.
- Warnings about necessary updates to important outdated programs like Java.
- Free software download. Anti-virus scanners often used as bait.
ALL of these are viruses and that is the reason you should never interact with anything offered by MetroHotspot. In the off chance that you are actually interested in the program offered (after all they do use legitimate program names as decoy/bait) you should Google that program and download it from the site of the official developer. This is the only way to be sure the installer is 100% virus free.
In fact similar messages are one of the most commonly used ways to spread Adware and other Malware. You may come upon these things in different sites around the web and they are an excellent indication that a site is unsafe.
On to some dirty tricks you may not be aware of.
One of these is program bundles. Many developers add additional applications and utilities to the installer of their main product – to promote their other work or their partners’. Unfortunately, more common with free programs, these bonus apps may in fact be Adware. This is why it’s a good idea to forgo the default installation option and go with the advanced one. While using it you can see and control what is getting installed.
Another are the fake download/torrent sites. These may generate files with the name you want, but who are a virus. Look for the file extension – if a file ends with .exe and you are not getting that file from an official site it’s likely a virus.
How to Remove MetroHotspot
Search Marquis is a high-profile hijacker – you might want to see if you’re not infected with it as well.
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