Weather Zero is one of those unwanted apps that try to present themselves as something legitimate and helpful, but their true nature is so thinly veiled that it immediately becomes clear you are dealing with malware.
To be fair, this app isn’t harmful. It’s like a small widget that gets added to your system and shows you the weather. Sounds innocent enough, but what its devs don’t tell you is that it will inject ads into your browser (that aren’t from the sites you are visiting) and also show you obstructive pop-ups even when the browser isn’t open.
Additionally, it collects data to sell to third-party advertisers and mainly installs in the system without the user’s knowledge (though, to be fair, that’s usually on the users themselves).
People get this app after installing various software, including the Cheat Engine app, console game emulators (Noxplayer, MuMu, Cemu, etc.), mods for Minecraft and Robox, and others. These will often have additional apps bundled with them and if you don’t uncheck those apps during setup, they get installed too.
That’s how most users get the Weather Zero app and other similar rogue software, such as Premier Opinion and Pinaview. However, the full removal of this malware is nowhere as quick and easy as its installation.
Weather Zero Virus Uninstall Instructions
You must understand that apps like the Weather Zero malware often install multiple components in the system in different locations that will restore one another unless deleted all at once. Because of this, each step in this guide is essential if you want to fully get rid of this rogue app.
But before I give you the detailed removal guide, I suggest you first try to remove Weather Zero the conventional way – by running its uninstaller. Some users have gotten lucky with this and report success, so if it saves you some time, there’s no reason not to try it:
IMPORTANT!
The Weather Zero uninstaller might try to mislead you. It might ask you to confirm you want to remove the app but have confusing wording in the confirmation prompt.
!READY VERY CAREFULLY EVERYTHING IN THE UNINSTALLER!
Do not blindly click “Yes” or “No” or anything else without first checking the text before it.
- Go to your Start Menu and click the Settings icon (an icon with a gearwheel).
- Open Apps and sort the list by date of installation.
- Find Weather Zero in the list of apps, select it, and select Uninstall.
- Follow the installation prompts but be careful to not agree to leave any components of the program uninstalled. Everything must go.
- After the installation completes, restart your PC and see if the malware is gone.
If this didn’t work (which will be in most cases), don’t worry, the detailed removal instructions are shown below. Go ahead and follow them to fully get rid of Weather Zero.
Video walkthrough for this step:
SUMMARY:
OFFERIMPORTANT!
The Weather Zero don’t want you to remove their app, so they’ll do everything to make its removal harder. Updates may change the locations where this app installs its components and this guide might become less effective although we try to update it as often as possible.
If you find that performing the steps you’ll see below doesn’t fully get rid of the malware, my recommendation is to use a specialized removal software that lets you scan your entire system and delete everything that might be linked to the rogue app. A great solution for such situations is a powerful anti-malware tool called SpyHunter 5, which I’ve linked on this page. It can get rid of Weather Zero and ensure that the malware doesn’t return after.
How to Remove the Weather Zero Virus
This is the full removal tutorial for the Weather Zero virus, which you should use in case running the program’s uninstaller didn’t do the job.
To successfully remove this malware, you must first complete two preparatory steps:
- Preparatory Step: Install LockHunter – The free tool Lock Hunter is essential for this guide. It unblocks files and folders that you aren’t allowed to delete normally and you are likely to encounter such files/folders while completing the guide.
- Reveal Hidden Files and Folders – Some of the Weather Zero files and folders could be hidden. To be able to see them, open the Start Menu. Search for “Folder Options”, open it, and click View. Select “Show hidden files, folders, and drives”, then click Apply and Confirm.
Video walkthrough for this step:
How to Uninstall Weatherzero From the Task Manager
You must find all Weather Zero processes in the Task Manager to end them and delete their location folders. Here’s how:
Open the Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc. Click “More Details” if it is in compact view. The full Task Manager appears.
Sort processes by Memory use, then by CPU use. Look for processes that are using unusually high resources.
Needless to say, also keep an eye out for anything named Weather Zero regardless of how much of a given resource it’s using.
You may or may not see a process with the Weather Zero name. If you don’t, this doesn’t mean there’s nothing unwanted running in the Task Manager. Use your judgment here to determine if a particular process has a suspicious name or is using too much of your system resources.
Right-click suspicious processes. Choose “Open File Location”. Delete everything in the folder.
If the system blocks deletion, use Lock Hunter to unlock the blocked item. If you don’t have the tool installed already, install it now.
Right-click the file/folder and select the “What’s locking it?” option from the context menu. Then you’ll be given the option to delete the item.
After deleting the files, return to the Task Manager. Right-click the process again. Select “End Task”.
Repeat for any other processes linked to the Weather Zero virus.
Video walkthrough for this step:
How to Delete Persistent Files with Lock Hunter
How to Delete Weather Zero Virus Files
There are still probably folders and files linked to Weather Zero that are in your system, so you’ll need to hunt them down manually. However, I can give you the locations where you are most likely to find them:
Navigate to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup. Delete suspicious files stored there. If you aren’t sure what counts as suspicious, simply remove everything except the desktop.ini file (if such is present).
Repeat in C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.
Go to your C: drive and check Program Files and Program Files (x86) for Weather Zero folders or any other oddly-named folders. Delete what you find.
Finally, clear out your Temp folder. You’ll find it at C:\Users\*YOUR USERNAME*\AppData\Local\Temp. It’s both safe and recommended to delete everything here.
Get Rid of Weatherzero Scheduled Tasks
One important place most users forget to check is the Task Scheduler.
Use the Start Menu to search for it and open it.
Click Task Scheduler Library in the top left and have a look at the listed tasks.
Start checking the tasks one by one. Double-click each task and select the Actions tab.
This shows you what program or command is executed by this task and where it’s located.
Any tasks that run strange executables or scripts or that are set to visit or download something from an unknown site must be deleted.
Same goes for tasks that run items stored in the AppData or Roaming folders – you must delete those too.
But before you remove a task, remember the location shown in the Actions tab, so you can later go there and delete the respective file.
Video walkthrough for this step:
How to Uninstall Weather Zero Through the Registry
The only thing left to do now is to perform a Registry cleanup. Be careful here. You don’t want to delete the wrong thing and end up causing more issues to your system. Instead, only delete items that you are certain are linked to the malware.
Here, I must once again remind you that you can choose to delete Weather Zero using SpyHunter 5 or another reputable removal software in case you aren’t sure you can manually perform the Registry cleanup.
If you are confident in your ability to safely clean the Registry on your own, this is what you must do:
Search for “regedit” in the Start Menu and run it as Administrator. The Registry Editor opens.
Click Edit from the top, then Find. Search for entries related to the Weather Zero virus.
Search for both “Weather Zero” and “Weatherzero” so that you don’t miss any relevant items.
When/if an item is found, delete the associated key from the left panel.
Continue to search and delete until no related keys remain.
Finally, I recommend going to each of the following registry keys in the left panel and then checking all their values shown on the right.
Here are the specific keys you must visit:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services
- HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
- HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
- HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run
- HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServicesOnce
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce\Setup
This is where you must look very carefully for anything that looks linked to Weather Zero or another questionable program that shouldn’t be running on your PC. Remember, you are checking the values in the right panel. Here, the keys in the left panel must stay intact.
You’ll likely not see the virus’ name in there because you already searched for it, so keep an eye out for anything else that looks unfamiliar or out of place.
If you find a suspicious value, delete only that value, without touching any of the other ones that don’t seem rogue or the key that contains them.
Video walkthrough for this step:
Once the Registry is cleaned, you should be in the clear. Hopefully, after this final cleanup step, the malware will no longer bother you. And if somehow Weather Zero has managed to remain in your system, don’t forget you can always use SpyHunter to remove it in just a couple of clicks.
Hello! I’ll make this short for you, i accidentally downloaded this program called altruistic along with a whole bunch of other malwares (62 to be precise) and it’s 1am and i’m having a panic attack because i dont’ know what to do and brave browser won’t uninstall no matter what i try.
I downloaded sky hunter 5 out of desperation and pure fear to help me out, because it was the first thing that came up when i searched how to get rid of it.
I ran a scan with Spy Hunter and it told me i had gotten 2 main viruses: Trojan.bitcoinminer (24 sub files) and DangerousSig.generic. My computer is freezing up randomly as i type this, and it’s not helping with my spasms.
Please please please help!!!
Hi Floriane,
try to reach SpyHunter support, they will gladly help you with your case.