X.bidswitch.net Malware

X.bidswitch.net

X.bidswitch.net is a browser-infiltrating rogue app that seems to work as a regular attachment but it actually hijacks the browser and floods it with ads. X.bidswitch.net can also suddenly redirect the user’s traffic to sites that the user didn’t intend to visit.

The end goal of these obstructive activities isn’t to harm your PC in any way or to compromise your system but to advertise the sites that sponsor the creators of this unpleasant app. This is good news if you are dealing with X.bidswitch.net or Agafurretor at the moment and are afraid that your computer might get harmed because, as we said, this unpleasant app is not created with that purpose in mind. However, it is still a good idea to uninstall X.bidswitch.net from your Safari, Firefox (or other) browser because the changes in the homepage, the search engine, and the toolbar that this app has likely made could eventually result in vulnerabilities in your system that could get exploited by real viruses like Trojans, phishing malware, rootkits, ransomware, and more. This is also one of the main reasons why experts advise to not allow such apps to operate on the computer and also why they refer to them as browser hijackers.

The X.bidswitch.net Malware

If you get a browser hijacker like the X.bidswitch.net malware installed on your PC, you will find out about it right away. The moment you open a browser that has a hijacker latched onto it, you are bound to start noticing the unauthorized changes that the undesirable app has introduced to the infected browser.

From a replaced homepage address to different alterations in the way your search engine works and unwanted buttons added to your toolbar, those are all things you can expect from an app of the browser hijacker family.

Again, this isn’t meant to harm your computer. The goal of these changes is to allow the hijacker to generate advertising messages, pop-ups, and page redirects and to obstruct your browsing experience with them so that you’d interact with the promotional content which would, in turn, generate Pay-Per-Click and Pay-Per-View income for the creators of the hijacker. It is understandable if you are less than excited about the prospect of having to put up with such advertising activity in your browser every time you start a new online session.

However, the much bigger problem here is that the content that is promoted might not be what you could call safe or reliable. The people behind X.bidswitch.net are not particularly concerned about your system’s safety and so even if their hijacker is not designed to harm your machine, the sites and pages that it promotes could easily be hosted by cybercriminals, hackers, and scammers as long as the latter are willing to pay their commission for the advertising services of the hijacker.

Obviously, the one and only solution here is to get rid of this software so as to avoid potential encounters with ransomware viruses, Trojans, or other threats that might be hiding behind the page redirects and ads that X.bidswitch.net spams you with. If you don’t know how you can effectively uninstall this hijacker, be sure to check out the next lines where you will find both a functional removal guide with manual steps as well as a potent anti-malware tool that specializes in taking care of such undesirable apps and can also help you with the hijacker’s removal. 

SUMMARY:

Remove X.bidswitch.net

To try and remove X.bidswitch.net quickly you can try this:

1. Go to your browser’s settings and select More Tools (or Add-ons, depending on your browser).
2. Then click on the Extensions tab.
3. Look for the X.bidswitch.net extension (as well as any other unfamiliar ones).
4. Remove X.bidswitch.net by clicking on the Trash Bin icon next to its name.
5. Confirm and get rid of X.bidswitch.net and any other suspicious items.

If this does not work as described please follow our more detailed X.bidswitch.net removal guide below.

If you have a Windows virus, continue with the guide below.

If you have a Mac virus, please use our How to remove Ads on Mac guide.

If you have an Android virus, please use our Android Malware Removal guide.

If you have an iPhone virus, please use our iPhone Virus Removal guide.

Some of the steps may require you to exit the page. Bookmark it for later reference.
Next, Reboot in Safe Mode (use this guide if you don’t know how to do it).

Uninstall the X.bidswitch.net app and kill its processes

The first thing you must try to do is look for any sketchy installs on your computer and uninstall anything you think may come from X.bidswitch.net. After that, you’ll also need to get rid of any processes that may be related to the unwanted app by searching for them in the Task Manager.

Note that sometimes an app, especially a rogue one, may ask you to install something else or keep some of its data (such as settings files) on your PC – never agree to that when trying to delete a potentially rogue software. You need to make sure that everything is removed from your PC to get rid of the malware. Also, if you aren’t allowed to go through with the uninstallation, proceed with the guide, and try again after you’ve completed everything else.

• Uninstalling the rogue app
• Killing any rogue processes

Type Apps & Features in the Start Menu, open the first result, sort the list of apps by date, and look for suspicious recently installed entries.

Click on anything you think could be linked to X.bidswitch.net, then select uninstall, and follow the prompts to delete the app.

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc, click More Details (if it’s not already clicked), and look for suspicious entries that may be linked to X.bidswitch.net.

If you come across a questionable process, right-click it, click Open File Location, scan the files with the free online malware scanner shown below, and then delete anything that gets flagged as a threat.

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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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After that, if the rogue process is still visible in the Task Manager, right-click it again and select End Process.

Undo X.bidswitch.net changes made to different system settings

It’s possible that X.bidswitch.net has affected various parts of your system, making changes to their settings. This can enable the malware to stay on the computer or automatically reinstall itself after you’ve seemingly deleted it. Therefore, you need to check the following elements by going to the Start Menu, searching for them, and pressing Enter to open them and to see if anything has been changed there without your approval. Then you must undo any unwanted changes made to these settings in the way shown below:

• DNS
• Hosts
• Startup
• Task
  Scheduler
• Services
• Registry

Type in Start Menu: View network connections

Right-click on your primary network, go to Properties, and do this:

Type in Start Menu: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

Type in the Start Menu: Startup apps

Type in the Start Menu: Task Scheduler

Type in the Start Menu: Services

Type in the Start Menu: Registry Editor

Press Ctrl + F to open the search window

Remove X.bidswitch.net from your browsers

For mobile devices refer to these guides instead: Android, iPhone