Remove Browserdownloadz Pop-up Ads — How to Fix Gude

Written by Wilbur Woodham
Browserdownloadz pop-up alerts may show up unexpectedly, covering the post of the page you checked or opening your web browser when you don’t want it to be opened.

Clicking the Browserdownloadz ad may trigger the injection of different malware or unwanted programs. In this article, you will see the guide of Browserdownloadz popups removal in a couple of manners, as well as inspecting your computer for other viruses presence.

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What are Browserdownloadz pop-ups?

Browserdownloadz popups are an outcome of adware action. Adware is a type of malware that demonstrates to you the pay-per-view of pay-per-click ads, which creates a substantial amount of income for adware representatives. These ads might include sometimes shocking material, or have a web link to malevolent content/website, since adware maintainers have no reason to examine the goodness of the material they are going to reveal – their solitary target is cash.

Browserdownloadz push notification

Browserdownloadz push notification.

Pop-up advertising itself is a good, low-cost and also really productive advertising tool1. It allows the seller to attach the customers’ interest to their site, and the customers to receive the dynamic updates on the goods they want to purchase. When the person will receive a pop-up alert that the TV set he wishes to buy is offered at the online shop he/she visited earlier with a 15% discount, one will surely use this possibility and buy it. Considering the very low price for the popups and their targeting, such an advertising and marketing method is a favorite thing amongst the marketing teams of large online stores.

Nonetheless, such a rewarding plan could not be missed by virus creators. Option to show the popup advertisements by force to the targets of malware attack is a great basis for malevolent adjustments with the popup promotions. And Browserdownloadz.com ads is one of hundreds that are “employed” in this scheme.

Here is a short details for the Browserdownloadz site
SiteBrowserdownloadz.com
HostingAS13335 Cloudflare, Inc.
United States, San Francisco
Infection TypeAdware, Push notifications, Unwanted Ads, Pop-up Ads
IP Address172.67.179.41
SymptomsAnnoying pop-up ads in the right corner.
Similar behaviorInstallhighlysophisticatedthefile, Pertyvaluati, Ajorinryeso
Fix Tool
To remove possible virus infections, try to scan your PC

How have I got the Browserdownloadz virus?

There are a plenty of ways of becoming infected by the adware that lead to the Browserdownloadz popups storm. A lion’s part of this malware instances is after the free software or cracked programs, that are spread on the peering networks. Free software can likewise be downloaded from the official site, and the adware is delivered as a legit bundled program.

There is no need to blame yourself. A number of users regularly use the uncertain programs from untrusted sources: abandonware, a wide range of apps that are free of cost, and even hacked programs. All of these sorts of programs are unsafe, because it is extremely easy to build in a Browserdownloadz malware under the guise of part of the license hacking script, or as a component of the self-made algoritm inside of the Windows optimization tool.

Browserdownloadz popup malware may also be hidden in the promotion somewhere on the strange website. Such sites are typically full of colorful and blinking ads, and their proprietors typically permit any kind of promos to be published on their web page. Therefore, clicking on such banners is a risky thing: only the ad contractor knows what will occur when you press this ad. Besides some “light” viruses, like adware or undesirable programs, you can likewise get something a lot more dangerous, like ransomware or coin miner; the big share of coin miners distribution is exactly after the malicious advertisements.

People dislike popups

The statistic shows that people dislike popup advertising more than other types of promotions

Potentially undesirable programs, like Browserdownloadz popup virus can cause a wide range of different troubles on your personal computer. Distracting is not the only problem – pop-ups may present you the advertisements, where you are offered to download one more unknown application, or “a perfect anti-malware tool”. Scareware is usually spread with the use of the last motto. Potentially undesirable programs, in turn, can have spyware functions. And it is very hard to distinguish the unwanted app from a normal one, if you don’t know the exact names. Besides the PUPs and dubious antiviruses, popup-related ads are also chosen as a distribution method by various trojan viruses, for example – coin miners. The consequences of activity of such malware is 100% unwanted, and can cost you hundreds of dollars. And even if you are not clicking these promotions, they may be clicked by someone who also uses your computer – parents, children, spouse, etc. So the things can become much more serious, and it will be much harder to solve it without information loss. It is recommended to wipe out the viruses with anti-malware programs as soon as possible.

How can I get rid of Browserdownloadz pop-up advertisements?

The tutorial of Browserdownloadz adware removal consists of 2 sections. Initially, we need to deal with the malware, and after that take care of the consequences of its activity. The elimination task is very easy, because it can be done even with using Microsoft Defender – anti-virus software that is available on all computers with Windows 8/10. Nonetheless, as a result of its large resources usage, along with some errors that may be crucial for some types of individuals, Defender is often turned off by the users, so its usage is likely impossible. What’s more, a variety of trojan viruses have the ability to shut off the embedded antivirus. It is much better to use the separated program that will not have such vulnerabilities.

I’d recommend you to utilize Gridinsoft Anti-Malware2 – a well-proven anti-malware device that will certainly eliminate the malware from your computer and make an impenetrable cover with a Proactive protection function. But let’s handle Browserdownloadz adware first.

Removing Browserdownloadz popup virus with GridinSoft Anti-Malware

  • Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware. After the installation, you will be offered to perform the Standard Scan. Approve this action.
  • Gridinsoft Anti-Malware during the scan process

  • Standard scan checks the logical disk where the system files are stored, together with the files of programs you have already installed. The scan lasts up to 6 minutes.
  • GridinSoft Anti-Malware scan results

  • When the scan is over, you may choose the action for each detected virus. For all files of Browserdownloadz malware the default option is “Delete”. Press “Apply” to finish the malware removal.
  • GridinSoft Anti-Malware - After Cleaning

Now, when the computer is clean of viruses, we can proceed to the browser reset. You can do this step manually, as well as with the use of GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

Reset browser settings to default

Manual method of browser reset

To reset Edge, do the following steps :
  1. Open “Settings and more” tab in upper right corner, then find here “Settings” button. In the appeared menu, choose “Reset settings” option :
  2. Reseting the Edge browser

  3. After picking the Reset Settings option, you will see the following menu, stating about the settings which will be reverted to original :
For Mozilla Firefox, do the next actions :
  1. Open Menu tab (three strips in upper right corner) and click the “Help” button. In the appeared menu choose “troubleshooting information” :
  2. The first step to revert Mozilla Firefox

  3. In the next screen, find the “Refresh Firefox” option :
  4. The second step of Firefox restoration
    After choosing this option, you will see the next message :
    The last step for Firefox
If you use Google Chrome
  1. Open Settings tab, find the “Advanced” button. In the extended tab choose the “Reset and clean up” button :
  2. In the appeared list, click on the “Restore settings to their original defaults” :
  3. Finally, you will see the window, where you can see all the settings which will be reset to default :
Opera can be reset in the next way
  1. Open Settings menu by pressing the gear icon in the toolbar (left side of the browser window), then click “Advanced” option, and choose “Browser” button in the drop-down list. Scroll down, to the bottom of the settings menu. Find there “Restore settings to their original defaults” option :

  2. After clicking the “Restore settings…” button, you will see the window, where all settings, which will be reset, are shown :

When the web browsers are reset, you need to make sure that your browser will connect the right DNS while connecting to the website you want. Make a text file named “hosts” on your pc’s desktop, then open it and fill it with the following lines3:

# Copyright (c) 1993-2006 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a ‘#’ symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
# localhost name resolution is handle within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost

Find the hosts.txt file in C:/Windows/System32/drivers/etc directory. Rename this file to “hosts.old.txt” (to distinguish it from the new one), and then move the file you created on the desktop to this folder. Remove the hosts.old from this folder. Now you have your hosts file as good as new.

Nevertheless, there is one trouble that makes the things a lot harder to repair, specifically without the anti-malware software. The majority of adware variants that are utilized to show you the Browserdownloadz pop-up ads are altering the deep browser configurations, disabling an access to the settings tab. So, if you try to fix your browser settings after your system was infected by pop-up-related malware, your browser will crash quickly. In certain cases, you will see no crash, however, large lag spike after pushing the “settings” key. Browser will stop reacting for ~ 30 secs, and after that it will be back to the normal, until you try to open settings one more time.

Reset your browser settings with GridinSoft Anti-Malware

To reset your browser with GridinSoft Anti-Malware, open the Tools tab, and click the “Reset browser settings” button.

Tools tab in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

You can see the list of the options for each browser. By default, they are set up in the manner which fits the majority of users. Press the “Reset” button (lower right corner). In a minute your browser will be as good as new.

Reset Browser Settings tab in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

The browser reset is recommended to perform through the antivirus tool by GridinSoft, because last is also able to reset the HOSTS file without any additional commands.

How to Remove Browserdownloadz Pop-ups?

Name: Browserdownloadz

Description: Browserdownloadz - a lot of users became a target for the pop-up advertisements. I have a lot of friends who literally bombed me with the questions like “how to remove Browserdownloadz.com push notifications?” or “why do Browserdownloadz.com pop-ups keep appearing on Chrome even after AdBlock installation?”. In this article we will show you how to deal with Browserdownloadz pop-ups, which may corrupt your browser’s correct performance, and create a lot of troubles while you are working.

Operating System: Windows

Application Category: Adware

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References

  1. More about pop-up ads on Wikipedia.
  2. GridinSoft Anti-Malware review and the reasons why I advise it for malware elimination.
  3. Official Microsoft guide for hosts file reset.

About the author

Wilbur Woodham

I was a technical writer from early in my career, and consider IT Security one of my foundational skills. I’m sharing my experience here, and I hope you find it useful.

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