Remove MyDesktopDefender Pop-up Virus — How to Remove?

MyDesktopDefender pop-up notices may show up out of the blue, covering the content of the site you checked or opening your web browser when you do not wish it to be opened.

Clicking the MyDesktopDefender ad may cause the injection of different malware or unwanted programs. In this guide, you will see the guide of MyDesktopDefender popups clearing in a couple of methods, and also inspecting your personal computer for extra viruses presence.

What are MyDesktopDefender pop-ups?

MyDesktopDefender popups are a consequence of adware activity. Adware is a kind of malware that presents you the pay-per-view of pay-per-click promotions, which produces a major volume of profit for adware suppliers. These ads might consist of sometimes shocking content, or have a link to malicious content/website, considering that adware maintainers have no reason to check the goodness of the material they are going to reveal – their single target is cash.

MyDesktopDefender push notification.

Pop-up promotions itself is an excellent, cheap and extremely effective marketing instrument¹. It allows the seller to link the customers’ interest to their website, as well as the customers to get the dynamic updates on the goods they wish to buy. When the person will get a pop-up alert that the TV set he wishes to buy is offered at the online store he/she checked out previously with a 15% discount, one will surely use this possibility and buy it. Taking into consideration the incredibly small cost for the popups and their targeting, such a marketing tool is a much-loved thing amongst the marketing departments of large internet retail stores.

Nonetheless, such a rewarding plan could not be missed by virus creators. Potential to show the popup ads forcibly to the people of malware invasion is a perfect basis for evil-minded adjustments with the popup promotions. And Mydesktopdefender.com ads is among hundreds that are “employed” in this system.

Here is a info for the MyDesktopDefender

How have I got the MyDesktopDefender virus?

There are a lot of methods of getting infected by the adware that cause the MyDesktopDefender popups storm. A lion’s part of this computer virus cases is after the freeware or cracked programs, that are spread on the peering networks. Freeware can likewise be downloaded from the official web page, and the adware is delivered as a legal bundled program.

There is no need to blame yourself. A huge amount of individuals oftentimes use the dubious programs from untrusted providers: abandonware, a wide range of apps that are free of cost, and even hacked programs. Every one of these types of programs are risky, because it is very easy to include a MyDesktopDefender malware under the guise of part of the license hacking script, or as a part of the self-made algoritm within the Windows optimization tool.

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

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

The tutorial of MyDesktopDefender adware clearing includes 2 parts. Initially, we need to deal with the malware, and then take care of the consequences of its action. The removal process is quite easy, since it can be performed even with making use of Microsoft Defender – anti-virus tool that is available on all personal computers with Windows 8/10. However, because of its substantial resources consumption, as well as some failures that may be pivotal for some types of individuals, Defender is often turned off by the users, so its usage is likely impossible. Additionally, a wide range of trojan viruses can turn off the embedded antivirus. It is much better to use the separated program that will not have such weakness.

• 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.

• When the scan is over, you may choose the action for each detected virus. For all files of MyDesktopDefender malware the default option is “Delete”. Press “Apply” to finish the malware removal.

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. 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. In the next screen, find the “Refresh Firefox” option :

After choosing this option, you will see the next message :

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 ensure that your web browser will be connected the accurate DNS while connecting to the web page you need. Create a text file titled “hosts” on your computer’s desktop, after that open it and fill it with the following text³:

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.

Nonetheless, there is one trouble that makes the things a lot more difficult to repair, particularly without the anti-malware software. A lot of adware versions that are utilized to show you the MyDesktopDefender pop-up advertisements are modifying the deep browser setups, disabling an access to the settings tab. So, if you attempt to change your browser settings after your PC was penetrated by pop-up-related malware, your browser will collapse soon. In certain cases, you will see no crash, but large lag spike after pressing the “settings” key. Browser will stop reacting for ~ 30 seconds, and then it will be back to the normal, until you try to open settings again.

1. More about pop-up advertisements on Wikipedia.
2. Official Microsoft guide for hosts file reset.