Prize-winner-ko2d.live Ads Removal Guide — How to Fix It?

Written by Wilbur Woodham

Unwanted Prize-winner-ko2d.live pop-up notifications may appear unexpectedly, covering the post of the page you visited or opening your web browser when you don’t want it to be opened. Clicking on the Prize-winner-ko2d.live pop-up advertisement can lead to the injection of other malware or unwanted programs. In this post, you will see the guideline of Prize-winner-ko2d.live popups removal in a couple of methods, and also examining your PC for additional viruses presence.

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What are Prize-winner-ko2d.live pop-ups?

Prize-winner-ko2d.live popups are an outcome of adware presence. Adware is a sort of malware that demonstrates to you the pay-per-view of pay-per-click ads, which generates a large amount of earnings for adware distributors. These advertisements might consist of sometimes shocking material, or have a link to malevolent content/website, considering that adware maintainers have no reason to inspect the goodness of the web content they are going to show – their single target is cash.

Prize-winner-ko2d.live push notification

Prize-winner-ko2d.live push notification.

Pop-up advertising itself is a very good, cheap and really effective advertising solution1 It permits the seller to link the customers’ attention to their site, and the customers to receive the dynamic updates on the goods they wish to purchase. When the customer will receive a pop-up notification that the TV set he desires to buy is available at the online store he/she checked out previously with a 15% discount, one will certainly use this possibility and get it. Taking into consideration the exceptionally low price for the popups and their targeting, such an advertising instrument is a much-loved thing amidst the advertising departments of large online sellers.

Nonetheless, such a profitable scheme could not be missed by virus developers. Potential to demonstrate the popup advertisements by force to the victims of malware attack is a perfect basis for evil-minded adjustments with the popup advertisements. And Prize-winner-ko2d.live advertisements is just one of hundreds that are “employed” in this system.

Here is a details for the Prize-winner-ko2d.live
SitePrize-winner-ko2d.live
HostingAS209813 Fast Content Delivery LTD
Netherlands, Haarlem
Infection TypeAdware, Push notifications, Unwanted Ads, Pop-up Ads
IP Address5.8.47.58
SymptomsAnnoying pop-up ads in the right corner.
Similar behaviorWolve.pro, Nistartedwo.biz, Rkingasann.biz
Fix Tool
To remove possible virus infections, try to scan your PC

How have I got the Prize-winner-ko2d.live virus?

There are a number of methods of getting infected by the adware that lead to the Prize-winner-ko2d.live popups tornado. A lion’s part of this computer virus instances is after the free software or cracked programs, that are spread on the peering networks. Freeware may additionally be downloaded from the main website, and the adware is supplied as a legitimate bundled program.

There is no need to blame yourself. A plenty of people regularly use the uncertain programs from untrusted sources: abandonware, a wide range of apps that are free of cost, or even hacked programs. All of these sorts of software are unsafe, because it is very easy to build in a Prize-winner-ko2d.live malware under the cover of part of the license hacking script, or as a part of the self-made algoritm inside of the Windows optimization tool.

Prize-winner-ko2d.live popup malware can likewise be concealed in the promotion somewhere on the odd web page. Such sites are in most cases full of bright and blinking advertisements, and their proprietors typically permit any promos to be published on their web page. For this reason, clicking on such banners is a shot in the dark: only the ad contractor realizes what will occur when you click this advertisement. Besides some “light” viruses, like adware or unwanted programs, you can likewise receive something far more threatening, like ransomware or coin miner; the substantial 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

How can I get rid of Prize-winner-ko2d.live pop-up advertisements?

The guide of Prize-winner-ko2d.live adware clearing consists of 2 sections. Initially, we need to exterminate the malware, and afterwards correct the results of its activity. The removal task is really simple, due to the fact that it can be performed even with using Microsoft Defender – anti-malware program that is present on all computers with Windows 8/10. Nonetheless, as a result of its substantial resources consumption, as well as some problems that can be critical for some categories of individuals, Defender is oftentimes turned off by the users, so its usage is likely impossible. Additionally, various trojan viruses are capable to shut off the embedded antivirus. It is much better to use the separated program that will not have such weakness.

I would certainly suggest you to utilize Gridinsoft Anti-Malware2 – a well-proven antivirus tool that will certainly erase the viruses from your system and also make an invulnerable shield with a Proactive protection feature. However, let’s handle Prize-winner-ko2d.live adware first.

Removing Prize-winner-ko2d.live 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 Prize-winner-ko2d.live 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 definitely be connected the accurate DNS while connecting to the website you want. Make a text file titled “hosts” on your computer’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.

However, there is one problem that makes things much harder to fix, particularly without the anti-malware software. The majority of adware versions that are utilized to show you the Prize-winner-ko2d.live pop-up advertisements are changing the deep browser setups, disabling an access to the settings tab. So, if you try to change your browser settings after your machine was penetrated by pop-up-related malware, your browser will collapse soon. Sometimes, you will see no crash, however, huge lag spike after pushing the “settings” key. Browser will stop responding for ~ 30 secs, and after that it will be back to the typical, until you try to open settings again.

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 Prize-winner-ko2d.live Pop-ups?

Name: Prize-winner-ko2d.live

Description: Prize-winner-ko2d.live - 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 Prize-winner-ko2d.live push notifications?” or “why do Prize-winner-ko2d.live pop-ups keep appearing on Chrome even after AdBlock installation?”. In this article we will show you how to deal with Prize-winner-ko2d.live 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 removal.
  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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