PUAAdvertising:Win32/PriceGongAds — PriceGongAds Adware Removal Guide

If you spectate the notification of PUAAdvertising:Win32/PriceGongAds detection, it seems that your PC has a problem. All malicious programs are dangerous, with no deviations. PriceGongAds fills your PC with various ads, opens your browser without your intention and makes the system prone to other malware injection.

Any kind of malware exists with the only target – make money on you¹. And the programmers of these things are not thinking of ethicality – they utilize all possible methods. Stealing your private data, getting the comission for the advertisements you watch for them, exploiting your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies – that is not the full list of what they do. Do you want to be a riding horse? That is a rhetorical question.

What does the notification with PUAAdvertising:Win32/PriceGongAds detection mean?

The PUAAdvertising:Win32/PriceGongAds detection you can see in the lower right side is displayed to you by Microsoft Defender. That anti-malware program is quite OK at scanning, but prone to be basically unreliable. It is prone to malware attacks, it has a glitchy interface and problematic malware clearing capabilities. Therefore, the pop-up which says concerning the PriceGongAds is simply a notification that Defender has actually spotted it. To remove it, you will likely need to use a separate anti-malware program.

The exact PUAAdvertising:Win32/PriceGongAds malware is a really unpleasant thing. This malware demonstrates you an unprecedented amount of commercials. Have you ever saw the doorway web pages? They are filled up only with banners – blinking, poorly designed and with strange information. Adware does the same thing to all websites you explore. That malware brings revenue to its creators in a very tricky way. You look at the banners – they receive profit. Furthermore, these banners often have deceitful and sometimes shocking content. Penis enlargement, pornography sites ads, Microsoft virus alerts – all these things are usual for adware.

Adware Summary:

Is PUAAdvertising:Win32/PriceGongAds dangerous?

Adware like PriceGongAds one is not something contrasty, compared to other advertising malware. But as it was stated, the banners it reveals to you are quite frequently loaded with phony content. Even if you can distinguish scams from adware – do you really like looking at banners for free? Particularly ones that cover your web browser window and disturb you from your working process? It seems that we actually know the reply.

How did I get this virus?

It is difficult to line the origins of malware on your computer. Nowadays, things are mixed, and distribution ways utilized by adware 5 years ago may be utilized by spyware these days. But if we abstract from the exact spreading tactic and will think about why it works, the explanation will be very simple – low level of cybersecurity understanding. People press on ads on weird websites, click the pop-ups they receive in their browsers, call the “Microsoft tech support” assuming that the odd banner that states about malware is true. It is very important to understand what is legit – to prevent misunderstandings when attempting to figure out a virus.

Nowadays, there are two of the most extensive ways of malware distribution – lure e-mails and also injection into a hacked program. While the first one is not so easy to avoid – you need to know a lot to recognize a fake – the 2nd one is easy to handle: just do not utilize cracked programs. Torrent-trackers and other providers of “totally free” applications (which are, in fact, paid, but with a disabled license checking) are really a giveaway point of malware. And PUAAdvertising:Win32/PriceGongAds is just amongst them.

How to remove the PUAAdvertising:Win32/PriceGongAds from my PC?

Adware like PriceGongAds is pretty easy to remove manually. Nevertheless, it is not so simple to turn back the system alterations it did in the process of the activity. Because a number of various system components are touched, it is very easy to miss something. That’s why I ‘d advise you to utilize anti-malware tool. My pick for adware removal is GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

Why GridinSoft Anti-Malware? It is really light-weight and has its databases updated just about every hour. Moreover, it does not have such bugs and exposures as Microsoft Defender does. The combination of these aspects makes GridinSoft Anti-Malware suitable for getting rid of malware of any kind.

Remove the viruses 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.

• 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 PriceGongAds the default option is “Delete”. Press “Apply” to finish the malware removal.

Reset Browser settings after the adware attack

Adware makes a lot to keep annoying you even after being removed from your computer. It distorts the browser configurations, so it will not work correctly. Until you reset it, of course. Each browser has its own way to restore the default settings. Here are the guides for the most popular ones:

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 browsers are reset, you need to make sure that your browser will be connected the proper DNS while connecting to the web page you need. Make a text file named “hosts” on your desktop, after that open it and fill it with the following content²:


# 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.

Reset Browser settings with GridinSoft Anti-Malware

GridinSoft Anti-Malware offers its own way to reset the browsers. With the help of this program, you can reset all your browsers in just several clicks. It also resets the HOSTS file automatically, so you don’t need to make any excessive actions. To reset your browser with GridinSoft Anti-Malware, open the Tools tab, and click the “Reset browser settings” button.

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.

1. Read about malware types on GridinSoft Threat encyclopedia.
2. Official Microsoft guide for hosts file reset.