How to Block Putlocker Pop-ups in Chrome

Written by Wilbur Woodham
Putlocker is the name of a service that allows users to watch movies online free of charge. In fact, this streaming service is illegal and Putlocker’s website uses rogue advertising networks. Therefore, it generates pop-up ads that might cause the installation of viruses.

Clicking on the Putlocker advertisement may cause the injection of various malware or unwanted programs. In this article, you will see the guideline of Putlocker popups removal in multiple ways, as well as checking your personal computer for other viruses existence.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review
It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!
Removing Putlocker manually may take hours and may damage your PC in the process. I recommend you to download GridinSoft Anti-Malware for threats removal. Allows to complete scan and cure your PC during the trial period.
Gridinsoft Anti-Malware 6-day trial available.
EULA | Privacy Policy | 10% Off Coupon
Subscribe to our Telegram channel to be the first to know about news and our exclusive materials on information security.

What are Putlocker pop-ups?

Putlocker can be distributed by browser add-on, pop-ups, and other types of unwanted advertising. Once shown to the user, Putlocker offers to subscribe to its notifications, and, if accepted, starts to display annoying notifications about movies, TV series directly on the desktop. Among the most active domains are:

  • putlocker.ch
  • www0.putlocker.cl
  • putlocker.rs
  • putlocker.today
  • putlocker.co
  • putlocker.com
  • putlocker.vip
  • ww1.putlockerfree.sc
  • putlockers.me
  • www1.9putlocker.io
  • www8.putlockers.net
  • www5.1putlocker.io
  • www2.putlockertv.ist
  • www7.putlockers.fm
  • putlockers.care

Putlocker popups are an outcome of adware activity. Adware is a kind of malware that suggests the pay-per-view of pay-per-click promotions, which generates a major volume of revenue for adware suppliers. These ads may contain sometimes shocking material, or have a web link to harmful content/website, because adware maintainers have no reason to inspect the goodness of the material they are going to reveal – their single target is cash.

Putlocker push notification

Putlocker push notification.

Pop-up advertising itself is an excellent, low-cost and extremely efficient advertising method1. It allows the vendor to attach the customers’ attention to their website, and the customers to get the dynamic updates on the goods they wish to purchase. When the person will get a pop-up alert that the TV set he likes to buy is available at the online shop he/she visited previously with a 15% price cut, one will undoubtedly use this possibility and purchase it. Taking into consideration the incredibly low price for the popups and their targeting, such a marketing instrument is a favorite thing amongst the advertising departments of huge online sellers.

However, such a successful scheme could not be missed by malware creators. The potential to show the popup advertisements forcibly to the people of malware attack is a perfect basis for malevolent tricks with the popup advertisements. And Putlocker ads is just one of hundreds that are “employed” in this system.

Here is a summary for the Putlocker site
SiteWw1.putlocker.com
HostingAS16509 Amazon.com, Inc.
Germany, Frankfurt am Main
Infection TypeAdware, Push notifications, Unwanted Ads, Pop-up Ads
IP Address13.32.22.37
SymptomsAnnoying pop-up ads in the right corner.
Similar behaviorPorn, Bongacams, Venuedurin
Fix Tool
To remove possible virus infections, try to scan your PC

How have I got the Putlocker virus?

There are a huge amount of ways of getting infected by the adware that lead to the Putlocker popups storm. A lion’s part of this virus incidents is after the freeware or cracked programs, that are spread on the peering networks. Free software may likewise be downloaded from the official site, and the adware is provided as a legitimate bundled program.

There is no need to blame yourself. A lot of individuals frequently use the uncertain programs from untrusted sources: abandonware, a wide range of tools that are free, or even hacked programs. All of these sorts of applications are unsafe, due to the fact that it is quite easy to build in a Putlocker malware under the guise of part of the license hacking script, or as a component of the self-made algorithm within the Windows optimization tool.

Putlocker popup virus may likewise be concealed in the ad somewhere on the odd site. Such websites are usually full of colorful and blinking ads, and their owners usually accept any kind of promos to be placed on their web page. For this reason, clicking such banners is a risky thing: only the advertisement contractor knows what will happen when you click this ad. Besides some “light” viruses, like adware or undesirable programs, you may likewise get something much more threatening, like ransomware or coin miner; the large share of coin miners circulation 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 Putlocker popup virus can initiate a lot of different troubles on your computer. Distracting is not the single problem – pop-ups may present you the promotions, where you are offered to download one more strange program, or “a perfect security tool”. Scareware is often distributed with the last slogan. Potentially unwanted programs, in turn, may have spyware functions. And it is quite hard to distinguish the undesirable app from a legit one, if you don’t know the exact names. Besides the potentially unwanted programs and dubious antiviruses, popup-related ads are also exploited as a distribution way by various trojan viruses, for example – coin miners. The consequences of actions of such malware are 100% unpleasant and can cost you hundreds of dollars. And even if you are not clicking these promotions, they may be clicked by whoever also uses your computer – parents, children, spouse, etc. So the situation can become much more serious, and it will be much harder to deal with it without information loss. It is recommended to remove the viruses with antivirus programs as soon as possible.

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

The guide of Putlocker adware elimination consists of 2 parts. Initially, we need to eliminate the malware, and after that deal with the consequences of its action. The removal task is really easy, because it can be done even with the use of Microsoft Defender – anti-virus tool that is available on all computers with Windows 8/10. Nevertheless, as a result of the utilization of its significant resources, along with some bugs that can be serious for some types of users, Defender is oftentimes disabled by the users, so its usage is likely impossible. Moreover, various trojan viruses can shut off the embedded antivirus. It is much better to use the separated program that will not have such exposures.

I’d advise you to use Gridinsoft Anti-Malware2 – a well-proven antivirus tool that will definitely remove the viruses from your personal computer and also create an invulnerable cover with a Proactive protection function. However, let’s deal with Putlocker adware first.

Removing Putlocker 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 Putlocker 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 browsers are reset, you need to ensure that your web browser will definitely connect the appropriate DNS while connecting to the website you want. Create a text file named “hosts” on your pc’s desktop, after that open it and fill it with the following content3:

# 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.

Nonetheless, there is one trouble that makes things a lot more difficult to fix, especially without the anti-malware program. The majority of adware variations that are utilized to show you the Putlocker pop-up advertisements are modifying the deep browser configurations, disabling an access to the settings tab. So, if you try to fix your browser settings after your PC was penetrated by pop-up-related malware, your browser will crash quickly. In some cases, you will see no crash, but significant lag spike after pushing the “settings” key. Browser will stop responding for ~ 30 seconds, and after that it will be back to the normal, up until you attempt 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 Putlocker Pop-ups?

Name: Putlocker

Description: Putlocker - 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 Ww1.putlocker.com push notifications?” or “why do Ww1.putlocker.com pop-ups keep appearing on Chrome even after AdBlock installation?”. In this article we will show you how to deal with Putlocker 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

Sending
User Review
3.5 (6 votes)
Comments Rating 0 (0 reviews)

References

  1. More about pop-up ads on Wikipedia.
  2. GridinSoft Anti-Malware overview and also 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.

Leave a Reply

Sending