Remove Security-scanner.xyz Pop-up Virus — How to Remove?

Written by Wilbur Woodham
Security-scanner.xyz pop-up alerts can show up out of the blue, covering the content of the website you went to or opening your web browser when you do not wish it to be opened.

Clicking on the Security-scanner.xyz promotion may trigger the injection of other malware or unwanted programs. In this guide, you will see the guideline of Security-scanner.xyz popups clearing in various manners, as well as checking your system for other malware presence.

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What are Security-scanner.xyz pop-ups?

Security-scanner.xyz popups are a consequence of adware activity. Adware is a type of malware that suggests you the pay-per-view of pay-per-click ads, which creates a massive volume of income for adware suppliers. These ads may contain 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 money.

Security-scanner.xyz push notification

Security-scanner.xyz push notification.

Pop-up marketing itself is a very good, cheap and really productive advertising solution1. It permits the seller to link the buyers’ interest to their site, as well as the customers to get the dynamic updates on the goods they intend to purchase. When the person will get a pop-up alert that the TV set he wishes to buy is available at the online shop he/she saw earlier with a 15% price cut, one will undoubtedly use this chance and get it. Taking into consideration the extremely small cost for the popups and their targeting, such an advertising and marketing instrument is a favorite thing amongst the marketing teams of huge internet retail stores.

Nevertheless, such a successful plan could not be missed by malware developers. Option to demonstrate the popup ads forcibly to the victims of malware invasion is a perfect basis for malevolent tricks with the popup ads. And Security-scanner.xyz advertisements is one of hundreds that are “employed” in this scheme.

Here is a details for the Security-scanner.xyz site
SiteSecurity-scanner.xyz
HostingAS24940 Hetzner Online GmbH
Germany, Berlin
Infection TypeAdware, Push notifications, Unwanted Ads, Pop-up Ads
IP Address168.119.150.62
SymptomsAnnoying pop-up ads in the right corner.
Similar behaviorEfortowatchs, Naijawide, Mateyhecrie
Fix Tool
To remove possible virus infections, try to scan your PC

How have I got the Security-scanner.xyz virus?

There are a number of methods of getting infected by the adware that trigger the Security-scanner.xyz popups storm. A lion’s part of this malware cases is after the freeware or cracked programs, that are distributed on the peering networks. Free software can additionally be downloaded from the official site, and the adware is supplied as a legit bundled program.

There is no need to blame yourself. A plenty of individuals often use the uncertain programs from untrusted providers: abandonware, various utilities that are free of cost, or even hacked programs. All of these sorts of software are risky, since it is quite easy to integrate a Security-scanner.xyz malware under the cover of part of the license hacking script, or as a component of the self-made algoritm inside of the Windows optimization tool.

Security-scanner.xyz popup virus may likewise be concealed in the promotion somewhere on the odd web page. Such websites are typically full of colorful and blinking advertisements, and their proprietors generally accept any type of promos to be posted on their web page. Thus, clicking on such banners is a risky thing: only the ad contractor knows what will occur when you click this ad. Besides some “light” viruses, like adware or undesirable programs, you can additionally get something far more risky, 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

Potentially unwanted applications, like Security-scanner.xyz popup virus may cause a wide range of troubles on your computer. Distracting is not the only problem – pop-ups can show you the promotions, where you are offered to download another unknown program, or “a perfect security tool”. Scareware is often distributed under the last motto. Potentially undesirable programs, in turn, can have spyware functionality. And it is very hard to distinguish the unwanted app from a normal one, if you don’t know the exact names. Besides the potentially unwanted programs and fake antiviruses, popup-related advertisements are also exploited as a distribution method by various trojan viruses, for example – coin miners. The consequences of activity of such malware is 100% unpleasant, and can cost you hundreds of dollars. And even if you are not interacting with these ads, they can be clicked by someone who also uses your PC – parents, children, spouse, etc. So the things can become much more serious, and it will be much harder to deal with it without information loss. It is recommended to eliminate the viruses with antivirus programs as soon as possible.

How can I get rid of Security-scanner.xyz pop-up advertisements?

The manual of Security-scanner.xyz adware clearing contains 2 sections. First, we need to eliminate the malware, and then deal with the results of its activity. The elimination process is pretty easy, because it can be done even with the use of Microsoft Defender – security tool that is present on all personal computers with Windows 8/10. Nonetheless, because of its large resources utilization, as well as some bugs that can be crucial for some kinds of users, Defender is often turned off by the users, so its use is likely impossible. In addition, different trojan viruses can disable the embedded antivirus. It is much better to make use of the separated program that will not have such exposures.

I’d suggest you to utilize Gridinsoft Anti-Malware2 – a well-proven antivirus device that will certainly exterminate the malware from your personal computer and also create an impenetrable shield with a Proactive protection function. However, let’s deal with Security-scanner.xyz adware first.

Removing Security-scanner.xyz 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 Security-scanner.xyz 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 make sure that your browser will be connected the proper DNS while connecting to the site you want. Make a text file named “hosts” on your desktop, after that 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 trouble that makes the things a lot harder to restore, especially without the anti-malware software. Most of adware variants that are used to show you the Security-scanner.xyz pop-up advertisements are altering the deep browser settings, disabling an access to the settings tab. So, if you try to change 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 pressing the “settings” key. Browser will stop reacting for ~ 30 seconds, 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 Security-scanner.xyz Pop-ups?

Name: Security-scanner.xyz

Description: Security-scanner.xyz - 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 Security-scanner.xyz push notifications?” or “why do Security-scanner.xyz pop-ups keep appearing on Chrome even after AdBlock installation?”. In this article we will show you how to deal with Security-scanner.xyz 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 advertisements on Wikipedia.
  2. GridinSoft Anti-Malware overview and also the reasons why I suggest 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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