Remove StarContent Pop-up Virus — How to Remove?

“StarContent Surf” pop-up notices can show up out of the blue, covering the content of the page you went to or opening your browser when you don’t desire it to be opened. Clicking on the StarContent pop-up advertisement may trigger the injection of different malware or unwanted programs. In this guide, you will see the manual of StarContent popups clearing in various methods, as well as examining your personal computer for extra viruses presence.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

Removing StarContent 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.

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What are StarContent pop-ups?

StarContent popups are an effect of adware action. Adware is a kind of malware that shows you the pay-per-view of pay-per-click ads, which generates a massive amount of revenue for adware distributors. These promotions might consist of sometimes shocking composition, or have a web link to harmful content/website since adware maintainers have no reason to examine the goodness of the web content they are going to show – their single target is cash.

StarContent push notification.

Pop-up advertising itself is an excellent, low-priced and extremely productive marketing method¹ It allows the seller to link the buyers’ attention to their website, as well as the buyers to get the dynamic updates on the goods they intend to purchase. When the customer will get a pop-up notification that the TV set he desires to buy is available at the online store he/she saw previously with a 15% price cut, one will surely use this chance and buy it. Considering the very small cost for the popups and their targeting, such an advertising instrument is a much-loved thing amidst the advertising teams of big online stores.

Nevertheless, such a profitable scheme could not be missed by malware creators. Option to demonstrate the popup ads by force to the victims of malware invasion is an ideal basis for malevolent adjustments with the popup advertisements. And Starcontent promotions are among hundreds that are “employed” in this system.

Here is a short summary for the StarContent

How have I got the StarContent virus?

There are a plenty of methods of getting contaminated by the adware that trigger the StarContent popups storm. A lion’s part of this malware incidents is after the freeware or cracked programs, that are spread on the peering networks. Freeware may likewise be downloaded from the official site, and the adware is supplied as a legit bundled program.

There is no need to blame yourself. A huge amount of users frequently make use of the uncertain programs from untrusted sources: abandonware, a wide range of utilities that are free, or even hacked programs. Every one of these sorts of programs are risky, due to the fact that it is quite easy to build in a StarContent malware under the cover of part of the license hacking script, or as a component of the self-made algoritm within the Windows optimization tool.

StarContent popup malware can likewise be hidden in the promotion somewhere on the odd web page. Such web pages are in most cases packed with intense and blinking ads, and their owners typically permit any promos to be placed on their web page. Therefore, clicking on such banners is a shot in the dark: only the ad contractor realizes what will happen when you press this ad. Besides some “light” viruses, like adware or unwanted programs, you may likewise get something far more damaging, like ransomware or coin miner; the big share of coin miners circulation is exactly after the malicious promotions.

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

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

The tutorial of StarContent adware elimination consists of 2 parts. Initially, we need to get rid of the malware, and after that deal with the effects of its activity. The elimination task is really simple, due to the fact that it can be done even by making use of Microsoft Defender – security software that is present on all computers with Windows 8/10. However, due to its huge resource usage, along with some defects that may be pivotal for some kinds of users, Defender is frequently turned off by the users, so its use is probably impossible. Moreover, a variety of trojan viruses are able to turn off the embedded antivirus. It is better to use a separate program that will not have such vulnerabilities.

I’d advise you to use Gridinsoft Anti-Malware² – a well-proven security tool that will definitely wipe out the malware from your system and create an impenetrable shield with a Proactive protection feature. But let’s take care of StarContent adware initially.

Removing StarContent 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.

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

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. 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 browser will definitely connect the correct DNS while connecting to the site you need. Make a text file titled “hosts” on your pc’s desktop, then open it and fill it with the following lines³:

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 variations that are used to show you the StarContent pop-up promotions are changing the deep browser setups, disabling an access to the settings tab. So, if you attempt to fix your browser settings after your machine was infected by pop-up-related malware, your browser will certainly 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 secs, and then it will be back to the normal, up until you attempt to open settings once 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.

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.

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 StarContent Pop-ups?

Name: StarContent

Description: StarContent - 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 Starcontent.surf push notifications?” or “why do Starcontent.surf pop-ups keep appearing on Chrome even after AdBlock installation?”. In this article we will show you how to deal with StarContent 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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1. More about pop-up advertisements on Wikipedia.
2. GridinSoft Anti-Malware overview and also the reasons why I recommend it for malware elimination.
3. Official Microsoft guide for hosts file reset.