How to remove Windows.net pop-ups? — Fix Guide

Windows.net pop-up notices may show up out of the blue, covering the post of the page you went to or opening your web browser when you do not need it to be opened.

Clicking the Windows.net promotion can result in the injection of various malware or unwanted programs. In this guide, you will see the guide of Windows.net popups removal in various methods, as well as checking your computer for other viruses existence.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

Removing Windows.net 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 Windows.net pop-ups?

Windows.net popups are an outcome of adware activity. Adware is a type of malware that suggests you the pay-per-view of pay-per-click advertisements, which generates a substantial volume of profit for adware representatives. These advertisements may consist of explicit information, or have a web link to malevolent content/website, since adware maintainers have no reason to check the goodness of the web content they are going to reveal – their solitary target is cash.

Windows.net push notification.

Pop-up promotions itself is an excellent, low-cost and very successful marketing instrument¹. It enables the seller to attach the customers’ attention to their website, as well as the buyers to receive the dynamic updates on the goods they wish to buy. When the customer will get a pop-up notification that the TV set he desires to purchase is available at the online shop he/she checked out earlier with a 15% discount, one will surely use this chance and get it. Taking into consideration the extremely low cost for the popups and their targeting, such an advertising and marketing method is a much-loved thing amongst the marketing teams of large internet sellers.

Nevertheless, such a successful plan could not be missed by malware developers. Option to show the popup advertisements forcibly to the victims of malware invasion is a great basis for malicious tricks with the popup ads. And Windows.net ads is one of hundreds that are “employed” in this scheme.

Here is a short details for the Windows.net site

How have I got the Windows.net virus?

There are a huge amount of ways of getting infected by the adware that lead to the Windows.net popups tornado. A lion’s part of this virus cases is after the freeware or cracked programs, that are distributed on the peering networks. Free software can also be downloaded from the official web page, and the adware is provided as a legit bundled program.

There is no need to blame yourself. A number of people often use the unreliable programs from untrusted providers: abandonware, different apps that are free, and even hacked programs. Every one of these sorts of programs are unsafe, because it is quite easy to integrate a Windows.net 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.

Windows.net popup virus may likewise be concealed in the promotion somewhere on the unusual website. Such websites are in most cases filled with colorful and blinking advertisements, and their proprietors typically approve any type of promos to be placed on their page. Hence, clicking such banners is a shot in the dark: only the ad contractor knows what will happen when you press this ad. Besides some “light” viruses, like adware or unwanted programs, you can also get something far more risky, like ransomware or coin miner; the substantial share of coin miners circulation is exactly after the malicious advertisements.

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

Potentially unwanted applications, like Windows.net popup virus may cause a variety of different problems on your computer. Distracting is not the single effect – pop-up notifications can present you the promotions, where you are offered to download one more dubious application, or “a amazing anti-malware tool”. Scareware is usually distributed with the last motto. Potentially unwanted programs, in turn, may have spyware functionality. And it is pretty hard to distinguish the unwanted app from a legit one, if you don’t know the exact names. Besides the PUPs and pseudo antiviruses, popup-related banners are also used as a spreading method by various trojan viruses, for instance – coin miners. The consequences of activity of such viruses is 100% unwanted, and can cost you hundreds of dollars. And even if you are not clicking these advertisements, they can be clicked by someone who also uses your computer – parents, children, spouse, etc. So the things may become much more serious, and it will be much harder to solve it without data and money loss. It is recommended to wipe out the viruses with anti-malware programs as soon as possible.

How can I get rid of Windows.net pop-up advertisements?

The tutorial of Windows.net adware clearing consists of 2 sections. First, we need to remove the malware, and afterwards fix the results of its action. The elimination process is very simple, because it can be done even with making use of Microsoft Defender – security program that is available on all personal computers with Windows 8/10. However, as a result of its significant resources usage, as well as some problems that can be pivotal for some groups of users, Defender is often disabled by the users, so its usage is most likely impossible. What’s more, a variety of trojan viruses are capable to disable the embedded antivirus. It is better to use the separated program that will not have such exposures.

I would certainly advise you to utilize Gridinsoft Anti-Malware² – a well-proven anti-malware tool that will surely erase the viruses from your personal computer and also create an invulnerable shield with a Proactive protection function. However, let’s take care of Windows.net adware first.

Removing Windows.net 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 Windows.net 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 browsers are reset, you need to make sure that your browser will definitely be connected the accurate DNS while connecting to the web page you need. Create a text file titled “hosts” on your pc’s desktop, after that open it and fill it with the following text³:

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 much harder to restore, specifically without the anti-malware program. Most of adware variations that are used to show you the Windows.net pop-up advertisements are modifying the deep browser setups, disabling an access to the settings tab. So, if you attempt to change your browser settings after your computer was penetrated by pop-up-related malware, your browser will certainly crash quickly. In some cases, you will see no crash, however, huge lag spike after pressing the “settings” key. Browser will stop reacting for ~ 30 secs, and then it will be back to the normal, till you attempt to open settings once more.

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 Windows.net Pop-ups?

Name: Windows.net

Description: Windows.net - 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 Windows.net push notifications?” or “why do Windows.net pop-ups keep appearing on Chrome even after AdBlock installation?”. In this article we will show you how to deal with Windows.net 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 suggest it for malware removal.
3. Official Microsoft guide for hosts file reset.