How to get rid of casino pop-ups
Illegal online casinos do not neglect any means to attract new players. One of them is the introduction of viruses that lead to pop-up ads, random opening of the casino site and other problems. You can remove them in several ways.
How are casino viruses installed?
In the vast majority of cases, the virus enters the computer when downloading unofficial software. For example, a simple video editor or OS Windows installation package. The virus silently installs on the device and launches pop-up windows, opens new browser tabs, shows ads in the notification bar.
Even Adblock does not help against such advertising of the casino. More serious measures need to be taken.
Installing antivirus software
Rather, it is a preventive method of protection that prevents the installation of a virus. After its implementation, the antivirus will not always be able to cope with the problem.
You need to download anti-virus software only from the official websites of the developers. Among the best free programs it is worth highlighting:
- Kaspersky Security Cloud Free;
- Avast Free Antivirus;
- AVG AntiVirus Free;
- Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition.
Windows 10 has built-in Microsoft Windows Defender for protection. But if the casino malware has already made its way onto the device, and the antivirus did not detect anything, you should resort to other methods.
Checking the browser shortcut
When ads appear in the browser, you need to look at the address of the launch file of the program itself. Consider the procedure using the Google Chrome browser as an example.
The user needs to right-click on the browser shortcut used on the desktop. In the new window, select the “Properties” → “Shortcut” tab. There is a field “Object” with the address of the program, which must end with .exe. If any other extension is used, then the virus has changed the startup file.
If you use a spoofed file, you need to go to the folder with Google Chrome and create a new shortcut by right-clicking on chrome.exe. The procedure is similar for other browsers.
Checking the homepage and extensions
It is possible that the malware has chosen the casino site as the start page. To check this, you need to open “Settings”, select “Launch Chrome”. The home page is displayed here. If a casino site is selected, it must be changed to a search engine or any other portal.
Also, you need to check the list of installed browser extensions that can display ads. You need to go to “Settings” and select the item with extensions. If unknown programs are installed there, they must be disabled and removed.
Checking running programs
If the above methods did not help, you need to manually check the list of active programs on the PC. To do this, the combination of Ctrl + Alt + Delete starts the Task Manager. You should look at the list of autorun and active processes, all unknown programs are removed.
In critical situations, when none of these methods helped, you need to contact a specialist. You may need to reinstall the device software.