PUP.Optional - what is this virus and how to remove it? Viruses of the PUP family. Advertising virus

An advertising virus is on the Internet a phenomenon quite common. Threats of this type can be conditionally divided into relatively safe ones (hijackers of browsers) and very dangerous ones (spies, extortionists) who are able to block the work of the system by all sorts of messages that the user viewed the prohibited content, with the subsequent demand for payment of some amount for unlocking. Sometimes they can intercept user registration data of some sites or the same social networks and even steal passwords, for example from credit cards, etc. PUP viruses belong to both. Therefore, as soon as the first signs of the introduction of such a virus and its impact on the system were observed, it is necessary to take urgent measures. But not all protection can identify it, deactivate it or remove it from the computer.

PUP.Optional: what is this virus?

Before considering the virus itself and the methods of its neutralization, it is necessary to deal with the whole group of such threats. PUP viruses are potentially unwanted programs (the English term Potentially unwanted program). That is why some applications designed to protect the personal data of the user and the computer in terms of impact on the operating system, at the stage of penetration of the threat may not determine it.

Some programs prefer to offer the user actions to choose from, and when disabled notifications of this nature, the virus can skip the protection easily (the antivirus itself believes that "potentially unwanted" does not mean "potentially dangerous" (this situation can also be observed with quite legitimate programs) ).

Threat types

If we talk about the threat under consideration, it is worth considering that there are a lot of varieties of this virus, but the most common ones are PUP.Optional.InstallCore and variations of RussAd, Distromatic, Ask, etc.

The first modification is the pure water of a browser hijacker, which, if not removed in time, can be transformed into a spy, which, besides adding a huge amount of advertising to browsers, starts actively using confidential user data. The second modification is called PUP.Optional.RussAd. What is this virus? From the first, it differs in that it deactivates the AdBlock add-on in browsers, which is responsible for blocking pop-ups, various kinds of menus, banners, etc. The add-in is disabled, instead of an icon, an empty icon appears, when clicked in the browser, a message is displayed that Web-page is unavailable.

Signs of the impact on the system

Now directly about the threat of PUP.Optional. What is this virus and how does it affect the system? Just like all the other hijackers.

First, the browser changes the start page and the default search engine, then even when visiting harmless resources the browser is filled with ads and constantly pop-up banners, spontaneously redirects to other sites, including those that contain dangerous threats, and slows down the speed of Internet connection.

But these are only the first symptoms. This adware installs additional software (usually the Search Protect by conduit and WebCake 3.00 applets) during the introduction to the computer system, and also integrates additional panels and add-ins into browsers (Babylon Toolbar or versions for a specific browser, for example, the Babylon Chrome Toolbar). Thus, the process of neutralizing the virus consists in the removal of all these components.

How do I remove an adware from my computer?

Unfortunately, most anti-virus packages (with rare exceptions) are ineffective in combating this threat.

Therefore, in the simplest case, you will have to use specialized narrow-based utilities. Malwarebytes software products, such as the fixed Anti-Malware package or the portable utility AdwCleaner, can be quite good. But the widely advertised program SpyHunter is not recommended, at least because it will be very problematic to get rid of it later.

Uninstalling with Windows

Now let's look at how to remove an adware virus from a computer system, if third-party security software in the form of scanners did not help. In Windows, you can remove the components of the PUP.Optional threat. What kind of virus it is and what additional elements have been installed is already clear.

To deactivate the threat, you should first use the standard "Task Manager", in which you need to deactivate all suspicious processes and services (no browser at this time should not be started). If the background displays processes with the name of the browser, they should also be stopped.

Further in the programs and components section in the "Control Panel" the above programs and panels are uninstalled.

To remove these components, it is better to use third-party tools like iObit Uninstaller, with the destruction of residual files and system registry keys so that you do not do this manually. When finished, you can proceed to the next step.

Clearing and resetting browser settings

As already understood, the removal of the components of the virus alone is not limited to. In installed browsers, add-ins can remain active. First of all, you should delete them in the "native" Windows program - Internet Explorer, and for users of the tenth version of the system - also in Edge. This is done from the add-on management section.

But before you need to clear the history of visits, delete the cache and clean the cookie files. It is also desirable to delete all personal data. After that, change the start page and restart the system.

For complete reliability, some experts in the field of neutralizing virus threats recommend completely reset browser settings. To do this, any program of this type uses a special reset button (Reset).

Exactly the same technique applies to other browsers. Note that if you do not perform such actions in the "native" Windows programs, the virus may become active again after a while.

For Microsoft Edge, an extended reset can be used. In the "Explorer" you need to find your user folder and go to the destination folder on the path AppData \ Local \ Packages \ Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe, in which you must remove absolutely everything that is there.

After that, on behalf of the administrator, the PowerShell console starts (the same command in the "Run" menu, the PS C: \ WINDOWS \ system32> line is first written, and then the main command Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name is entered. Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add -AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $ ($ _. InstallLocation) \ AppXManifest.xml -Verbose} Only after performing such actions it will be possible to assert with confidence that the threat has been successfully removed from the system.

Conclusion

Here, in fact, and all that concerns the threat of PUP.Optional. What kind of a virus is already clear. In the matter of its removal, alas, there is no need to rely on third-party means, so in most cases, the deactivation of the threat will have to be done independently, so be patient.