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  • Active
  • Severity: Medium
  • Adware
  • Windows, Mac
  • Verified · Feb 2020

How to remove ClickPotato

A step-by-step removal guide for affected devices. Follow the verified procedure below — most readers complete it in under 10 minutes.

Jake Doevan · Computer technology expert

ClickPotato – an adware app that appears on computers with third-party software such as the VLC media player and Xvid codec

ClickPotato adware

ClickPotato, sponsored by Pinball Corporation, is an adware app that can bring other PUPs[1] such as HotBar, ShopperReport, and Zwangi to the computer. The adware drops pop-ups that encourage users to install some type of Movie Codec tool to watch a movie. According to Microsoft, this type of suspicious product mostly infects web browsers such as Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox but can also appear on other browsing apps such as Chrome, Edge, and Safari. Also, ClickPotato virus can bring the ClickPotatoLiteSA.exe process to the computer system and include it in the Windows Task Manager.

It is known that ClickPotato can get downloaded together with other free software such as Xvid codec, VLC media player, Easy Video, FLVBlaster, OpenOffice, Lime Wire, eMule, Audacity, 7zip, and ARES 2010 version. These types of programs can be downloaded from third-party downloading sources such as cnet.com, brothersoft.com, and softonic.com.

Name ClickPotato/Adware.ClickPotato
Type Adware app/potentially unwanted program
Sponsor Pinball Corporation
Goal This suspicious app provides movie-watching offers that can be accepted by installing some type of Movie Codec tool
Other apps During the installation process, the PUP can appear together with other adware apps such as HotBar, ShopperReport, and Zwangi
Bundling The app can come bundled with third-party products such as VLC media player, Xvid codec, Easy Video, OpenOffice, Lime Wire, Audacity, FLVBlaster, ARES 2010 version, and 7zip
Related file When the adware appears on the computer system, it can bring the ClickPotatoLiteSA.exe process and place it in the Windows Task Manager
Elimination You can get rid of the potentially unwanted program with the help of reliable antimalware software or by using the manual step-by-step guide that has been added to the end of this article
Fix software If you have discovered any altered areas on your computer, you can try repairing them with FortectIntego

Adware.ClickPotato can arrive as a browser helper object[2] to your Internet Explorer web browser or as a plug-in on Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and others. Afterward, you are very likely to get loaded with offers to watch some types of movies by downloading the Movie Codec tool. You should not follow this type of suggestion as you cannot know what type of virus you might install on your computer system.

Some users claim that they have been encountering trouble while trying to uninstall ClickPotato from their machines. One person complains that he is not able to get rid of the program even while logging into the administrative profile.[3] This is the type of message that he receives:

Sorry, you don't have the right permissions to complete this action. Please contact the administrator of this computer in order to continue.

Watching movies online for free is a common and highly desired activity for most Internet users. Thus, Click Potato might catch your attention. This program is a potentially unwanted program deemed as adware. It works as an add-on which imprints its toolbar into the browser. It offers users to access the movie streaming website instantly.

Nonetheless, this program might cause more disturbances rather than benefits as it aims to bring profit for the developers only. Find out more about the drawbacks and possible ClickPotato removal options in the following sections of this article.

ClickPotato virus

Searching for a website where you can watch movies online comprises a significant part of the majority of users’ online activities. Thus, the scammers, being aware of this demand, have created this PUP offering such utility. However, this program would not have caused suspicion for IT specialists if not for its excessive advertising. The popping-ads of ClickPotato redirect you to possibly malicious websites.

You might often find yourself on gaming or other movie streaming websites. If you scan your computer after such visits, it might reveal that there are several PUPs residing on your computer. On their behalf, they might supply you with more ClickPotato ads. The emerging advertisements might exceed your patience limits even if you boast about being the most patient person.

Furthermore, ClickPotato might warn you in an additional pop-up window that it tends to collect the information about your commonly visited domains, browsing frequency, and geographical information. Are you wondering who might benefit from this type of activity? Such a compilation of data is of high value for advertising companies that use the gathered information for generating relevant advertisements.

Since they processed the information and identified what is relevant and intriguing for certain groups of users, they try to attract as much attention as possible with their pay-per-click ads. The third-parties which get a hold of your data receive income while you get a vivid stream of commercial offers and banners flooding your browser. Thus, the sooner you remove ClickPotato, the better. 

ClickPotato

If ClickPotato has appeared only on a couple of untrustworthy networks and websites, there might be no infection residing on your device. To check this possibility, perform a full system scan and view the results. If your AV tool does not find any adware in your system, you can try blocking the incoming ads with the help of AdBlock[4] or Adblock Plus.

However, if the scan results reveal that ClickPotato is an adware program hiding in your computer system, you should definitely remove the app and all the additional products that it might have brought. Also, if you have spotted some altered areas on your Windows or Mac computer system, try repairing them with the help of FortectIntego.

The transmission of adware programs

Cybersecurity specialists from LesVirus.fr[5] claim that adware viruses are delivered by employing stealth distribution techniques. The most simple way to receive a potentially unwanted program is by downloading freeware and shareware from an unsecured third-party downloading source such as cnet.com, download.com, or softonic.com.

This mostly happens to people who download various VLC players, download managers, PDF converters, and similar products without paying enough attention to the downloading process. So, once you are installing a piece of software, you have to look at each step and opt-out of unknown additional products that you are prompted to download. Besides, always choose the custom or advanced downloading mode only as this one allows you to control all of your incoming products.

Furthermore, adware apps can get delivered as fake flash player updates. If you are browsing on some type of questionable website and you are suddenly provided with an update request, do not rush to agree. Most of the time, update offers will not pop out of anywhere, so you should check if the message is an original one. For this purpose, go to the product's official website and check the latest update releases.

To add, we want to warn you that PUPs such as adware can also be spread through infectious hyperlinks and advertisements that can be placed anywhere on the Internet. For safety, always close all suspicious pages that you have entered, avoid clicking on everything that you see, and download reliable antimalware software that will alert if there is something suspicious waiting ahead.

Get rid of ClickPotato quickly and effectively

ClickPotato virus might show various signs of infection, you just have to recognize them. When the adware appears, you will likely see an increased number of advertisements, constant redirecting, and changes in your web browser settings such as the homepage and new tab URL. This is an accurate sign that you need to speed up the adware elimination process.

To initiate ClickPotato removal, you can employ proper antimalware software that will take care of the task within a few minutes. These types of tools work perfectly for those who lack the required experience in the adware elimination field or just have been running into a lack of time lately. Nevertheless, reliable antivirus products will make sure that all adware-related components have been successfully eliminated and the PUP will not reappear on your computer screen.

However, you can still remove ClickPotato on your own, if you want to. Even though this process requires more of the user's effort, it can still be successful if you know what you are doing. Below we have provided some instructions in order to guide you through this process. Check out the following lines and learn how to uninstall the adware from your Windows, Mac operating system and web browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, and others.

Uninstall from Windows

Uninstall from Windows 10/8:

  1. Type Control Panel into the Windows search box and open the result.
  2. Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.Uninstall from Windows 10/8

Uninstall from Windows 7/XP:

  1. Click on Windows Start > Control Panel (Windows XP users should click on Add/Remove Programs).
  2. In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program.Uninstall from Windows 7/XP

Remove the unwanted program:

  1. In the Programs and Features window, look for any recently installed suspicious entries, select them, and click Uninstall.
  2. If User Account Control appears, click Yes to confirm, then complete the removal.Uninstall the unwanted program from Windows

Delete from macOS

Remove the unwanted application:

  1. From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
  2. In the Applications folder, look for any suspicious entries, then drag them to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash).Uninstall from Mac

Delete leftover files and folders:

  1. Select Go > Go to Folder.
  2. Enter /Library/Application Support and remove any suspicious folders related to the unwanted program.
  3. Repeat the same check in the /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders, deleting any suspicious entries.Delete leftover files from Mac
  4. Finally, empty the Trash to permanently remove the leftovers.

Reset Internet Explorer

Remove dangerous add-ons:

  1. Open Internet Explorer, click on the Gear icon (IE menu) on the top-right corner of the browser
  2. Pick Manage Add-ons.
  3. You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for suspicious plugins. Click on these entries and select Disable.Remove add-ons from Internet Explorer

Change your homepage if it was altered:

  1. Open IE and click on the Gear icon.
  2. Select Internet Options.
  3. In the General tab, delete the Home page address and replace it by your preferred one (for example, Google.com).
  4. Click Apply and then select OK.Reset IE homepage

Delete temporary files:

  1. Press on the Gear icon and select Internet Options.
  2. Under Browsing history, click Delete...
  3. Select relevant fields and press Delete.Clear temporary files from Internet Explorer

Reset Internet Explorer:

  1. Click on Gear icon > Internet options and select Advanced tab.
  2. Select Reset.
  3. In the new window, check Delete personal settings and select Reset.Reset Internet Explorer

Remove from Microsoft Edge

Delete unwanted extensions from MS Edge:

  1. Select Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and pick Extensions.
  2. From the list, pick the extension and click on the Gear icon.
  3. Click Remove.Remove extensions from Edge

Clear cookies and other browser data:

  1. Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Settings > Privacy, search, and services..
  2. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
  3. Select Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files. (apart from passwords, although you might want to include Media licenses as well, if applicable) and click on Clear.Clear Edge browsing data

Restore new tab and homepage settings:

  1. Click the menu icon and choose Settings.
  2. Then find On startup section.
  3. Click Remove next to any suspicious startup page.

Reset MS Edge if the above steps did not work:

  1. Press on Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
  2. Click on More details arrow at the bottom of the window.
  3. Select Details tab.
  4. Now scroll down and locate every entry with Microsoft Edge name in it. Right-click on each of them and select End Task to stop MS Edge from running.Reset MS Edge

Instructions for Chromium-based Edge

Delete extensions from MS Edge (Chromium):

  1. Open Edge and click select Settings > Extensions.
  2. Delete unwanted extensions by clicking Remove.Remove extensions from Chromium Edge

Clear cache and site data:

  1. Click on Menu and go to Settings.
  2. Select Privacy, search and services.
  3. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
  4. Under Time range, pick All time.
  5. Select Clear now.Clear browser data from Chroum Edge

Reset Chromium-based MS Edge:

  1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
  2. On the left side, pick Reset settings.
  3. Select Restore settings to their default values.
  4. Confirm with Reset.
  5. This will disable extensions and reset startup pages but will not delete bookmarks, saved passwords, or browsing history.Reset Chromium Edge

Remove from Mozilla Firefox (FF)

Remove dangerous extensions:

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click on the Menu (three horizontal lines at the top-right of the window).
  2. Select Add-ons.
  3. In here, select the unwanted extension and click Remove.Remove extensions from Firefox

Reset the homepage:

  1. Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
  2. Choose Settings.
  3. Under Home, set your preferred homepage and new tab settings.

Clear cookies and site data:

  1. Click Menu and pick Settings.
  2. Go to Privacy & Security section.
  3. Scroll down to locate Cookies and Site Data.
  4. Click on Clear Data...
  5. Select Cookies and Site Data and Temporary cached files and pages, then click Clear.Clear cookies and site data from Firefox

Reset Mozilla Firefox

If clearing the browser as explained above did not help, reset Mozilla Firefox:

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click the Menu.
  2. Go to Help and then choose Troubleshooting Information.Reset Firefox 1
  3. Under Give Firefox a tune up section, click on Refresh Firefox...
  4. Once the pop-up shows up, confirm the action by pressing on Refresh Firefox.Reset Firefox 2

Remove from Google Chrome

Delete malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

  1. Open Google Chrome, click on the Menu (three vertical dots at the top-right corner) and select More tools > Extensions.
  2. In the newly opened window, you will see all the installed extensions. Uninstall all suspicious extensions related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.Remove extensions from Chrome

Clear cache and web data from Chrome:

  1. Click on Menu and pick Settings.
  2. Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
  3. Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
  4. Click Clear data.Clear cache and web data from Chrome

Change your homepage:

  1. Click menu and choose Settings.
  2. Look for a suspicious site in the On startup section.
  3. Click on Open a specific or set of pages and click on three dots to find the Remove option.

Reset Google Chrome:

If the previous methods did not help you, reset Google Chrome to eliminate all the unwanted components:

  1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
  2. In the Settings, scroll down and click Advanced.
  3. Scroll down and locate Reset and clean up section.
  4. Now click Restore settings to their original defaults.
  5. Confirm with Reset settings.Reset Chrome 2

Delete from Safari

Remove dangerous extensions:

  1. Open Safari, click Safari in the menu at the top-left of the screen, and select Preferences.
  2. Go to the Extensions tab, look for any suspicious entries, and click Uninstall to remove them.Remove extensions from Safari

Clear history and website data:

  1. Click Safari in the menu and pick Clear History.
  2. Set Clear to all history and confirm with Clear History.Clear history from Safari

Reset Safari:

  1. Click Safari in the menu and select Preferences > Advanced.
  2. Enable Show Develop menu in menu bar.
  3. From the menu bar, click Develop and select Empty Caches.Reset Safari

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