What is ClickCaption?
ClickCaption is one of those programs that have been labeled as “potentially unwanted programs” (PUPs). It is also categorized as an ‘adware’ because sometimes it seems that it was created for the only thing – affiliate marketing. You may even not understand that this program seeks to redirect you to affiliate websites when having it installed on the system because the only clear thing that it does is showing people various pop-up notifications. ‘Ads by ClickCaption’, ‘brought to your by ClickCaption’ and similar notifications may be filled with various information, such as coupons, discounts, price comparisons, etc. If you don’t want to visit unknown or suspicious website, you should avoid these ads. In addition, sometimes this program starts tracking PC users and collects various information about their browsing habits. What information is collected is a secret. Officially, ClickCaption is used to record search queries, mostly visited websites, time that people spend on each of them, data that they enter, etc. No matter that it may sound like a harmless activity, we don’t recommend you to allow it. Please, try to keep such data for yourself and avoid such programs as ClickCaption virus. In order to know how it may appear on your computer without downloading it, you should read the next paragraph.
How can ClickCaption hijack my computer?
Just like many other potentially unwanted programs, this application is spread using bundling. If you want to avoid it, the main thing that you should do is trying to be more careful when selecting and downloading programs to your computer. We highly recommend you to opt for Custom or Advanced installation option when installing such apps as download managers, PDF creators, video streaming software, etc. In addition, make sure you check what ‘optional’ components are trying to get inside your PC. If you see any mentions about ClickCaption (it may be presented as a valuable browser add-on), you should opt out of such suggestions by unchecking the check mark that says that you agree with its installation. Otherwise, you may let this program initiate various system modifications, cause unwanted slow downs, redirects and pop-up ads. If ClickCaption redirects have started bothering you, you shouldn’t ignore them because, as we have already said, they may trick you into visiting unsafe websites that may be used for spreading suspicious programs. In addition, this program may be used for tracking you and collecting personally non identifiable information. This may lead you to such inconveniences as an increased amount of spam and similar things. In order to remove ClickCaption adware from your computer, you can use these steps:
How to remove ClickCaption virus?
Technically, ClickCaption is not a virus that is capable of posing serious harm to your computer. However, it may be used for suspicious activities, like collecting personally non-identifiable data, showing commercial pop-up ads and simply causing slow downs on each of web browsers and even computer. That’s why we recommend you to remove this program from the system. You can do that with a help of these steps that are given below. As you can see the removal of Click Caption can be done with the help of manual removal method and automatic removal option. We recommend people to opt for Automatic removal option because it helps to get rid of ALL suspicious programs that may be hiding in the system.
Uninstall from Windows
Uninstall from Windows 10/8:
- Type Control Panel into the Windows search box and open the result.
- Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.
Uninstall from Windows 7/XP:
- Click on Windows Start > Control Panel (Windows XP users should click on Add/Remove Programs).
- In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program.
Remove the unwanted program:
- In the Programs and Features window, look for any recently installed suspicious entries, select them, and click Uninstall.
- If User Account Control appears, click Yes to confirm, then complete the removal.
Delete from macOS
Remove the unwanted application:
- From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
- In the Applications folder, look for any suspicious entries, then drag them to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash).
Delete leftover files and folders:
- Select Go > Go to Folder.
- Enter /Library/Application Support and remove any suspicious folders related to the unwanted program.
- Repeat the same check in the /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders, deleting any suspicious entries.
- Finally, empty the Trash to permanently remove the leftovers.
Remove from Microsoft Edge
Delete unwanted extensions from MS Edge:
- Select Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and pick Extensions.
- From the list, pick the extension and click on the Gear icon.
- Click Remove.
Clear cookies and other browser data:
- Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Settings > Privacy, search, and services..
- Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
- 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.
Restore new tab and homepage settings:
- Click the menu icon and choose Settings.
- Then find On startup section.
- Click Remove next to any suspicious startup page.
Reset MS Edge if the above steps did not work:
- Press on Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
- Click on More details arrow at the bottom of the window.
- Select Details tab.
- 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.
Instructions for Chromium-based Edge
Delete extensions from MS Edge (Chromium):
- Open Edge and click select Settings > Extensions.
- Delete unwanted extensions by clicking Remove.
Clear cache and site data:
- Click on Menu and go to Settings.
- Select Privacy, search and services.
- Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
- Under Time range, pick All time.
- Select Clear now.
Reset Chromium-based MS Edge:
- Click on Menu and select Settings.
- On the left side, pick Reset settings.
- Select Restore settings to their default values.
- Confirm with Reset.
- This will disable extensions and reset startup pages but will not delete bookmarks, saved passwords, or browsing history.
Remove from Mozilla Firefox (FF)
Remove dangerous extensions:
- Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click on the Menu (three horizontal lines at the top-right of the window).
- Select Add-ons.
- In here, select the unwanted extension and click Remove.
Reset the homepage:
- Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
- Choose Settings.
- Under Home, set your preferred homepage and new tab settings.
Clear cookies and site data:
- Click Menu and pick Settings.
- Go to Privacy & Security section.
- Scroll down to locate Cookies and Site Data.
- Click on Clear Data...
- Select Cookies and Site Data and Temporary cached files and pages, then click Clear.
Reset Mozilla Firefox
If clearing the browser as explained above did not help, reset Mozilla Firefox:
- Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click the Menu.
- Go to Help and then choose Troubleshooting Information.
- Under Give Firefox a tune up section, click on Refresh Firefox...
- Once the pop-up shows up, confirm the action by pressing on Refresh Firefox.
Remove from Google Chrome
Delete malicious extensions from Google Chrome:
- Open Google Chrome, click on the Menu (three vertical dots at the top-right corner) and select More tools > Extensions.
- In the newly opened window, you will see all the installed extensions. Uninstall all suspicious extensions related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.
Clear cache and web data from Chrome:
- Click on Menu and pick Settings.
- Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
- Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
- Click Clear data.
Change your homepage:
- Click menu and choose Settings.
- Look for a suspicious site in the On startup section.
- 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:
- Click on Menu and select Settings.
- In the Settings, scroll down and click Advanced.
- Scroll down and locate Reset and clean up section.
- Now click Restore settings to their original defaults.
- Confirm with Reset settings.
Delete from Safari
Remove dangerous extensions:
- Open Safari, click Safari in the menu at the top-left of the screen, and select Preferences.
- Go to the Extensions tab, look for any suspicious entries, and click Uninstall to remove them.
Clear history and website data:
- Click Safari in the menu and pick Clear History.
- Set Clear to all history and confirm with Clear History.
Reset Safari:
- Click Safari in the menu and select Preferences > Advanced.
- Enable Show Develop menu in menu bar.
- From the menu bar, click Develop and select Empty Caches.
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