Ads by Faster Light. How to remove? (Uninstall guide)
What is Faster Light?
Faster Light is yet another adware that pretends to be a useful tool but in reality seeks to drive visitors’ traffic to sponsored websites and increase income for third-parties. It is compatible with all web browsers, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Internet Explorer, so, as soon as you accept to install Faster Light program, you may discover it on each of these browsers. In addition, you may start seeing Faster Light ads out of nowhere that are labelled as ‘ads by Faster Light’, ‘brought to you by Faster Light’, etc. If you are seeing them at the moment, don’t worry. In this case, you need to ignore them and take needed actions to remove Faster Light virus from your computer.
This misleading app is supposed to create a path to sponsored websites, so you can never be sure if Faster Light redirects reroute you to safe websites or not. Another important fact is that this adware seeks to collect personally non-identifiable information, such as what websites do you prefer visiting, search queries that you often type, data entered, pages viewed, and so on. The problem is that such and similar adwares are known to be very vulnerable to cyber criminals. This way Faster Light cookies may be reused in order to collect sensitive data about you and you may even experience identity theft. Finally, you should hurry up to remove this plug-in because it may cause infiltration of other potentially unwanted programs by redirecting you to unsafe websites and by connecting to the Internet behind your back. If you don’t want this to happen, you should take needed actions to eliminate this potential threat from your computer. For that, we recommend using a reputable anti-spyware, such as Reimage.
How can Faster Light hijack my computer?
Faster Light is a typical adware that spreads around using ‘bundling’. Bundling is a legitimate distribution method that is not impossible without freewares. Fortunately, developers of free software have left us a chance to opt out of additional components. For that, you have to dedicate a little bit of time and attention to the installation process of a freeware. We highly recommend reading End-User’s License Agreement of the program that you need and ensure that it’s safe to use. Later, make sure that you select Advanced or Custom installation option and deselect all ‘optional downloads’, such as browser plug-ins, add-ons, toolbars or extensions. If it’s too late for the prevention of this program because Faster Light redirects and ads have already been bothering you for some time, follow the guidelines that are given down below.
Faster Light FAQ:
Question: I think I was infected by Faster Light virus because each of my search sessions is interrupted by its ads. They are very annoying and they are following me no matter what website I decide to visit. Even the reputable pages are covered by Faster Light ads. Could you help me to get rid of them?
Answer: Faster Light is not a virus. It’s just a potentially unwanted program that can be eliminated quite easily. You can select either manual removal or automatic removal option. If you are not an advanced computer user, we highly recommend using a reputable anti-spyware to remove Faster Light adware from your computer. If you still want to select manual removal method, make sure that you carefully follow every removal step to avoid additional issues.
You can remove virus damage automatically with a help of one of these programs: Reimage, Malwarebytes MalwarebytesCombo Cleaner, Plumbytes Anti-MalwareMalwarebytes Malwarebytes. We recommend these applications because they detect potentially unwanted programs and viruses with all their files and registry entries that are related to them.
To remove Faster Light ads, follow these steps:
Eliminate Faster Light from Windows systems
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Click Start → Control Panel → Programs and Features (if you are Windows XP user, click on Add/Remove Programs).
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If you are Windows 10 / Windows 8 user, then right-click in the lower left corner of the screen. Once Quick Access Menu shows up, select Control Panel and Uninstall a Program.
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Uninstall Faster Light and related programs
Here, look for Faster Light or any other recently installed suspicious programs. -
Uninstall them and click OK to save these changes.
Remove Faster Light from Mac OS X system
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If you are using OS X, click Go button at the top left of the screen and select Applications.
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Wait until you see Applications folder and look for Faster Light or any other suspicious programs on it. Now right click on every of such entries and select Move to Trash.
Uninstall Faster Light from Internet Explorer (IE)
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Remove dangerous add-ons
Open Internet Explorer, click on the Gear icon (IE menu) on the top right corner of the browser and choose Manage Add-ons. -
You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for Faster Light and other suspicious plugins. Disable these entries by clicking Disable:
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Change your homepage if it was altered by virus:
Click on the gear icon (menu) on the top right corner of the browser and select Internet Options. Stay in General tab. -
Here, remove malicious URL and enter preferable domain name. Click Apply to save changes.
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Reset Internet Explorer
Click on the gear icon (menu) again and select Internet options. Go to Advanced tab. - Here, select Reset.
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When in the new window, check Delete personal settings and select Reset again to complete Faster Light removal.
Get rid of Faster Light ads from Microsoft Edge
Reset Microsoft Edge settings (Method 1):
- Launch Microsoft Edge app and click More (three dots at the top right corner of the screen).
- Click Settings to open more options.
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Once Settings window shows up, click Choose what to clear button under Clear browsing data option.
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Here, select all what you want to remove and click Clear.
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Now you should right-click on the Start button (Windows logo). Here, select Task Manager.
- When in Processes tab, search for Microsoft Edge.
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Right-click on it and choose Go to details option. If can’t see Go to details option, click More details and repeat previous steps.
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When Details tab shows up, find every entry with Microsoft Edge name in it. Right click on each of them and select End Task to end these entries.
Resetting Microsoft Edge browser (Method 2):
If Method 1 failed to help you, you need to use an advanced Edge reset method.
- Note: you need to backup your data before using this method.
- Find this folder on your computer:
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe.
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Select every entry which is saved on it and right click with your mouse. Then Delete option.
- Click the Start button (Windows logo) and type in window power in Search my stuff line.
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Right-click the Windows PowerShell entry and choose Run as administrator.
- Once Administrator: Windows PowerShell window shows up, paste this command line after PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> and press Enter:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml -Verbose}
Once these steps are finished, Faster Light should be removed from your Microsoft Edge browser.
WindowsMac OS XInternet ExplorerMicrosoft EdgeFirefoxGoogle ChromeSafariDelete Faster Light from Mozilla Firefox (FF)
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Remove dangerous extensions
Open Mozilla Firefox, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Add-ons → Extensions. -
Here, select Faster Light and other questionable plugins. Click Remove to delete these entries.
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Reset Mozilla Firefox
Click on the Firefox menu on the top left and click on the question mark. Here, choose Troubleshooting Information. -
Now you will see Reset Firefox to its default state message with Reset Firefox button. Click this button for several times and complete Faster Light removal.
Erase Faster Light from Google Chrome
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Delete malicious plugins
Open Google Chrome, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Tools → Extensions. -
Here, select Faster Light and other malicious plugins and select trash icon to delete these entries.
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Click on menu icon again and choose Settings → Manage Search engines under the Search section.
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When in Search Engines..., remove malicious search sites. You should leave only Google or your preferred domain name.
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Reset Google Chrome
Click on menu icon on the top right of your Google Chrome and select Settings. -
Scroll down to the end of the page and click on Reset browser settings.
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Click Reset to confirm this action and complete Faster Light removal.
Eliminate Faster Light from Safari
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Remove dangerous extensions
Open Safari web browser and click on Safari in menu at the top left of the screen. Once you do this, select Preferences. -
Here, select Extensions and look for Faster Light or other suspicious entries. Click on the Uninstall button to get rid each of them.
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Reset Safari
Open Safari browser and click on Safari in menu section at the top left of the screen. Here, select Reset Safari.... -
Now you will see a detailed dialog window filled with reset options. All of those options are usually checked, but you can specify which of them you want to reset. Click the Reset button to complete Faster Light removal process.