Audacity.de virus (Removal Instructions) - Free Guide

Uninstall from Windows

Instructions for Windows 10/8  machines:

1. Enter Control Panel into Windows search box and hit Enter or click on the search result.
2. Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.
3. From the list, find the entry of the suspicious program.
4. Right-click on the application and select Uninstall.
5. If User Account Control shows up, click Yes.
6. Wait till uninstallation process is complete and click OK.

If you are Windows 7/XP user, proceed with the following instructions:

1. Click on Windows Start > Control Panel located on the right pane (if you are Windows XP user, click on Add/Remove Programs).
2. In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program.
3. Pick the unwanted application by clicking on it once.
4. At the top, click Uninstall/Change.
5. In the confirmation prompt, pick Yes.
6. Click OK once the removal process is finished.

Delete from macOS

Remove items from Applications folder:

1. From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
2. In the Applications folder, look for all related entries.
3. Click on the app and drag it to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash)

To fully remove an unwanted app, you need to access Application Support, LaunchAgents, and LaunchDaemons folders and delete relevant files:

1. Select Go > Go to Folder.
2. Enter /Library/Application Support and click Go or press Enter.
3. In the Application Support folder, look for any dubious entries and then delete them.
4. Now enter /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders the same way and terminate all the related .plist files.

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 on Uninstall at the bottom.

Clear cookies and other browser data:

1. Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Privacy & security.
2. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
3. Select everything (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:

1. Click the menu icon and choose Settings.
2. Then find On startup section.
3. Click Disable if you found any suspicious domain.

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.

If this solution failed to help you, you need to use an advanced Edge reset method. Note that you need to backup your data before proceeding.

1. Find the following folder on your computer: C:\\Users\\%username%\\AppData\\Local\\Packages\\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe.
2. Press Ctrl + A on your keyboard to select all folders.
3. Right-click on them and pick Delete
4. Now right-click on the Start button and pick Windows PowerShell (Admin).
5. When the new window opens, copy and paste the following command, and then press Enter:

   Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\\AppXManifest.xml” -Verbose

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.

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.

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.

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 unwanted plugin and click Remove.

Reset the homepage:

1. Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
2. Choose Options.
3. Under Home options, enter your preferred site that will open every time you newly open the Mozilla Firefox.

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, as well as Cached Web Content and press Clear.

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.
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.

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 the suspicious plugins that might be related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.

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.

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.

Delete from Safari

Remove unwanted extensions from Safari:

1. Click Safari > Preferences…
2. In the new window, pick Extensions.
3. Select the unwanted extension and select Uninstall.

Clear cookies and other website data from Safari:

1. Click Safari > Clear History…
2. From the drop-down menu under Clear, pick all history.
3. Confirm with Clear History.

Reset Safari if the above-mentioned steps did not help you:

1. Click Safari > Preferences…
2. Go to Advanced tab.
3. Tick the Show Develop menu in menu bar.
4. From the menu bar, click Develop, and then select Empty Caches.

Manual removal using Safe Mode

Important! →
Manual removal guide might be too complicated for regular computer users. It requires advanced IT knowledge to be performed correctly (if vital system files are removed or damaged, it might result in full Windows compromise), and it also might take hours to complete. Therefore, we highly advise using the automatic method provided above instead.

Step 1. Access Safe Mode with Networking

Manual malware removal should be best performed in the Safe Mode environment. 

Windows 7 / Vista / XP

1. Click Start > Shutdown > Restart > OK.
2. When your computer becomes active, start pressing F8 button (if that does not work, try F2, F12, Del, etc. – it all depends on your motherboard model) multiple times until you see the Advanced Boot Options window.
3. Select Safe Mode with Networking from the list.

Windows 10 / Windows 8

1. Right-click on Start button and select Settings.
   
   
2. Scroll down to pick Update & Security.
   
3. On the left side of the window, pick Recovery.
4. Now scroll down to find Advanced Startup section.
5. Click Restart now.
   
6. Select Troubleshoot.
7. Go to Advanced options.
8. Select Startup Settings.
9. Press Restart.
10. Now press 5 or click 5) Enable Safe Mode with Networking.

Step 2. Shut down suspicious processes

Windows Task Manager is a useful tool that shows all the processes running in the background. If malware is running a process, you need to shut it down:

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc on your keyboard to open Windows Task Manager.
2. Click on More details.
   
3. Scroll down to Background processes section, and look for anything suspicious.
4. Right-click and select Open file location.
   
5. Go back to the process, right-click and pick End Task.
   
6. Delete the contents of the malicious folder.

Step 3. Check program Startup

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc on your keyboard to open Windows Task Manager.
2. Go to Startup tab.
3. Right-click on the suspicious program and pick Disable.
   
   

Step 4. Delete virus files

Malware-related files can be found in various places within your computer. Here are instructions that could help you find them:

1. Type in Disk Cleanup in Windows search and press Enter.
   
   
2. Select the drive you want to clean (C: is your main drive by default and is likely to be the one that has malicious files in).
3. Scroll through the Files to delete list and select the following:
   

   Temporary Internet Files
   Downloads
   Recycle Bin
   Temporary files

4. Pick Clean up system files.
   
   
5. You can also look for other malicious files hidden in the following folders (type these entries in Windows Search and press Enter):
   

   %AppData%
   %LocalAppData%
   %ProgramData%
   %WinDir%

After you are finished, reboot the PC in normal mode.

Remove Audacity.de using System Restore

• Step 1: Reboot your computer to Safe Mode with Command Prompt
  Windows 7 / Vista / XP
  1. Click Start → Shutdown → Restart → OK.
  2. When your computer becomes active, start pressing F8 multiple times until you see the Advanced Boot Options window.
  3. Select Command Prompt from the list
  
  Windows 10 / Windows 8
  1. Press the Power button at the Windows login screen. Now press and hold Shift, which is on your keyboard, and click Restart..
  2. Now select Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings and finally press Restart.
  3. Once your computer becomes active, select Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt in Startup Settings window.
• Step 2: Restore your system files and settings
  1. Once the Command Prompt window shows up, enter cd restore and click Enter.
  2. Now type rstrui.exe and press Enter again..
  3. When a new window shows up, click Next and select your restore point that is prior the infiltration of Audacity.de. After doing that, click Next.
  4. Now click Yes to start system restore.
  Once you restore your system to a previous date, download and scan your computer with FortectIntego and make sure that Audacity.de removal is performed successfully.