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  • Active
  • Severity: Medium
  • Adware
  • Windows, Mac
  • Verified · Nov 2015

How to remove CoolLinks ads

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

Linas Kiguolis · Expert in social media

Why do I see CoolLinks ads while shopping online?

You are suffering from CoolLinks ads during your browsing because your computer is affected by an adware-type program. Such programs can be installed on the system with the help of their official websites and bundling. If you know that you didn’t install CoolLinks browser add-on on your computer, think about freeware that you downloaded to your machine. If you have been installing such software (download managers, PDF creators, video streaming software, etc.) without monitoring its installation, there is no surprise why are you dealing with “Ads by CoolLinks”, “Powered by CoolLinks” and similar pop-up notifications right now. To know more about this distribution technique and methods that can be used for avoiding it, you should check the next paragraph.

When inside and active, CoolLinks may start browser’s modifications and disrupting activities used for promoting affiliate parties. What are they? You can never know. Beware that you may be redirected to a really questionable website seeking to trick you into installing additional software. Also, such questionable domains may also be used for stealing sensitive information from their visitors. Also, we must warn you about the collection of people’s browsing activity that can also be caused by this application. Typically, such programs are capable of collecting such information:

  • mostly visited websites;
  • search terms;
  • login names and other data that is added when visiting sites;
  • computer’s IP address;
  • computer’s location;
  • user’s email address;
  • other data.

No matter that such information is considered “non-personally identifiable”, we highly recommend you to keep it private. If you want to stay safe and prevent the loss of ANY information, you need to remove CoolLinks adware from your computer. No matter how harmless this program looks, there are lots of insecurities about it. Security experts recommend using updated anti-spyware when trying to remove its files. In this case, we highly recommend trusting FortectIntego, which was used when testing this potentially unwanted program.

an example of CoolLinks ads on shopping websites

How can I download CoolLinks on my computer?

As we have already mentioned, there are two methods used for spreading CoolLinks. The first one requires user’s interaction. He or she has to visit the official program’s website and download the installer. However, it might be that the official site of this program has just been disabled. Nevertheless, you can still install this PUP on your computer because it has also been actively spread with the help of bundling. This distribution technique is closely related to freeware and shareware that is involved in the distribution of questionable additions in exchange for money. How can you avoid it? First of all, you should read the Privacy Policy, End User’s License Agreement and similar information, which is provided on the official program’s page. Secondly, select Custom or Advanced installation option and follow each of installation steps very carefully to find check marks saying that you want to install additional browser add-ons, extensions, and plugins on your computer. Don’t forget to uncheck them in order to prevent their installation on the system.

Sometimes adware, browser hijackers, and similar potentially unwanted programs manage to infiltrate PCs unnoticed. If you are one of their victims, don’t waste your time and jump to the next page to find the detailed removal guide of CoolLinks virus.

Removing CoolLinks virus from the system:

Technically, CoolLinks is not a virus. Security experts have added it to “potentially unwanted program” and “adware” category. Nevertheless, there are lots of suspicious activities that can be caused by this application. If you have installed it as a shopping helper, we will have to disappoint you because we haven’t managed to find a person who managed to save the money with the help of this app. Also, as we have already mentioned, it can start interrupting you with its ads, in-text links, banners and similar content. If you want to avoid it, you need to follow this guide and fix your computer.

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.

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

Did this guide help?

2 comments

  1. ghre123

    This program is a definition of an unwanted program. Why the hell do I need those ads? CoolLinks is just an adware.

  2. Tyren Fonks

    You must be joking. That is a legitimate application?? Who in their right minds would install CoolLinks to their PC? Impossible

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