Gaming Wonderland – app that promises access to video games, but also brings unwanted ads

Gaming Wonderland Toolbar is a potentially unwanted application (PUP), which may infiltrate your PC system without an appropriate warning. That's because it has been actively spreading not only thru its official website but with the help of a suspicious distribution method, which is known as bundling.
Once it settles down, this program alters some of the PC's settings and adds its start page and search bar on each of the browsers that are installed on the system. So, it can be said that Gaming Wonderland Toolbar is set to infiltrate Internet browsers, including:
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla Firefox
- Internet Explorer
- MS Edge, etc.
In most cases, it does not acquire direct permission from users for that. As soon as these changes are made, this program starts redirecting its victims to ask.com, mystart, and other unknown search engines.
We don't recommend trusting them because they may show you altered search results and redirect you to their affiliate websites. By doing that, they seek to promote related websites that are filled with commercial content, but there is no guarantee that each of such sites is harmless, so it would be better to avoid gaming Wonderland redirects.
Finally, just like any other toolbar, this program may start tracking your browsing activity and may collect your search terms and similar data. Experts who analyzed various threats claim:
Programs that are categorized as PUPs are usually used to collect personally non-identifiable information, but third parties capable of using it are still unknown.
If you want to stay safe, you should avoid Gaming Wonderland Toolbar. If you want to get rid of this program, you can do that with a reputable anti-malware program.
Recently, the developer of this program contacted us, asking us to remove this post from the 2-spyware.com website. We revised the article, and we believe that there are no grounds for that – we simply provide users with information on how to remove Gaming Wonderland Toolbar from their devices if they are willing to do so.
Ways PUPs spread
Gaming Wonderland Toolbar can be downloaded from its official website as a tool that gives ability for its users to play various games. However, it can also get inside the system in a bundle with freeware and shareware from the Internet.
If you would like to know how can you prevent the appearance of such PUPs, you should remember that you need to select Custom or Advanced installation of the freeware. That's the only way to get ability to see optional components and opt out of them as well. If it manages to infiltrate your computer, you may notice that each of your web browsers were affected by this program.
Yes, you should get ability to play games but you may also start noticing such things as annoying redirections to unknown websites and numerous pop-up ads that are filled with various links. If you want to avoid unknown websites, you should remember that clicking on Gaming Wonderland ads may lead you to them.
Besides, this program can easily alter your start page, the default search provider and other system's settings. While technically it is not a virus, we do not recommend leaving Gaming Wonderland Toolbar on your machine, especially if it has infiltrated it without an appropriate permission asked.
You can remove Gaming Wonderland by following these simple steps
While potentially unwanted programs such as adware or browser hijackers are not considered malicious, security researchers still ask users to practice caution:
The integrity of ads brought by the adware can never be fully verified, as unreliable ad-networks might be used for the purpose.
Therefore, it is always important to be very careful when clicking on advertisements on various websites (considering that most third parties always claim they are not responsible for whatever damage could have been caused). Embedded ads can be stopped by a robust ad-blocker. However, ads provided by PUPs can only be terminated with Gaming Wonderland removal.
You can remove Gaming Wonderland either manually or automatically. If you choose the former, please follow all the steps provided below. Alternatively, you can scan your machine with security software, although there is no guarantee that it will detect it. So we recommend eliminating PUPs manually and then performing system scans to ensure that no malicious software is present.
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.
Reset Internet Explorer
Remove dangerous add-ons:
- Open Internet Explorer, click on the Gear icon (IE menu) on the top-right corner of the browser
- Pick Manage Add-ons.
- You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for suspicious plugins. Click on these entries and select Disable.

Change your homepage if it was altered:
- Open IE and click on the Gear icon.
- Select Internet Options.
- In the General tab, delete the Home page address and replace it by your preferred one (for example, Google.com).
- Click Apply and then select OK.

Delete temporary files:
- Press on the Gear icon and select Internet Options.
- Under Browsing history, click Delete...
- Select relevant fields and press Delete.

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

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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