Remove Infolinks (Removal Guide) - May 2019 update
Infolinks – an advertising network that might promote affiliate websites
Infolinks is an advertising website that might start pushing notifications on third-party pages
Questions about Infolinks
Infolinks is an online advertising network, which offers various products in a form of in-text ads, banner ads and other forms of ads. It claims that the promotional content can be placed only on websites that agree to cooperate with this program. Web ads usually have a text on the ad, stating where do these ads come from (what is the provider of the ad). If you browse the Internet frequently, the question “What is InfoLinks” probably crossed your mind a couple of times already. Even though the company presents itself as a global advertising platform offering ad solutions for both publishers and advertisers, everything is not that beneficial and handy as it might seem from the first view at this sentence on their official page.
| Name | Infolinks |
|---|---|
| What it is | Advertising network |
| Activities | Advertising, redirecting |
| Causes | Ads might show up on specific pages only or be caused by an adware app |
| Ad prevention | Install and adblocking tool |
| Computer scanning software | Reimage Reimage Cleaner Intego can help you detect if there is any potentially unwanted content |
| Recognized as | “brought to you by Infolinks/ Infolinks ads/deals” |
You can recognize ads from this advertising network[1] easily because they might be named as “brought to you by Infolinks/ Infolinks ads/deals”. However, we are not so sure about this. Info Links claims that it is not a software, and you might encounter these ads only on particular websites, but we could hardly find any list of its affiliates.
This is kind of suspicious; moreover, we have investigated the ad network's Privacy Policy and discovered that this advertising platform promotes third-party websites,[2] plus, collects some information about your browsing activity:
“You should note that Infolinks discloses automatically collected and other aggregated non-personally-identifiable information (including without limitation, geolocation and user device identification) with interested third parties to enable and assist such third parties to target ads to websites on which our advertising products are enabled […]
When you visit any of the websites that participate in our advertising marketplace and view ads from our advertisers, we collect information, including technical information and usage information about your activities on such sites. Such information may be combined with information collected from other sources […]
Infolinks is not responsible for the content or practices of third party websites not owned or controlled by Infolinks […]
As you can see, Infolinks shares information about you with its affiliates in order to deliver targeted advertising to you. We want to warn you that some of these ads might be unsafe and lead you to suspicious third-party websites. The advertising network claims that it is not liable for any damages you may experience while visiting its partners' websites.
To make sure you avoid suspicious websites and dangers that might be hidden on them, avoid clicking on unreliable ads that pop up on your screen in an intrusive way. If you want to remove Infolinks, we have to say that it is impossible to do so because they originate from websites that you visit. At this point, we want to remind you that the ads appear only on sites that choose to publish them.
If you still do not like to see Infolinks ads and you would like to disable them, it might be possible to block Infolinks using some third-party tools meant for ad blocking. However, we strongly recommend you to read a lot of reviews and choose a trustworthy product. There are hundreds of extensions and applications that promise this feature but display even more ads instead. Be careful!
We have also noticed that many users are looking for Infolinks removal instructions for Windows 10.[3] It does not matter which operating system you use – all of them will display these ads to you because they come from web pages you enter and not from some program installed on your computer.
However, if the annoying advertisements are appearing due to an installation of a potentially unwanted program such as adware, you can proceed with Infolinks removal by eliminating the cause. Use specific tools such as Reimage Reimage Cleaner Intego or SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner that will scan your entire computer system and detect the potentially unwanted content that is forcing ads to show up.
Infolinks is an advertising network that allows people monetize their websites by publishing Infolinks in-text ads.
Silent distribution of ad-supported software
Even though seeing advertisements does not have to mean that adware applications are attacking your computer system and web browsers, we still would like to share some tips from DieViren.de[4] on how you can prevent installing any other adware without your knowledge:
- You need to start monitoring installation of any freeware and select only Custom or Advanced installation option in the installation setup.
- Once you do that, make sure you uncheck all checkboxes that agree with the installation of suspicious browser add-ons, extensions and plugins.
For further protection, you should think about downloading and installing a reputable anti-virus or anti-malware tool. Make sure that the software includes a feature which allows ensuring safe browsing and alerts when something potentially dangerous might be in your way. One more tip would be to keep the antivirus program always updated.
Remove adware to prevent receiving annoying advertisements
To remove any kind of adware,[5] you should first discover what is the provider of the advertisement. For example, most of the adware ads have titles above or below the ad – such as 'ads by [adware name]” or “[adware name] ads”. You should find this program in your Control Panel and delete it. You can also remove Infolinks virus by using our below provided step-by-step guide for Windows computers and web browsers.
Infolinks removal needs to be accomplished properly, otherwise rogue advertisements might keep showing up on web browser applications such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, an Safari. If an ad-supported program has been causing these ads, you should check web browsers for adware-related signs also.
You may remove virus damage with a help of Reimage Reimage Cleaner Intego. SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner and Malwarebytes are recommended to detect potentially unwanted programs and viruses with all their files and registry entries that are related to them.
To remove Infolinks, follow these steps:
Get rid of Infolinks from Windows systems
Clean your Windows computer from any rogue processes and activities. Use the below-given guide if help is needed:
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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 Infolinks and related programs
Here, look for Infolinks or any other recently installed suspicious programs. -
Uninstall them and click OK to save these changes.
Erase Infolinks 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 Infolinks or any other suspicious programs on it. Now right click on every of such entries and select Move to Trash.
Remove Infolinks 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.
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You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for Infolinks 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 Infolinks removal.
Uninstall Infolinks 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. -
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, Infolinks should be removed from your Microsoft Edge browser.
Eliminate Infolinks from Mozilla Firefox (FF)
Keep Firefox clean by performing the following instructing steps:
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Remove dangerous extensions
Open Mozilla Firefox, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Add-ons → Extensions.
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Here, select Infolinks 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.
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Now you will see Reset Firefox to its default state message with Reset Firefox button. Click this button for several times and complete Infolinks removal.
Delete Infolinks from Google Chrome
Refresh and clean Google Chrome from adware-relates signs by using the below-given instructions:
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Delete malicious plugins
Open Google Chrome, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Tools → Extensions.
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Here, select Infolinks 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 Infolinks removal.
Get rid of Infolinks 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.
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Here, select Extensions and look for Infolinks 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....
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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 Infolinks removal process.
Access your website securely from any location
When you work on the domain, site, blog, or different project that requires constant management, content creation, or coding, you may need to connect to the server and content management service more often. It is a hassle when your website is protected from suspicious connections and unauthorized IP addresses.
The best solution for creating a tighter network could be a dedicated/fixed IP address. If you make your IP address static and set to your device, you can connect to the CMS from any location and do not create any additional issues for server or network manager that need to monitor connections and activities. This is how you bypass some of the authentications factors and can remotely use your banking accounts without triggering suspicious with each login.
VPN software providers like Private Internet Access can help you with such settings and offer the option to control the online reputation and manage projects easily from any part of the world. It is better to clock the access to your website from different IP addresses. So you can keep the project safe and secure when you have the dedicated IP address VPN and protected access to the content management system.
Backup files for the later use, in case of the malware attack
Computer users can suffer various losses due to cyber infections or their own faulty doings. Software issues created by malware or direct data loss due to encryption can lead to problems with your device or permanent damage. When you have proper up-to-date backups, you can easily recover after such an incident and get back to work.
It is crucial to create updates to your backups after any changes on the device, so you can get back to the point you were working on when malware changes anything or issues with the device causes data or performance corruption. Rely on such behavior and make file backup your daily or weekly habit.
When you have the previous version of every important document or project you can avoid frustration and breakdowns. It comes in handy when malware occurs out of nowhere. Use Data Recovery Pro for the system restoring purpose.
About the author
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References
- ^ Advertising network. Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.
- ^ Sid Kemp. What is the meaning of a "third party website"?. Quora.com. Relevant questions and answers.
- ^ Windows 10. Computer Hope. Free computer help since 1998.
- ^ DieViren. DieViren. Malware Removal Guides, Cyber Security News.
- ^ Mary Landesman. What Are Adware and Spyware?. Lifewire. Tech Untangled.
September 14th, 2013 at 1:39 pm
Thanks Ugnius; that was so easy!
God bless you and keep up the good work
March 2nd, 2014 at 7:22 pm
You are wrong, Infolinks are not always placed on sites with owners permission. I have found them on my own site tonight and i would never sign up to something like this as it would affect my users experience (especially as my site is a encyclopedia with many internal links). when i looked on my index page to check all was well, using my tablet, i found that these links (by infolinks) weaved into my text. However these links are not visible when i use my PC or Laptop leading me to the conclusion that it is solely adware on my tablet.
March 28th, 2014 at 11:53 am
Hi Keir, how did u remove infolinks from ur tablet? Im facing same problem.
April 12th, 2014 at 5:47 pm
Still looking, sorry. Tried a few antivirus and an anti malware. They found some but not the culprit. I am waiting on a reply from infolinks themselves and when I get a result Ill post it on here.
April 13th, 2014 at 10:46 am
Hi Prasad. Are you using RSS Dog for your news feeds or something similar?
June 16th, 2014 at 9:36 pm
I agree with Keir, they are also on my website which is a private forum, I would never have requested them. I cant figure out how it got on my computer as there are no recently added programs.