Infolinks. How to remove? (Uninstall guide)
Information about Infolinks: facts that you always wanted to know
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.
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.
Questions about Infolinks
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, 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, Info Links 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 these 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!
Click 'Start -> Control Panel -> Programs and Features' (if you are 'Windows XP' user, click on 'Add/Remove Programs').
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'.
Right click on each of suspicious entries and select 'Uninstall'
Cick 'Go' and select 'Applications'
Click on every malicious entry and select 'Move to Trash'
Click on menu icon and select 'Manage add-ons'
Right click on each of malicious entries and select 'Disable'
Delete malicious URL, enter your desired domain name and click 'Apply' to save changes
Go to 'Advanced' tab and click on 'Reset' button. Now select 'Delete personal settings' and click on 'Reset' button again
Go to Settings and select 'Choose what to clear'
Select 'Clear' button
Open the start menu and select 'Task Manager'
Right-click 'Microsoft Edge' and select 'Go to details'
Select 'More details' if 'Go to details' option fails to show up
Find Microsoft Edge entries and select 'End Task'
Go to Microsoft Edge folder on your computer, right-click every entry and click 'Delete'
Find Windows PowerShell, right-click it and select 'Run as administrator'
Copy and paste a required command and press 'Enter'
Click on menu icon and select 'Add-ons'
Select 'Extensions' and look for malicious entries. Click 'Remove' to get rid of each of them
Click on menu icon and then on '?'. Select 'Troubleshooting Information'
Click on 'Reset Firefox' button for a couple of times
Click on menu icon. Select 'Tools' and 'Extensions'
Look for malicious entries and delete each of them by clicking on the Trash bin icon
When in 'Settings', select 'Manage search engines...'
Click 'X' to remove malicious URLs
When in 'Settings', scroll down to 'Reset browser settings' button and click on it
Click on 'Reset' button to complete your removal
Click on 'Safari' and select 'Preferences'
Go to 'Extensions' and uninstall malicious add-ons
Click on 'Safari' and select 'Reset Safari...'
Select all options and click on 'Reset' button
We have also noticed that many users are looking for Infolinks removal instructions for Windows 10. 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.
Seeing ads doesn't necessarily mean that your PC is infected with adware
As the official developer claims, Infolinks is NOT a program, and you can see its content only on websites that choose to post it on their websites. That is why we cannot label it as adware[2].
However, if you are suspicious about this company or if you see pop-up ads that come NOT from the described advertising network, you might want to scan your PC with an anti-spyware software (for example, you can use Reimage (Windows) or Malwarebytes Anti Malware (Mac) and find out if you haven't installed some suspicious ad-supported programs on it.
In case you are a owner of a website and you want to find out how to get rid of Infolinks, consider visiting the ad networks' site. You should find an answer there.
Silent distribution of ad-supported software
As we have said, InfoLinks doesn't infect computers. It starts showing its in-text ads or banners only on websites that are related to this company. These ads are NOT malicious, and they are not powered by an ad-supported software. However, we still would like to share some tips from DieViren.de[3] 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.
Remove adware to prevent receiving annoying advertisements
To remove any kind of adware, 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.
Follow these simple instructions to remove any kind of suspicious programs (including adware):
- Click 'Start' and select 'Control Panel’.
- Select 'Uninstall a Program' under 'Programs'.
- Choose '[adware name]' and opt for the 'Uninstall/Change' option.
- Click 'Yes' and 'OK' to save the changes.
Speaking of Infolinks removal, we want to repeat ourselves and tell you that you can't remove it from your system because it is simply not there. It is a name of an ad network that can be freely chosen by website owners who decide to monetize their sites by displaying these ads.
You can remove Infolinks automatically with a help of one of these programs: Reimage, Plumbytes Anti-MalwareWebroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus, Malwarebytes Anti Malware. We recommend these applications because they can easily delete 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
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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. -
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.
WindowsMac OS XInternet ExplorerMicrosoft EdgeFirefoxGoogle ChromeSafariEliminate Infolinks 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 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. -
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
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Delete malicious plugins
Open Google Chrome, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Tools → Extensions. -
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. -
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.... -
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.
About the author
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References
- ^ Advertising network. Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.
- ^ Mary Landesman. What Are Adware and Spyware?. Lifewire. Tech Untangled.
- ^ DieViren. DieViren. Malware Removal Guides, Cyber Security News.