Kexvideo.ru ads: what it is and how to remove it

From our report of Feb 2022 · not reviewed since

Kexvideo.ru is a fake website created by crooks to benefit from malicious ads

The Kexvideo.ru ads phenomenon has been nothing users for quite some time now, and many are puzzled about it.

As many people reported, the pop-ups show up at random times whenever they are browsing the web, streaming a video, working, or doing something else on the computer. In reality, the unwanted activity can occur only when the browser is running or idling in the background, and it is not triggered by any user actions at the time.

Due to these strange symptoms, many users quickly come to a conclusion that it must be some sort of malware infection, as an unexpected pop-up with commercial or suspicious links is not something that is usually present on Windows, Mac, or another operating system (note that Kexvideo.ru ads can also show up on mobile devices such as phones and tablets).

However, it is not the case at all, and it is definitely not a virus that is causing these pop-ups to show up. Instead, it comes down to users accepting the notifications from a particular website, which then allows it to deliver information at any point in time later.

Since the activity usually does not start until much later, and people are tricked into subscribing in the first place, they commonly don't understand what it is all about.

Excluding the possibility of infection is not the correct thing to do, as some unwanted or malicious software could be the reason behind you ending up on Kexvideo.ru or other malicious websites in the first place, thus this aspect must be investigated as well.

The scam website

While adware could be the reason for browser redirects, users venture to potentially dangerous websites by accident in most cases.

Reputable websites commonly employ security measures to prevent malicious activity on them (although, even the most visited websites could get hacked by cybercriminals), while torrents, illegal video streaming, gambling, and similar places are far less secure in comparison. Therefore, you are more likely to get redirected to a scam site while visiting high-risk sites - avoidance is recommended.

Once on the page, users are presented with an unexpected request to press the Allow button within the prompt, usually shown at the top-left of the page. The message used to convince users to do so are extremely deceptive and easily can be counted as phishing. The messages are dynamic, so you might encounter a different one every time you enter - here are a few examples of these:

These messages are crafted in a way so that users would perceive the permission to show notifications as something completely different. For that, they use popular social engineering techniques where they try to confuse users with features that are very familiar to them, e.g., the robot one tries to imitate a legitimate verification process similar to a captcha used to protect websites from harmful DDoS attacks.

Kexvideo.ru is just one of many fake websites which operate this scam scheme. Just recently, we have described Worldcoolfeed.com, Littlementw.com, and News-kotofa.cc sites, which use identical tactics to trick users into subscribing. What makes matters worse is that the ads shown are commonly insecure and lead to more dangerous places; they also show misleading information about user computer security status and other similar fake messages.

• Click Allow if you are not a robot
• If you are 18+, tap Allow
• Download is ready. Click Allow to download your file
• Please tap Allow to continue
• Can't play this video! Perhaps your browser doesn't allow video playback. Please click the Allow button to watch the video.

From our report of Feb 2022 · not reviewed since

Check your device for infections

Before proceeding with the removal of annoying push notifications, we strongly recommend you first perform checks to ensure that there are no potentially unwanted or malicious applications running in the background of your device.

As we already explained, the Kexvideo.ru pop-ups are not directly related to any computer infections but are rather initiated by the website through the push notification feature within the browser. However, potentially unwanted programs are known to cause users to encounter suspicious websites more often than usual.

Therefore, you should definitely check your system primarily for adware, as well as other potentially unwanted or malicious software. The main reason why you might not know that you have it installed is due to the deceptive distribution techniques of these programs - software bundles, fake updates, misleading advertisements, etc.

First of all, you should check the installed browser extensions - you can find them by pressing the "Extensions" button on your browser. Then, you could check the list of the installed applications on the system level as follows:

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

These listed methods might not always find all the unwanted or malicious programs, as malware and some aggressive adware might not be visible and not run any active windows. Therefore, you should perform a full system scan with or security software to ensure that your system is secure. Likewise, you can employ to clean your browsers and fix any system damage that could have occurred due to the infections.

• Enter Control Panel into Windows search box and hit Enter or click on the search result.
• Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.
• From the list, find the entry of the suspicious program.
• Right-click on the application and select Uninstall.
• If User Account Control shows up, click Yes.
• Wait till uninstallation process is complete and click OK.
• From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
• In the Applications folder, look for all related entries.
• Click on the app and drag it to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash)
• Select Go > Go to Folder.
• Enter /Library/Application Support and click Go or press Enter.
• In the Application Support folder, look for any dubious entries and then delete them.
• Now enter /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders the same way and terminate all the related .plist files.

From our report of Feb 2022 · not reviewed since

More from our earlier report on Kexvideo.ru

• Cleaning web browsers is one of the secondary things you should do after PUP/malware removal to secure your privacy.
• You can use for a quicker solution