How to remove Mydesktopdefence.com ads

Mydesktopdefence.com is a malicious website that shows fake virus warnings

Online scams are something that most people come across in their lives, especially if they frequently browse the web for one reason or another. Mydesktopdefence.com is one of the domains used for the delivery of one of such scams, and it might be encountered unexpectedly, although usually, after clicking a link on another malicious website. 

The Mydesktopdefence.com scam might manifest in many different ways, although most commonly, crooks rely on scare tactics that are so commonly used elsewhere. Typically users are presented with a fake pop-up that imitates something like a scan made by McAfee security software, which then “finds” infections and claims that users need to renew their subscription and download the new version of the alleged security app.

Do not download anything from this website, as you might infect your system with highly dangerous malware. Likewise, you could be asked to provide your personal information or subscribe to useless services, which would cost you money. To make it clear – it is all a scam, and everything said there should be ignored.

Upon entry, the website also asks users to enable notifications, which, if accepted, would allow it to send information via push notification feature at any time without restrictions. This would allow Mydesktopdefence.com to send you push notifications with all sorts of fake messages – they would try to trick you into purchasing something or “investing” into the get-rich-quick schemes. We explain how to remove these annoying pop-ups as well.

The fake message

As we already mentioned, in most cases, users come across malicious websites after clicking on a malicious link. This activity is usually associated with high-risk websites such as torrents,^[1] illegal video streaming, X-rated, gambling, and similar sites, although even reputable websites might get hacked sometimes and result in the same behavior.

Once on the site, users are shown a fake virus scanner that allegedly checks the system for infections. At this time, there are several pop-up messages that are shown at the bottom-right corner of the browser window – these are meant to represent the fake virus detections. Finally, after a few seconds, several pop-up windows will be shown, which would then end up with the following message:

Your PC is infected with 5 viruses!

ACTION REQUIRED

Your McAfee Subscription Has Expired!
Renew now to keep your PC protected.
If your PC is unprotected, it is at risk for viruses and other malware.

The fake scan and the fake message are all initiated upon the website entry, thus it is not difficult to figure out that the alleged scan is done through the internet. However, this is all very misleading, as websites can not detect whether or not your computer has malware installed on it. You need dedicated security software which has to be installed on your device, in order to diagnose your system properly.

Thus, if you see messages that your system is infected with viruses, your computer has been blocked, or that it encountered an error and some action needs to be taken (tech support called, software downloaded, subscription renewed, etc.), ignore all these messages as they are fake.

How to check your system for infections

It is evident by now that the “Your PC is infected with 5 viruses” message is fake and has nothing to do with your real computer health. Nonetheless, the possibility of the infection can't be dismissed completely.

Users who encounter scams and other malicious websites more often might also have a potentially unwanted program^[2] installed on their devices, usually adware. This software is typically relatively useless when it comes to its functionality, as its main goal is to exp[ose users to deals, offers, discounts, banners, pop-ups, and all sorts of other ads.

Due to the way these apps are associated with insecure advertisement networks, affected users can see all sorts of malicious ads often. Therefore, if you noticed an increased number of ads and similar symptoms, you should make sure that your device is not infected.

Before you proceed with the steps, we recommend you employ powerful SpyHunterCombo Cleaner or MalwarebytesMalwarebytes security software and perform a full system scan with it. It would ensure that no malicious, otherwise invisible, processes that could be running in the background are removed effectively. Anti-malware software can also remove most potentially unwanted programs too, so the below steps might not even be necessary.

Windows

• 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.

Mac

While moving apps into Trash is usually how you delete most normal applications, adware tends to create additional files for persistence. Thus, you should look for .plist and other files that could be related to the virus. If you are not sure, skip this step entirely.

1. From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
2. In the Applications folder, look for all related entries.
3. Click on the app and drag it to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash)

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

1. Select Go > Go to Folder.
2. Enter /Library/Application Support and click Go or press Enter.
3. In the Application Support folder, look for any dubious entries and then delete them.
4. Now enter /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders the same way and terminate all the related .plist files.

Once you have terminated programs installed on the system level, you should then check your web browsers. Potentially unwanted applications mainly come in extension format nowadays, as they are easy to produce and replicate. In fact, man browser hijacker families are copies of one another simply presented with a few different visual components. If you have never dealt with browser extension elimination, follow the steps below to get rid of everything you don't recognize:

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 the suspicious plugins that might be related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.

Mozilla Firefox

• 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 plugin and click Remove.

MS Edge (Chromium)

• Open Edge and click select Settings > Extensions.
• Delete unwanted extensions by clicking Remove.

Safari

• Click Safari > Preferences…
• In the new window, pick Extensions.
• Select the unwanted extension and select Uninstall.

Remember to check every extension carefully and that some extensions, even if seemingly trustworthy extensions, might sometimes go rogue and start disruptive behavior abruptly. Thus, if you are not sure which add-on might be causing the suspicious activity, you should simply remove them all and then reintroduce one extension at a time.

Additional tips

Potentially unwanted applications might comprise components that perform various functions. For example, cookies^[3] are often used to track users' online behavior so that ads could be more targeted. This and other data is commonly shared or sold to other parties, which can't guarantee its security. Thus, after PUP removal, you should delete web data and other leftover files from your browsers. This job can be done much easier with software like FortectIntego, which can also fix any damage that could have been caused to your system files while the malware was active.

Google 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.

Mozilla Firefox

• Click Menu and pick Options.
• Go to Privacy & Security section.
• Scroll down to locate Cookies and Site Data.
• Click on Clear Data…
• Select Cookies and Site Data, as well as Cached Web Content and press Clear.

MS Edge (Chromium)

• Click on Menu and go to Settings.
• Select Privacy and services.
• Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
• Under Time range, pick All time.
• Select Clear now.

Safari

• Click Safari > Clear History…
• From the drop-down menu under Clear, pick all history.
• Confirm with Clear History.

Mydesktopdefence.com also asks users to enable notifications, and if they accept, another problem arises, as they would then receive ads through the push notification feature. This can cause more problems, as these ads would bring links to malicious websites that also show fake messages and try to scam users in many different ways.

Therefore, if you are accidentally or purposely enabled notifications from the website, you should never click the provided links and instead, remove the pop-ups by accessing your browser settings, as we explain below.