How to remove Oundtheco.work ads

Oundtheco.work is a fake website that tricks users into subscribing to intrusive notifications

If you ever want to get the latest news online, Oundtheco.work definitely should not be your choice. In fact, most users see this name for the first time when they notice suspicious pop-ups that come from this site. They show up at the bottom-right (Windows) or top-right (Mac) of the screen on top of every other program that is currently running. It also does not matter which website is being accessed at the time or even if the browser is actively used – the push notifications would show up anyways.

The pop-ups can contain all sorts of ads that would like users to advertisers, although Oundtheco.work might also contain links to websites that are very insecure. For example, users might be told that their computer has been infected and, after they click the link, they would be redirected to a site that shows other misleading information, ultimately deceiving users and making them download and install malicious software.

It is strongly recommended to ignore these pop-ups, of you might end up not only installing potentially unwanted or malicious software but also disclosing your personal information such as credit card details or account passwords on spoofed websites.^[1]

The reason why users encounter Oundtheco.work pop-ups ads is because they are tricked into allowing the website to deliver push notifications to them. There are several methods of how this is done, and many people are unaware of the scam scheme that is also used by thousands of other websites, including those we have talked about before – Vitb.xyz, Pointmarketvalue.top, or Space-of-datings.top.

If you were a victim of this scam and would like to get rid of the annoying activity and also ensure that your system is free of infections, check out the details we provide below.

The two versions of the website

If you would enter the Oundtheco.work web address into your URL bar and press enter, you would see something that looks like a regular news website. News is one of the most common interests among people, so it is not surprising that there are tons of websites that specialize in specific topics (such as sports or entertainment) or serve as a broader news provider – BBC, CNN, and similar sites are among the most visited ones in the world.

There are also much smaller outlets that many people might even prefer over the industry giants for one reason or another. However, there is nothing legitimate or real about Oundtheco.work, as if you would look a little closer, you could see that there is real news or any other content provided on the site. Instead, users can see the following message:

Get the latest sports updates from around the world

Below, users are notified that, if they want to receive these alleged news articles, they need to allow notifications to be shown by pressing the “Allow” button within the prompt shown at the top-left corner of the page. This is a lie, as the site does not produce any real news and instead would spam people with unending ads and even malicious links. It is a merely generated page that follows the same pattern as a myriad of others – all of them include no content and are only there to make users subscribe to push notifications.

However, this is not the version of the website that users typically see when they encounter it. In fact, most people are redirected to it after clicking on a link somewhere else and not by actually typing in the web address into the address bar. Once they are redirected, they are shown a fake message that is meant to convince them to subscribe to notifications – here are a few message examples you might encounter:

• If you are 18+, click Allow
• Can't play this video! Browser may block video autoplay… Click “Allow” to play the video
• Click “Allow” if you are not a robot
• Loading. Please tap ALLOW button to continue, etc.

These messages are accompanied by an image that matches them. For example, if you are asked to confirm that you are not a robot, a picture would show a robot and a human or similar. If you are asked to “unblock the video”, there would be a fake picture or a GIF of a video that is allegedly about to be played.

None of this is real – these are social engineering^[2] tricks used by many other websites, which are all created to profit from ads that can be sent at any time after users accept the notifications. Luckily, they are relatively easy to remove, and we explain how in detail below.

How to remove Oundtheco.work ads?

Many users are rather confused when they encounter pop-ups unexpectedly. Naturally, the assumption that they are caused by some type of virus is something very common. While it is absolutely necessary to check the system with security software when some unknown symptoms occur, in this case, it would not help the removal of Oundtheco.work ads.

This is because push notifications themselves are not malicious and are a built-in feature within the browser, hence it can't be removed (although users can modify the settings related to it). Thus, you have to access the settings of your browser and perform the following steps to prevent the site from sending you push notifications.

Google Chrome:

1. Open Google Chrome browser and go to Menu > Settings.
2. Scroll down and click on Advanced.
3. Locate the Privacy and security section and pick Site Settings > Notifications.
4. Look at the Allow section and look for a suspicious URL.
5. Click the three vertical dots next to it and pick Block. This should remove unwanted notifications from Google Chrome.

Google Chrome (Android)

• Open Google Chrome and tap on Settings (three vertical dots).
• Select Notifications.
• Scroll down to the Sites section.
• Locate the unwanted URL and toggle the button to the left (Off setting).

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Open Mozilla Firefox and go to Menu > Options.
2. Click on Privacy & Security section.
3. Under Permissions, you should be able to see Notifications. Click the Settings button next to it.
4. In the Settings – Notification Permissions window, click on the drop-down menu by the URL in question.
5. Select Block and then click on Save Changes. This should remove unwanted notifications from Mozilla Firefox.

MS Edge (Chromium):

1. Open Microsoft Edge, and go to Settings.
2. Select Site permissions.
3. Go to Notifications on the right.
4. Under Allow, you will find the unwanted entry.
5. Click on More actions and select Block.

MS Edge (legacy):

1. Open Microsoft Edge, and click the Settings and more button (three horizontal dots) at the top-right of the window.
2. Select Settings and then go to Advanced.
3. Under Website permissions, pick Manage permissions and select the URL in question.
4. Toggle the switch to the left to turn notifications off on Microsoft Edge.

Safari:

1. Click on Safari > Preferences…
2. Go to the Websites tab and, under General, select Notifications.
3. Select the web address in question, click the drop-down menu and select Deny.

Additional security tips

As we already explained, push notifications are a feature, and they can't be malicious – it's rather the contents that can be (depending on the website that is sending them). However, users who encounter push notification scams or other suspicious websites and see ads everywhere are likely to be infected with adware – ad-supported software that is usually useless or has superficial functionality.

In order to check your device for adware, you should check the programs installed on your system, as well as extensions installed on your browser. Potentially unwanted applications are commonly bundled with freeware,^[3] hence many don't notice when they manage to slip into the computer.

However, not everything can be detected manually – malware might be disguised and run processes that are invisible for regular computer users. We recommend scanning the computer with SpyHunterCombo Cleaner, MalwarebytesMalwarebytes, or another reputable anti-malware to ensure that the device is safe. If something is found, we also recommend using FortectIntego to clean the web browsers and fix the damage done to the system files automatically.