Remove Ourcommonstories.com ads (Free Guide)

Ourcommonstories.com asks to enable notifications to send ads directly to users' desktops

Ourcommonstories.com

Ourcommonstories.com is a malicious website that was created by cybercrooks to fool users into subscribing to push notifications. People do not venture to it intentionally but are rather redirected by a misleading or booby-trapped link on a high-risk website (usually, torrents, software cracks,^[1] illegal video streaming, etc.).

As soon as they enter the site, they are shown a misleading message which encourages people to click the “Allow” button within the notification prompt. The reasons for it could be plenty, and it might seem quite convincing for victims of the Ourcommonstories.com scam.

Those who get tricked by these fake messages and do as they are told would later see intrusive ads showing up on their desktops. Not only are these pop-ups intrusive but they can also invoke accidental or intentional clicks on the shown links. Consequently, users might end up on more malicious websites: download malware/potentially unwanted software, disclose their private data to cybercriminals, or subscribe to fake services that would charge credit cards automatically.

It is also important to note that continuous redirects to Ourcommonstories.com and similar websites might be a sign of adware or malware infections. Thus, this aspect should be researched thoroughly and the unwanted push notifications removed – we provide all the comprehensive details in the sections below.

Name	Ourcommonstories.com
Type	Push notifications, ads, scam
Distribution	The website gains access to deliver any information as soon as the “Allow” button is pressed within the push notification prompt
Symptoms	Pop-ups show up on a regular basis on the screen – these ads often include inappropriate, scam, phishing, or other similar content
Risks	You might suffer from monetary losses, install malware or potentially unwanted programs, or disclose sensitive data to cybercriminals
Removal	To prevent the site from displaying notifications to you, access the site permission section via your web browser settings – you can find more details below. We also recommend checking the system for adware with SpyHunter Combo Cleaner security software
Other checks	Make sure you clean your browsers after you delete PUPs from the system. To do that automatically, you can use Fortect Intego

Scam methods

As soon as users reach the Ourcommonstories.com website, they are usually not expecting what they see and are taken by surprise. They are shown a push notification prompt that usually shows up at the top-left of the page and asks to enable push notifications. Those who are familiar with this feature can immediately recognize that clicking the “Allow” button would immediately allow the site to send information via the push notification feature without limitations.

In order to convince users to subscribe, crooks come up with various fake reasons – social engineering^[2] is commonly involved. All they have to do is convince that the “Allow” button is used for something else, for example:

Just one more step! “Allow” to continue
Click Allow to confirm you are not a robot
Your file is ready to download. Press Allow to continue.
If you are 18+, click Allow
Click Allow to win a prize and get it in our shop!

Ourcommonstories.com virus

However, as soon as users proceed in one way or another they would soon notice that there is no other content to explore, simply because there is none. Push notification scam sites are empty shells with one goal in mind – to make users subscribe to push notifications. If you have been redirected to Ourcommonstories.com, you should not interact with it in any way and instead leave the page immediately.

Ourcommonstories.com ads symptoms

Push notification scam schemes are extremely common, and new websites such as Check-and-read.com or Remotedata.vip are constantly showing up anew. While some of these manage to be shut down rather quickly, others lurk around the world wide web for a while.

Once users are tricked into allowing these push notifications, nothing usually happens for a while, and they simply continue with their daily tasks. Only later do victims notice that suspicious pop-ups are showing up in the bottom-right or top-right corner of the screen at random times.

They are shown on top of everything else currently running in the background and include various misleading messages and links. For example, people might be told that several viruses have been found on their device and they need to install an allegedly legitimate security tool to remove them. In other cases, users might be told that they have won an expensive gift that they can reclaim after entering their personal information.

Thus, do not believe these ads and ignore them completely. If you click on one of the links accidentally, leave the page you were redirected to immediately.

Stop Ourcommonstories.com pop-ups

Many users relate the intrusive activity of push notifications to malware infections. In reality, it has nothing to do with it, since the permission to show them can be acquired from users without them having a virus on their computers. Thus, notifications can only be removed manually as explained below (browser reset can also get rid of this problem but it is not necessary):

Google Chrome

Open Google Chrome browser and go to Menu > Settings.
Scroll down and click on Advanced.
Locate the Privacy and security section and pick Site Settings > Notifications.
Look at the Allow section and look for a suspicious URL.
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 position).

Mozilla Firefox

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

MS Edge (Chromium)

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

Safari

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

Adware removal

As previously mentioned, adware could be one of the main causes for browser redirects to potentially malicious websites. These programs might be installed accidentally in freeware bundles downloaded from third-party websites, hence many are not even aware they are infected in the first place.

The easiest way to check your device for infections is to scan it with SpyHunter Combo Cleaner, Malwarebytes Malwarebytes, or another powerful anti-malware software. After that, we also recommend removing leftover files that potentially unwanted programs^[3] might have placed on the local machine. If you want to do that quickly and efficiently, employ Fortect Intego – it can also fix virus damage if such was sustained during the operation of adware or other malicious software. If you would rather do these steps manually, proceed with the instructions below.

Uninstall from Windows

Uninstall from Windows 10/8:

Type Control Panel into the Windows search box and open the result.
Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.

Uninstall from Windows 7/XP:

Click on Windows Start > Control Panel (Windows XP users should click on Add/Remove Programs).
In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program.

Remove the unwanted program:

In the Programs and Features window, look for any recently installed suspicious entries, select them, and click Uninstall.
If User Account Control appears, click Yes to confirm, then complete the removal.

Delete from macOS

Remove the unwanted application:

From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
In the Applications folder, look for any suspicious entries, then drag them to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash).

Delete leftover files and folders:

Select Go > Go to Folder.
Enter /Library/Application Support and remove any suspicious folders related to the unwanted program.
Repeat the same check in the /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders, deleting any suspicious entries.
Finally, empty the Trash to permanently remove the leftovers.

Remove from Microsoft Edge

Delete unwanted extensions from MS Edge:

Select Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and pick Extensions.
From the list, pick the extension and click on the Gear icon.
Click Remove.

Clear cookies and other browser data:

Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Settings > Privacy, search, and services..
Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
Select Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files. (apart from passwords, although you might want to include Media licenses as well, if applicable) and click on Clear.

Restore new tab and homepage settings:

Click the menu icon and choose Settings.
Then find On startup section.
Click Remove next to any suspicious startup page.

Reset MS Edge if the above steps did not work:

Press on Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
Click on More details arrow at the bottom of the window.
Select Details tab.
Now scroll down and locate every entry with Microsoft Edge name in it. Right-click on each of them and select End Task to stop MS Edge from running.

Instructions for Chromium-based Edge

Delete extensions from MS Edge (Chromium):

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

Clear cache and site data:

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

Reset Chromium-based MS Edge:

Click on Menu and select Settings.
On the left side, pick Reset settings.
Select Restore settings to their default values.
Confirm with Reset.
This will disable extensions and reset startup pages but will not delete bookmarks, saved passwords, or browsing history.

Remove from Mozilla Firefox (FF)

Remove dangerous extensions:

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 extension and click Remove.

Reset the homepage:

Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
Choose Settings.
Under Home, set your preferred homepage and new tab settings.

Clear cookies and site data:

Click Menu and pick Settings.
Go to Privacy & Security section.
Scroll down to locate Cookies and Site Data.
Click on Clear Data...
Select Cookies and Site Data and Temporary cached files and pages, then click Clear.

Reset Mozilla Firefox

If clearing the browser as explained above did not help, reset Mozilla Firefox:

Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click the Menu.
Go to Help and then choose Troubleshooting Information.
Under Give Firefox a tune up section, click on Refresh Firefox...
Once the pop-up shows up, confirm the action by pressing on Refresh Firefox.

Remove from Google Chrome

Delete malicious extensions from 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 suspicious extensions related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.

Clear cache and web data from 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.

Change your homepage:

Click menu and choose Settings.
Look for a suspicious site in the On startup section.
Click on Open a specific or set of pages and click on three dots to find the Remove option.

Reset Google Chrome:

If the previous methods did not help you, reset Google Chrome to eliminate all the unwanted components:

Click on Menu and select Settings.
In the Settings, scroll down and click Advanced.
Scroll down and locate Reset and clean up section.
Now click Restore settings to their original defaults.
Confirm with Reset settings.

Delete from Safari

Remove dangerous extensions:

Open Safari, click Safari in the menu at the top-left of the screen, and select Preferences.
Go to the Extensions tab, look for any suspicious entries, and click Uninstall to remove them.

Clear history and website data:

Click Safari in the menu and pick Clear History.
Set Clear to all history and confirm with Clear History.

Reset Safari:

Click Safari in the menu and select Preferences > Advanced.
Enable Show Develop menu in menu bar.
From the menu bar, click Develop and select Empty Caches.

How to remove Ourcommonstories.com ads

Ourcommonstories.com asks to enable notifications to send ads directly to users' desktops

Scam methods

Ourcommonstories.com ads symptoms

Stop Ourcommonstories.com pop-ups