How to remove PremierOpinion virus

Premier Opinion – a potentially unwanted program that has a poor reputation linked to data tracking tasks

Premier Opinion rogue app

Premier Opinion, also known as PUA:Win32/PremierOpinion and developed by VoiceFive Inc., claims to be a part of an online market but has a questionable reputation instead. According to various sources, the program might display intrusive ads but it might not as it all depends on the version of the application that is installed. However, mostly, Premier Opinion virus aims to track users' browsing habits, even gather some personal details, and overload the desktop with questionable surveys and offers. These activities are not only annoying but they can be potentially dangerous too as by revealing some sensitive data to the program developers you risk getting your information lost in some type of hacker's hands.

Name	Premier Opinion
Also known as	PUA:Win32/PremierOpinion
Developer	VoiceFive Inc.
Type	Potentially unwanted program (PUP)
Main symptoms	Numerous survey ads appearing while using the affected web browser, in-text links, questionnaires
Background activities	Data tracking. The app is interested in users' browsing habits, demographic information, and application usage
Affected operating systems	Windows OS, Mac OS X
Elimination	Uninstall PremierOpinion add-on, run Fortect Intego to get rid of its leftover effect

People who are working behind Premier Opinion virus try to motivate its members by the promising the opportunity to earn cash or other material benefits. However, it seems that this program is just another adware-type application that can barely give anything useful in return. All of the benefits are linked towards the developers.

According to Microsoft Security Intelligence group, Premier Opinion is a potentially unwanted program that can be downloaded from various third-party websites such as www.permissionresearch.com and www.opinionsquare.com. Its distribution has been discovered to be the most popular in China, The United States, France, The United Kingdom, and Spain.^[1]

Additionally, potentially unwanted programs such as Premier Opinion are capable of bringing other third-party content with them. The same Microsoft experts have discovered that this adware-type application can also install Internet Download Manager, NVIDIA Virtual Audio 1.2.40, HTML5 Video Player 1.2.5, and other third-party products.

As soon as it manages to get inside the system, Premier Opinion program modifies each of Internet browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome) without user's consent. Be careful because this program may also change your homepage or new tab URL zone and initiate other changes on each of your web browser apps.

Premier Opinion PUP

Afterward, victim's browsing sessions are flooded with Premier Opinion ads which are typically filled with offers to participate in multiple surveys. In fact, by clicking on any of its ads, you may find yourself on suspicious sites which are used for spreading questionable programs, like other adware, browser hijackers or even dangerous viruses.^[2]

You might not notice that advertisements come directly from Premier Opinion and its websites, however, later on, you might see some texts near those ads that announce about the appearance of this adware. The adverts can claim:

“Ads by PremierOpinion”;
“Powered by PremierOpinion”;
“Brought to you by PremierOpinion”;
“Ads powered by PremierOpinion”;
“Advertisements by PremierOpinion”.

If you want to stop these redirects from happening, run a full system scan with Fortect Intego. The app will help you double-check the system and see if it is infected. In addition, you can perform Premier Opinion removal on Mac or Windows operating systems manually with the guide given below. These instructions are also suitable for web browsers.

Additionally, people are willing to uninstall Premier Opinion not just because of its ads, survey offers and similar pop-ups that are caused by this PUP on every shopping website they visit. It seems that this program can also cause much more damage and can lead you to dangerous, privacy-related issues. Besides, if you carefully read the Privacy Policy, Premier Opinion adware is able to do the following:

Once you agree to participate in this program, we may notify you of survey opportunities through e-mail, pop-ups, toast windows, U.S. mail, and other means. If you elect to participate in a survey, we require that you provide complete and accurate information about yourself and your household.

Note that we do not recommend providing your private details under any circumstances.^[3] Due to the reasons mentioned above, we neither suggest installing this unreliable application nor continue using it if you have already done so. Instead, you should remove Premier Opinion to avoid further issues.

Premier Opinion virus

Besides, the developers of Premier Opinion agree that various information about the user can be collected. This might not only include the IP address, browser type, geographic location of the person but the company might also be able to see the user's name/surname, email address, mobile phone number, and similar private data:

We may collect personal information about you when you voluntarily provide us with such information, such as through our Website. We may collect such information directly from you or we may receive it from a third-party company that is acting on our behalf or that otherwise refers you to us. For example, you may provide us with personal information when you submit an online form or otherwise communicate with us through our Website. This information may include your name, address, phone number, and email address, among other types of information, including any personal information you provide to us in a message.

Adware comes in one package with regular software

If you wonder how potentially unwanted programs get installed on your computer, the answer is simple — you may have installed free applications from the Internet recklessly. PUPs travel in so-called software-bundles, which is a popular marketing technique employed by many adware developers.

This method relies on the belief that while installing software, the user will pick Quick or Recommended settings and won't be able to decline the installation of the potentially unwanted program. In other terms, the latter parameters skip many steps of the process, including the one which contains a pre-marked box allowing to infiltrate the adware program.

To avoid that, you should opt for Custom or Advanced configuration and install professional security software. It will help you to examine files for malicious programs before the download and protect your computer from various threats. Additionally, we suggest not installing PDF converters,^[4] video streaming apps, or download managers since they are the most likely to hold the PUP inside their installer.

The easiest way to remove Premier Opinion virus

According to BedyNet.ru^[5] experts, you can quickly finish Premier Opinion removal if you decide to do it automatically. We recommend this method because PUPs contain numerous browser extensions and add-ons which might be hardly identifiable. If you want to get rid of the annoying surveys and ads successfully, you must uninstall them all.

Premier Opinion virus detection rates

Therefore, the best option would be to remove Premier Opinion with the help of robust antivirus software. However, you can use the steps given below this article to fix your computer system manually. You will have to delete adware-related elements from your computer and then reset your web browsers.

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.

Reset Internet Explorer

Remove dangerous add-ons:

Open Internet Explorer, click on the Gear icon (IE menu) on the top-right corner of the browser
Pick Manage Add-ons.
You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for suspicious plugins. Click on these entries and select Disable.

Change your homepage if it was altered:

Open IE and click on the Gear icon.
Select Internet Options.
In the General tab, delete the Home page address and replace it by your preferred one (for example, Google.com).
Click Apply and then select OK.

Delete temporary files:

Press on the Gear icon and select Internet Options.
Under Browsing history, click Delete...
Select relevant fields and press Delete.

Reset Internet Explorer:

Click on Gear icon > Internet options and select Advanced tab.
Select Reset.
In the new window, check Delete personal settings and select Reset.

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.