PriceFountain virus. How to remove? (Uninstall guide)
What is PriceFountain?
PriceFountain virus is yet another questionable application that is labeled as an adware or a potentially unwanted program due to several undesirable activities that are initiated by it once it enters the system. Officially, this application should enhance your online shopping experience by displaying relevant coupons, comparisons, latest deals, offers and so on. However, this is just what the developers of this application claim. In contrast, once inside the system, PriceFountain starts generating commercial offers as frequently as it wants. They may show up in a form of pop-ups, pop-unders, banners and so on. Moreover, it doesn’t matter which browser you use, you will be flooded by those ads while using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and others.
Unfortunately, but this is not the worst part. Since this browser add-on is a free program, you should think how its developers earn money. To tell the truth, third parties pay money for them because they are allowed to start showing third party ads and redirecting people to the required websites. Beware that this questionable program is available for everyone who wants to display any kind of ads, including cyber criminals. That’s why you should be very careful with “Ads by PriceFountain”, “PriceFountain ads” and similar notifications. In addition, if this dubious program has already got inside your computer, you should this about your private data and its security. This adware is able to accumulate such information as IP addresses, search queries, visited websites, ads that were clicked and so on. No matter that it’s just personally non-identifiable information, you can never be sure that your personally identifiable data isn’t monitored as well. To prevent unwanted activities caused by this adware behind your back, you must remove PriceFountain from the system. For that, we recommend Reimage.
How can this PUP hijack my computer?
The Internet is full of free and “useful” software, so you have to be very careful with each of them. Keep in mind that there are hundreds of legitimate programs that can easily start initiating problems on your computer as soon as you install them. Such adware as PriceFountain, Ultra Coupon, Salus, etc. are among such programs. If you want to avoid them, you have to remember that they are mostly spread using freeware and shareware. When installing such programs on your computer, you should keep in mind that they are supported by third parties, so they may be filled with various “free additions”. This distribution technique is called “bundling”. If you decided to download any kind of free program on your computer, for example music player, a game, PDF converter, download manager and so on, you should beware that it may carry additional attachments. That’s why you need to be extremely attentive while installing free programs. Otherwise, you will have to deal with PriceFountain removal.
We do not recommend choosing Quick/Basic/Recommended installation options and skip other details when installing the program. Such installation options hide notifications about browser extensions, add-ons, plug-ins and toolbars that may be bundled with the program you want. Choosing Advanced or Custom installation option may help in this case. This installation option requires more time because it discloses all details, such as propositions to change your home page, search engine and so on. If you have already been tricked into downloading PriceFountain virus or similar adware on your system, do not waist time and remove it immediately. The sooner you get rid of it, the lower is the chance that other adware or even malware will get inside your PC.
How to remove PriceFountain virus?
You can get rid of PriceFountain redirect issue, constant pop-up ads and similar unwanted activities automatically or manually. No matter that manual removal method seems like an easy task for you, we have to warn you that you must be very careful when following steps that are listed below. To make sure that everything went according to the plan and PriceFountain removal is finished, we highly recommend scanning your computer with a trustworthy anti-spyware. It will detect and remove every component of this adware automatically as well as protect your system from similar programs in the future. If you prefer to remove this application manually, follow our step-by-step removal guide that is given below.
You can remove virus damage automatically with a help of one of these programs: Reimage, Malwarebytes MalwarebytesCombo Cleaner, Plumbytes Anti-MalwareMalwarebytes Malwarebytes. We recommend these applications because they detect potentially unwanted programs and viruses with all their files and registry entries that are related to them.
To remove PriceFountain virus, follow these steps:
Erase PriceFountain from Windows systems
-
Click Start → Control Panel → Programs and Features (if you are Windows XP user, click on Add/Remove Programs).
-
If you are Windows 10 / Windows 8 user, then right-click in the lower left corner of the screen. Once Quick Access Menu shows up, select Control Panel and Uninstall a Program.
-
Uninstall PriceFountain and related programs
Here, look for PriceFountain or any other recently installed suspicious programs. -
Uninstall them and click OK to save these changes.
Remove PriceFountain from Mac OS X system
-
If you are using OS X, click Go button at the top left of the screen and select Applications.
-
Wait until you see Applications folder and look for PriceFountain or any other suspicious programs on it. Now right click on every of such entries and select Move to Trash.
Get rid of PriceFountain from Internet Explorer (IE)
-
Remove dangerous add-ons
Open Internet Explorer, click on the Gear icon (IE menu) on the top right corner of the browser and choose Manage Add-ons. -
You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for PriceFountain and other suspicious plugins. Disable these entries by clicking Disable:
-
Change your homepage if it was altered by virus:
Click on the gear icon (menu) on the top right corner of the browser and select Internet Options. Stay in General tab. -
Here, remove malicious URL and enter preferable domain name. Click Apply to save changes.
-
Reset Internet Explorer
Click on the gear icon (menu) again and select Internet options. Go to Advanced tab. - Here, select Reset.
-
When in the new window, check Delete personal settings and select Reset again to complete PriceFountain removal.
Delete PriceFountain virus from Microsoft Edge
Reset Microsoft Edge settings (Method 1):
- Launch Microsoft Edge app and click More (three dots at the top right corner of the screen).
- Click Settings to open more options.
-
Once Settings window shows up, click Choose what to clear button under Clear browsing data option.
-
Here, select all what you want to remove and click Clear.
-
Now you should right-click on the Start button (Windows logo). Here, select Task Manager.
- When in Processes tab, search for Microsoft Edge.
-
Right-click on it and choose Go to details option. If can’t see Go to details option, click More details and repeat previous steps.
-
When Details tab shows up, find every entry with Microsoft Edge name in it. Right click on each of them and select End Task to end these entries.
Resetting Microsoft Edge browser (Method 2):
If Method 1 failed to help you, you need to use an advanced Edge reset method.
- Note: you need to backup your data before using this method.
- Find this folder on your computer:
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe.
-
Select every entry which is saved on it and right click with your mouse. Then Delete option.
- Click the Start button (Windows logo) and type in window power in Search my stuff line.
-
Right-click the Windows PowerShell entry and choose Run as administrator.
- Once Administrator: Windows PowerShell window shows up, paste this command line after PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> and press Enter:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml -Verbose}
Once these steps are finished, PriceFountain should be removed from your Microsoft Edge browser.
WindowsMac OS XInternet ExplorerMicrosoft EdgeFirefoxGoogle ChromeSafariUninstall PriceFountain from Mozilla Firefox (FF)
-
Remove dangerous extensions
Open Mozilla Firefox, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Add-ons → Extensions. -
Here, select PriceFountain and other questionable plugins. Click Remove to delete these entries.
-
Reset Mozilla Firefox
Click on the Firefox menu on the top left and click on the question mark. Here, choose Troubleshooting Information. -
Now you will see Reset Firefox to its default state message with Reset Firefox button. Click this button for several times and complete PriceFountain removal.
Eliminate PriceFountain from Google Chrome
-
Delete malicious plugins
Open Google Chrome, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Tools → Extensions. -
Here, select PriceFountain and other malicious plugins and select trash icon to delete these entries.
-
Click on menu icon again and choose Settings → Manage Search engines under the Search section.
-
When in Search Engines..., remove malicious search sites. You should leave only Google or your preferred domain name.
-
Reset Google Chrome
Click on menu icon on the top right of your Google Chrome and select Settings. -
Scroll down to the end of the page and click on Reset browser settings.
-
Click Reset to confirm this action and complete PriceFountain removal.
Erase PriceFountain from Safari
-
Remove dangerous extensions
Open Safari web browser and click on Safari in menu at the top left of the screen. Once you do this, select Preferences. -
Here, select Extensions and look for PriceFountain or other suspicious entries. Click on the Uninstall button to get rid each of them.
-
Reset Safari
Open Safari browser and click on Safari in menu section at the top left of the screen. Here, select Reset Safari.... -
Now you will see a detailed dialog window filled with reset options. All of those options are usually checked, but you can specify which of them you want to reset. Click the Reset button to complete PriceFountain removal process.