How to remove Protectyour-device.com ads

Protectyour-device.com can cause users to end up on shady sites that promote scams

Protectyour-device.com is a redirect virus that may be caused by a malicious browser extension or program installed on your machine. It promotes various shady sites that advertise bogus plugins, and programs, or try to trick people into subscribing to push notifications. 

The ads may come from rogue advertising networks that place links leading to dangerous websites. People report seeing sites that look like security alerts. People can get tricked into providing personal information, downloading PUPs (potentially unwanted programs),^[1] and even malware. 

Users might end up on one of the scams promoted by Protectyour-device.com when browsing through shady websites. We recommend only visiting websites that you know and trust. Do not click on random links and ads even if they seem to be promoting legitimate products and services.

Check the extension list in your browser

Sometimes adware^[2] can come in the form of a browser extension. As a plugin, it can gain certain permissions to alter your browser settings which allows it to perform unwanted tasks.

If you have any extensions installed, we recommend going to your browser settings and removing them one by one, to determine if any of them are at fault for unwanted behavior. It may not be named Protectyour-device.com, sometimes malicious extensions are made to look like very popular ones to not cause any suspicion. You can follow our guide:

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 window's top-right).
• 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.

MS Edge (legacy)

• 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 on Uninstall at the bottom.

Safari

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

Scan your system

If you have recently installed any programs from freeware^[3] distribution sites, peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms, or torrent sites, there is a big possibility you experience the symptoms because of them. Because freeware distributors do not make any money from giving away software for free, they include additional programs in the installers that monetize user activity (collect data about browsing activities, generate ads, etc.)

The best option is to get your software only from official sources because it is always the safest but we know it can get costly. The next time you want to install freeware or shareware, we suggest you follow some security measures to avoid the installation of PUPs as much as possible:

• Always choose the “Custom” or “Advanced” installation methods
• Read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy to find out what the application will be able to do in your machine and what data will it collect
• Inspect the file list and untick the boxes next to any files that seem unrelated

If you have installed any programs recently, we suggest removing them to see if the unwanted symptoms disappear. If you do not know how you can follow instructions for Windows and Mac machines:

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 the uninstallation process is complete and click OK.

macOS

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.

Clear your browsers

Adware can collect browsing-related information with cookies^[4] which are small data files stored on your device. Normally, they provide the ability for websites and web-based applications to personalize the user experience. However, the collected data can be sold to third parties, and advertising networks, which can use them to target you with ads even more.

If the pages you visit or plugins you use do not have strong security measures in place, cookies can even be hijacked and used for malicious purposes. Those small data files can contain information like your IP address, the websites you visit, links you click on, and things you purchase online.

That is why it is so important to clean cookies and cache regularly to avoid this information landing in the wrong hands. To avoid a lengthy process, we recommend using a maintenance utility like FortectIntego. Besides that, it can fix various system errors, registry issues, and corrupted files which is especially useful after a virus infection.

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.

MS Edge (legacy)

• Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Privacy & security.
• Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
• Select everything (apart from passwords, although you might want to include Media licenses as well, if applicable) and click on Clear.

Safari

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