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Putlocker virus (Virus Removal Instructions) - updated Sep 2020

by Ugnius Kiguolis - www - | Type: Adware

Putlocker virus Removal Guide

What is Putlocker virus?

Putlocker is a set of domains that provide links to pirated movie and series streams and may also host malware like HTML/ScrInject.B

Putlocker adwarePutlocker virus is an adware that pushes annoying offers and promotions straight to the user's browser

Putlocker is a site that was first established in the UK back in 2011 under the putlocker.com domain, and its primary purpose is to allow users to stream thousands of movies and TV series for free. Since its founding, the website got popularised by various events, such as Megaupload closure in 2016, and its main domain was changed multiple times. As it is common to numerous online streaming sites, Putlocker is banned in several countries and also led to multiple arrests[1] due to copyright infringement violations.

Besides being an obvious concern for content authors, Putlocker has also not been so kind to users who prefer to visit it. Over the years, multiple copy-cats enabled malicious versions of the domain (such as putlocker9.com),[2] as reported by Malwarebytes in 2016, and visitors could infect their computers with threats like HTML/ScrInject.B or other malware. Besides, users also reported that Putlocker ads had been a major problem on Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and other browsers, as notifications were spamming them with intrusive content.

To remove Putlocker ads, users may have to locate and uninstall a potentially unwanted program on their computers (such as a malicious extension or a standalone application) or disable the previously-enabled notifications from the site via the web browser settings – we explain how to perform all of the actions in the bottom section of this article.

Name Putlocker
Type Adware/Malware
Main dangers It can take you to malicious websites and infect your system with malware like RATs or shady trojans
Domain names www0.putlocker.cl, putlocker.co, putlocker.is, www5.putlockers.net, ww2.putlockerfree.sc, putlockertv.to, 123putlocker.info, www.putlockers.me, putlockers.pro, putlocker.style, www2.putlocker.vip, putlocker.vc, putlockers.bz
Activities Putlocker specializes in hosting file index lists that lead users to online streaming content, such as movies and TV series, which can be viewed for free (in some cases, illegally)
Copyright issues The website was blacklisted in the UK by a High Court order in 2016; Motion Picture Association of America listed Putlocker as a major piracy threat
Issues The developers of Putlocker are known to change the domains frequently due to them being banned by several bodies worldwide – this led to multiple copy-cat sites that are injected with malware or intrusive and potentially dangerous ads
Removal If you visited one of the domains by Putlocker, you should immediately scan your computer with security software to find the intruder as soon as possible. Additionally, if you see multiple redirects and other commercial content on Google Chrome or another browser frequently, you should check your machine for adware – we provide instructions below. Finally, if you noticed intrusive pop-up notifications from the site, you should disable them via browser settings as explained below
Recovery To keep your machine running smoothly after the infection, we suggest you scan it with FortectIntego. If can fix all the corrupted system files and restore normal operation of the OS in just a few minutes

Putlocker website has a bit of a shady past. According to research, it has been reported as a piracy-related threat and also blocked by a High Court order three years ago.[3] As you can see, even the original version of this domain might cause trouble for you and your computer system, so you should avoid using it if you want to ensure full machine safety.

There have also been many complaints about the Putlocker virus from different types of users. For example, one person reported that its ads kept appearing on Google Chrome constantly and that he or she had major problems when trying to get rid of them.[4] A macOS user also complained that he/she encountered annoying sliding ads while using the Chrome browser.[5]

Furthermore, technology experts have even been releasing reports about the questionable safety that Putlocker Ads provides. In general, downloading copyrighted content from the site is illegal and even punishable by local laws.

Nevertheless, if you do want to risk it and want to visit such sites, we highly advise you use tools like ad-block extensions that can prevent malicious Putlocker ads from installing malware on your machine automatically. These ads are often inserted by hackers illegally, and they can ensure the placement of malicious ads by simply exploiting known vulnerabilities.[6]

Putlocker adsPutlocker virus is an adware-type program that has a lot of clone domains

Putlocker notifications, ads, and other issues

Putlocker virus is known for its intrusive advertising capabilities. This intruder might appear on any type of web browser and start pushing a lot of advertising content straight to your desktop. Nevertheless, this PUP provides a “Show notifications” dialogue box and tries to convince users to click on the “Allow” button for ad display.

Nevertheless, if you have been dealing with Putlocker virus recently, you might even have received some rogue offers from its website directly. The app might offer Putlocker Premium Membership as a free product, also, it tries to convince users to buy other sponsored services for a membership:

Buying the services from our partners you will get Putlockers Premium Membership. Two in One!

Putlocker can not only push banner ads and pop-ups but it can also perform redirecting activities. Once you visit a third-party website that relates to this service and click somewhere on the page, you might be taken to another domain. Usually, it is a sponsored source which lacks recommended protection and might include malicious objects.

According to researchers, the Putlocker virus can be related to a big variety of third-party domains. Some of them appear to be named like this:

  • ao8k.bikereddint[.]info.
  • e367.bikereddint[.]info.
  • uo3w.bikereddint[.]info.
  • fx8e.bikereddint[.]info.
  • p8.bikereddint[.]info.
  • dh3e.bikereddint[.]info.
  • dnu0.bikereddint[.]info
  • lva1.bikereddint[.]info.
  • pixel.bikereddint[.]info.
  • p7.bikereddint[.]info.
  • p1.bikereddint[.]info.
  • p5.bikereddint[.]info.

Avoid any possible danger that Putlocker virus might cause and stay away from its services. If you are interested in watching movies online, search for a trustworthy network, and avoid piracy websites. Be aware that visits to odd websites might relate to successful malware installation which later on will supposedly relate to severe and hardly-repairable machine damage.

Putlocker virusPutlocker virus is a term used to describe a chain of video-watching services that might be infectious

However, if you have only been receiving ads from Putlocker occasionally or some offers to use its services, you can try using an ad-blocking tool on your browser app. If that does not help, try these steps:

  • Launch the browser that has been troubling you with an ad flow.
  • Locate the menu in the upper right corner of the window.
  • Enter Settings and Advanced.
  • Find the Notifications section and search for any Putlocker or other suspicious domains.
  • Remove the dubious websites from the list.

If this guide did not appear to be helpful, you should use reputable anti-malware tools like SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner or Malwarebytes for the Putlocker virus removal process. These programs are very handy because they are capable of completing full system scans, detecting, and removing infections in a single scan.

Additionally, we recommend using FortectIntego to ensure the corrupted system files are fixed, and the OS is not crashing or experiencing other aftermaths of malware infection. These alleged streaming platforms and TV show watching sites often are considered illegal, so free-to-use doesn't always mean positive things.

Additionally, after you remove Putlocker virus from your computer system with the help of anti-malware software, you can do a repeated check on your browsers. Look at the bottom of the page and find instructions on how to refresh browser applications such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge.

Putlocker malwarePutlocker - a movie-streaming website that has been considered as a piracy threat

Distribution methods of adware programs

According to tech experts from LesVirus.fr,[7] having adware on your system should not be a surprise if you are a common visitor of third-party networks such as piracy websites, porn pages, or online gaming services. The best thing to do here is to stay away from such unknown content and enter only official and trustworthy pages.

Additionally, be aware that software bundles of original programs might plant adware on your computer if you are downloading this type of software from secondary sources. A tip for you would be to use only original installers and opt for the Custom/Advanced configuration instead of any Quick or Recommended modes.

Furthermore, having an antivirus program on your system will not hurt. Get a reliable tool that includes as many protective features as possible and does not be afraid to invest in your own security as if you do not take care of your machine safety later, you might deeply regret it when having to deal with malware.

Removal techniques for Putlocker virus and its siblings

You should use reliable anti-malware for Putlocker removal if you have been dealing with this threat constantly. You can choose a specific tool from our provided list or any other type of software from your wantings. However, if you are looking for manual instructions, take a look below.

If you opt for manual elimination, make sure to remove Putlocker virus correctly. This includes completely cleaning all infected web browser applications such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Explorer, and Safari as the adware program might have left suspicious components (extensions, plug-ins) in these directories.

If an anti-malware scan did not find anything malicious on your device and you are still seeing Putlocker notifications, you can get rid of them by following these instructions:

Google Chrome

  • Go to Menu > Settings
  • Click Advanced
  • Under Privacy and security, select Site Settings and then Notifications
  • You should see Putlocker under Allow
  • Click More Actions and then choose Block

Safari:

  • Select Safari and then Preferences…
  • Under Websites tab, choose Notifications
  • Click on Putlocker an pick Deny

Mozilla Firefox:

  • Click Menu and select Options
  • Pick Privacy & Security section and select Notifications Putlocker notificationsYou can stop Putlocker ads and notifications by disabling them via Firefox settings
  • Go to Settings – you should see Putlocker entry
  • Click on the drop-down menu and pick Block
  • Save Changes

MS Edge:

  • Click More and pick Settings
  • Choose View advanced settings
  • Go to Advanced
  • Pick Manage permissions
  • Locate Putlocker and turn off notifications by toggling the switch to the left

You may remove virus damage with a help of FortectIntego. SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner and Malwarebytes are recommended to detect potentially unwanted programs and viruses with all their files and registry entries that are related to them.

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Getting rid of Putlocker virus. Follow these steps

Uninstall from Windows

Instructions for Windows 10/8  machines:

  1. Enter Control Panel into Windows search box and hit Enter or click on the search result.
  2. Under Programs, select Uninstall a program. Uninstall from Windows 1
  3. From the list, find the entry of the suspicious program.
  4. Right-click on the application and select Uninstall.
  5. If User Account Control shows up, click Yes.
  6. Wait till uninstallation process is complete and click OK. Uninstall from Windows 2

If you are Windows 7/XP user, proceed with the following instructions:

  1. Click on Windows Start > Control Panel located on the right pane (if you are Windows XP user, click on Add/Remove Programs).
  2. In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program. Uninstall from Windows 7/XP
  3. Pick the unwanted application by clicking on it once.
  4. At the top, click Uninstall/Change.
  5. In the confirmation prompt, pick Yes.
  6. Click OK once the removal process is finished.

Delete from macOS

Erase adware from Mac with the help of these steps:

Remove items from Applications folder:

  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) Uninstall from Mac 1

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. Uninstall from Mac 2

Remove from Microsoft Edge

Delete unwanted extensions from MS Edge:

  1. Select Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and pick Extensions.
  2. From the list, pick the extension and click on the Gear icon.
  3. Click on Uninstall at the bottom. Remove extensions from Edge

Clear cookies and other browser data:

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

Restore new tab and homepage settings:

  1. Click the menu icon and choose Settings.
  2. Then find On startup section.
  3. Click Disable if you found any suspicious domain.

Reset MS Edge if the above steps did not work:

  1. Press on Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
  2. Click on More details arrow at the bottom of the window.
  3. Select Details tab.
  4. 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. Reset MS Edge

If this solution failed to help you, you need to use an advanced Edge reset method. Note that you need to backup your data before proceeding.

  1. Find the following folder on your computer: C:\\Users\\%username%\\AppData\\Local\\Packages\\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe.
  2. Press Ctrl + A on your keyboard to select all folders.
  3. Right-click on them and pick Delete Advanced MS Edge reset 1
  4. Now right-click on the Start button and pick Windows PowerShell (Admin).
  5. When the new window opens, copy and paste the following command, and then press Enter:

    Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\\AppXManifest.xml” -Verbose Advanced MS Edge reset 2

Instructions for Chromium-based Edge

Delete extensions from MS Edge (Chromium):

  1. Open Edge and click select Settings > Extensions.
  2. Delete unwanted extensions by clicking Remove. Remove extensions from Chromium Edge

Clear cache and site data:

  1. Click on Menu and go to Settings.
  2. Select Privacy, search and services.
  3. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
  4. Under Time range, pick All time.
  5. Select Clear now. Clear browser data from Chroum Edge

Reset Chromium-based MS Edge:

  1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
  2. On the left side, pick Reset settings.
  3. Select Restore settings to their default values.
  4. Confirm with Reset. Reset Chromium Edge

Remove from Mozilla Firefox (FF)

Optimize and refresh Firefox after the adware attack. Use these helping lines to achieve such goal:

Remove dangerous extensions:

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click on the Menu (three horizontal lines at the top-right of the window).
  2. Select Add-ons.
  3. In here, select unwanted plugin and click Remove. Remove extensions from Firefox

Reset the homepage:

  1. Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
  2. Choose Options.
  3. Under Home options, enter your preferred site that will open every time you newly open the Mozilla Firefox.

Clear cookies and site data:

  1. Click Menu and pick Settings.
  2. Go to Privacy & Security section.
  3. Scroll down to locate Cookies and Site Data.
  4. Click on Clear Data…
  5. Select Cookies and Site Data, as well as Cached Web Content and press Clear. Clear cookies and site data from Firefox

Reset Mozilla Firefox

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

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click the Menu.
  2. Go to Help and then choose Troubleshooting Information. Reset Firefox 1
  3. Under Give Firefox a tune up section, click on Refresh Firefox…
  4. Once the pop-up shows up, confirm the action by pressing on Refresh Firefox. Reset Firefox 2

Remove from Google Chrome

Clean your Google Chrome web browser by using these instructions:

Delete malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

  1. Open Google Chrome, click on the Menu (three vertical dots at the top-right corner) and select More tools > Extensions.
  2. 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. Remove extensions from Chrome

Clear cache and web data from Chrome:

  1. Click on Menu and pick Settings.
  2. Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
  3. Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
  4. Click Clear data. Clear cache and web data from Chrome

Change your homepage:

  1. Click menu and choose Settings.
  2. Look for a suspicious site in the On startup section.
  3. 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:

  1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
  2. In the Settings, scroll down and click Advanced.
  3. Scroll down and locate Reset and clean up section.
  4. Now click Restore settings to their original defaults.
  5. Confirm with Reset settings. Reset Chrome 2

Delete from Safari

Remove unwanted extensions from Safari:

  1. Click Safari > Preferences…
  2. In the new window, pick Extensions.
  3. Select the unwanted extension and select Uninstall. Remove extensions from Safari

Clear cookies and other website data from Safari:

  1. Click Safari > Clear History…
  2. From the drop-down menu under Clear, pick all history.
  3. Confirm with Clear History. Clear cookies and website data from Safari

Reset Safari if the above-mentioned steps did not help you:

  1. Click Safari > Preferences…
  2. Go to Advanced tab.
  3. Tick the Show Develop menu in menu bar.
  4. From the menu bar, click Develop, and then select Empty Caches. Reset Safari

After uninstalling this potentially unwanted program (PUP) and fixing each of your web browsers, we recommend you to scan your PC system with a reputable anti-spyware. This will help you to get rid of Putlocker registry traces and will also identify related parasites or possible malware infections on your computer. For that you can use our top-rated malware remover: FortectIntego, SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner or Malwarebytes.

How to prevent from getting adware

Stream videos without limitations, no matter where you are

There are multiple parties that could find out almost anything about you by checking your online activity. While this is highly unlikely, advertisers and tech companies are constantly tracking you online. The first step to privacy should be a secure browser that focuses on tracker reduction to a minimum.

Even if you employ a secure browser, you will not be able to access websites that are restricted due to local government laws or other reasons. In other words, you may not be able to stream Disney+ or US-based Netflix in some countries. To bypass these restrictions, you can employ a powerful Private Internet Access VPN, which provides dedicated servers for torrenting and streaming, not slowing you down in the process.

Data backups are important – recover your lost files

Ransomware is one of the biggest threats to personal data. Once it is executed on a machine, it launches a sophisticated encryption algorithm that locks all your files, although it does not destroy them. The most common misconception is that anti-malware software can return files to their previous states. This is not true, however, and data remains locked after the malicious payload is deleted.

While regular data backups are the only secure method to recover your files after a ransomware attack, tools such as Data Recovery Pro can also be effective and restore at least some of your lost data.

About the author
Ugnius Kiguolis
Ugnius Kiguolis - The mastermind

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