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  • Active
  • Severity: Medium
  • Adware
  • Windows, Mac
  • Verified · Nov 2015

How to remove RewardsArcade

A step-by-step removal guide for affected devices. Follow the verified procedure below — most readers complete it in under 10 minutes.

Gabriel E. Hall · Passionate web researcher

RewardsArcade is a browser extension that has been developed by 215 Apps (Awesome Apps / Red Online Marketing Group LP). It is compatible with IE, Google Chrome, Safari, and Mozilla Firefox. The app, in fact, is meant to be entertaining. According to the developer, it is supposed to allow “Play games agains your Facebook friends! Battle your friends over multiplayer games without having to leave Facebook.” Nevertheless, there are some specificities that you should known as they prompt security experts to classify RewardsArcade as ‘adware’ and ‘PUP’ (potentially unwanted program).

RewardsArcade is adware. Why?

Upon testing RewardsArcade add-on, malware specialists have found out that it’s supported by advertising and is inseparable from DropInSavings browser extension. Therefore, if you fall for installing this app on the official website, you will get DropInSavings as an extra component. These two apps are supposed to display advertisements in the websites that people view. This allows third parties to generate pay-per-click revenue and increase web traffic to the websites of affiliates too.

RewardsArcade ads are typically shown as in-text links. Nevertheless, it has been traced that it can also generate pop-up and banner ads. They can be differentiated from the other ads by textual marks like, for example, “Ads by RewardsArcade,” “Brought by RewardsArcade,” “DropInSavings Ads,” and so on. They may be very irritating and disrupt your web browsing activities significantly. However, they are beyond irritation.

It’s important to consider the destination websites that ads by RewardsArcade malware may be linked to. Naturally all ads have to redirect people somewhere. In most of the cases, adware-type programs are set to promote online shops or sites that promote third-party services. Unfortunately, but RewardsArcade redirects can also expose people to domains that may cause online scam or infiltration of other cyber threats. To prevent this from happening, you should never click on the pop-up ads saying that you have to update software (Java, Flash Payer, Download Manager, etc.) or call for remote technical support to fix your PC’s issues.

Displaying RewardsArcade ads

Also, Rewards Arcade virus is accused of unauthorized injection of tracking cookies and web beacons. The presence of these files allow third parties to collect user’s search queries, pages viewed, data entered while viewing them, PC’s IP address, approximate geo location, email address, and similar non-personal data.

All in all, having all these facts in mind, bypass Rewards Arcade suite 2015 app. In case it has been installed on your web browser by force, don’t let it stay. We would recommend using FortectIntego as it will ensure a full removal of whole package.

How does this PUP travel around the web?

RewardsArcade PUP can be installed manually after downloading it from the official website. By doing this, you will also agree to install DropInSavings ‘shopping assistant’ as these two apps are ALWAYS traveling aside.

In addition to that, you may notice rewardsarcade.exe file running on your PC as if out of nowhere. This scenario is highly probably because these days Rewards Arcade is promoted via software packages. Ate the moment of writing, it spreads around with FLV Player 3.0. Nevertheless, it can be found attached to other freewares too. Thus, to prevent its installation, check free programs by selecting Advanced/Custom installation mode and untick check marks saying that “By clicking “Accept,” I agree to End User License Agreement and Privacy Policy and consent to install RewardsArcade and DropInSavings.”

Easy RewardsArcade removal:

The easiest way to abolish Rewards Arcade malware is to run a full system check with anti-malware. Nevertheless, be wise and select the tool that is trusted and already tested. You can find our recommended apps down below.

If you have determined to get rid of RewardsArcade by yourself, our team has submitted a step-by-step guide that will explain all manual removal peculiarities in a comprehensive manner. Most importantly, make sure that you perform each step in the right order.

Uninstall from Windows

Uninstall from Windows 10/8:

  1. Type Control Panel into the Windows search box and open the result.
  2. Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.Uninstall from Windows 10/8

Uninstall from Windows 7/XP:

  1. Click on Windows Start > Control Panel (Windows XP users should click on Add/Remove Programs).
  2. In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program.Uninstall from Windows 7/XP

Remove the unwanted program:

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

Delete from macOS

Remove the unwanted application:

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

Delete leftover files and folders:

  1. Select Go > Go to Folder.
  2. Enter /Library/Application Support and remove any suspicious folders related to the unwanted program.
  3. Repeat the same check in the /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders, deleting any suspicious entries.Delete leftover files from Mac
  4. Finally, empty the Trash to permanently remove the leftovers.

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 Remove.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 Settings > Privacy, search, and services..
  2. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
  3. 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.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 Remove next to any suspicious startup page.

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

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.
  5. This will disable extensions and reset startup pages but will not delete bookmarks, saved passwords, or browsing history.Reset Chromium Edge

Remove from Mozilla Firefox (FF)

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 the unwanted extension 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 Settings.
  3. Under Home, set your preferred homepage and new tab settings.

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 and Temporary cached files and pages, then click 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

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 suspicious extensions 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 dangerous extensions:

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

Clear history and website data:

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

Reset Safari:

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

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