Video Ads Blocker virus: what it is and how to remove it

Video Ads Blocker is not a virus in the sense of malware that destroys files, but our 2017 report classed it as a potentially unwanted program and adware, and PCrisk calls it adware too. It is a Google Chrome extension that promised to block YouTube ads and, according to both, shows ads of its own and tracks browsing.

We could not test it again in 2026: its site no longer answers. Treat it as unwanted. Remove it from every browser, uninstall anything that came with it, run a Microsoft Defender full scan and the offline scan, and change the passwords you used while it was installed.

Open Chrome, select the three dots, then Extensions > Manage extensions, find Video Ads Blocker (in our 2017 screenshot, a red shield, version 1.2.20), select Remove and confirm. If you cannot find it, check each Chrome profile, because every profile has its own list.

Then clear Cookies and other site data and scan Windows with Microsoft Defender, because a program may have added the extension again. If the start page or search engine changed, use Settings > Reset settings; bookmarks and saved passwords stay. If it came in a bundle, uninstall the other new programs from Installed apps too.

YoutubeAdBlock is the other name of Video Ads Blocker, and youtubeadblock.net was the site that offered it. Our 2017 report told readers not to install it. On 6 October 2026 the site did not connect, its name did not resolve and the registry lookup found no registration, so there is nothing to visit today.

Do not look for a mirror: copies elsewhere carry no guarantee that they are what the old page offered. A dead site does not clean the browsers that already have the extension, so check your extension list.

We do not know, and we could not test it. Its page in our 2017 screenshot said it "blocks all ads and does not add own ads". Our 2017 report said it may block the ads before or in the middle of a YouTube video, yet it also shows commercial content of its own, so that promise was not kept.

PCrisk says the extension delivers ads instead of removing them. Even if it blocked some YouTube ads, an extension that adds pop-ups and banners elsewhere is the opposite of what it was sold for, and it gives you a reason to remove it.

The privacy policy in our 2017 screenshot names SISTEMA LTD as the company behind it. The text we can still read says the YouTube AdBlock extension uses personal information collected from cookies and IP addresses.

Our 2017 report said the policy did not state which information is tracked and that it may be shared with "trusted business partners"; we cannot re-read the policy because the site is gone. PCrisk says adware of this kind tracks browsing and search history, IP addresses and geolocation. What this extension actually sent from any PC, we do not know.

It got on your computer in one of three ways:

• you installed it from its own site
• a free program carried it as an additional download
• a pop-up or fake installer brought it

Our 2017 report names its own site and bundling; PCrisk adds deceptive pop-up ads and fake Flash Player installers. Bundling works because Quick or Recommended settings install the extras, while Custom or Advanced settings list them.

Open Installed apps, sort by install date and look at what appeared on the day the extension did. Anything you do not remember installing should go.

Ads that appear on every site, whatever page you open, usually come from a program in the browser, not from the sites. Our 2017 report and PCrisk list pop-ups, pop-unders, in-text ads and banners as the ads of Video Ads Blocker. The same signs fit other adware as well, so do not assume this one.

Open your extension list in every browser and profile and remove what you did not choose. A reader in 2017 asked about pop-ups that continued although a blocker was installed; that question named a different ad family (videostripe), and a blocker does not remove an extension that sits in the browser.

Resetting Chrome is not needed if the ads stop once the extension is removed, but it is a reasonable step if the start page, search engine or new-tab page changed. Open Settings > Reset settings > Restore settings to their original defaults and confirm.

It turns off extensions and resets the start page and pinned tabs; bookmarks and saved passwords stay. Clear Cookies and other site data as well. Then check the extension list again after a restart, because a program that brought the extension in can add it again if it is still in Windows.

An ad blocker for YouTube is an extension that can read the pages you open, so installing one is a decision about trust. Chrome's help says an extension can be allowed to read and change your data on the websites you visit, so check the publisher and the permissions before you click Add extension.

Install only from the official store and read the permission list, and be wary of any page, pop-up or installer that pushes one. Video Ads Blocker came from its own site and from bundles, and our 2017 report and PCrisk say it shows ads, so it is not an example to follow.

Fortect scans Windows for malware and unwanted programs and repairs the system files and settings they change, and its free scan shows what it finds on your PC before you decide anything.

For Video Ads Blocker, follow the plan above as well: the browser steps take back permissions and settings that no scanner treats as a threat, and uninstalling the program that brought it removes the source.

Run Microsoft Defender's full scan and, if anything was found, its offline scan as a second opinion. If the symptoms are gone after the plan and both scans are clean, there is nothing more to do.