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  • Active
  • Severity: Medium
  • Adware
  • Windows, Mac
  • Verified · Jul 2017

How to remove VideoStripe pop-up ads

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

VideoStripe uses aggressive and misleading marketing strategy to promote movie watching platform

Screenshot of VideoStripe website

VideoStripe claims to be a platform that allows watching movies legally. However, this service is advertised using aggressive tactics, such as adware program. Thus, if your Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer is flooded with pop-ups[1] offering to sign up and watch unlimited movies, you should check your computer’s state.

Usually, adware which is responsible for VideoStripe ads starts bothering you after installing a bundled software.[2] What is more, Media-fire.org advertising platform has also been involved in promoting this software.

VideoStripe virus delivers ads that are misleading messages that are used for promoting affiliate websites and popularizing certain software. These pop-up messages may continuously ask you to sign in and try or download this movie watching application. These offers are extremely annoying because they might be full page advertisements or pop-ups that do not include a close button.

However, before installing it, you have to beware that it's not free. People are offered a VideoStripe free trial for 7 days, but after that, they will have to pay for it. The monthly subscription is around 40€ that is quite expensive. Thus, if you want to watch latest movies, you should choose cheaper and more credible platform, such as Netflix.

Some users claim that they were tricked by the so-called VideoStripe scam. Ads usually tell that this service is free. However, once they sign up, they realize that they need to pay in order to continue watching movies. Indeed, the main purpose of this aggressive marketing campaign is to promote this service and get more users who are willing to pay for the subscription.

All in all, if you have started seeing these pop-up advertisements, we recommend you to run a full system scan with FortectIntego and remove VideoStripe together with suspicious programs from your computer in order to avoid various inconveniences.

Moreover, we would like to mention that adware, in general, is distributed along with cookies[3] and used for accumulating information about user's browsing habits. We assume that VideoStripe adware is not an exception. We believe that it's not set to collect personally identifiable information;[4] however, you can never know what specific information may be gathered and where it may be used.

Thus, VideoStripe removal also helps to protect your online privacy from unknown third-parties. You can never be sure if aggregated data won’t be shared with unreliable affiliates or evil-minded people. The worst scenario is that some sensitive information might be leaked to cyber criminals. Hence, you might have to deal with serious problems, such as money loss or identity theft.

The example of VideoStripe pop-up ads

Adware travels and gets inside computer bundled with free applications

As you already know, advertisements promoting VideoStripe are caused by an adware-type program that may get on your computer bundled with free software.If you want to prevent installing such and similar programs, you have to be more careful while installing freeware and shareware on your computer.

Additional components are, usually, disclosed as web browser add-ons, plug-ins, toolbars, and extensions. However, they may be indicated in a misleading manner. In order to opt out of them, you have to:

  1. Choose reliable download sources and reputable developers.
  2. Read the Privacy Policy and EULA before installing software.
  3. Select Advanced or Custom installation option and monitor the entire installation process. This way, you will be allowed to take control over the process.
  4. Uncheck the ticks that notify about the installation of additional components.

According to NoVirus[5] researchers, computer users mostly rely on Quick or Recommended installation settings. However, trusting them is not recommended because most of the time they do not adequately disclose about third-party software and allows their installation without asking user’s permission.

Get rid of VideoStripe virus right now

VideoStripe removal requires finding and deleting all adware-related components from the computer. Thus, you have to uninstall suspicious programs from the Control Panel and unknown browser extensions from each of the web browsers.

If you think about doing this task on your own, you may find our prepared instructions handy. Keep in mind that this PUP may have installed tracking cookies, so you have to reset each of the browsers as well.

If it seems a complicated task, you should remove VideoStripe automatically. This method requires using reputable anti-malware/anti-spyware program. Make sure that you updated your preferred security tool before launching a system scan.

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.

Reset Internet Explorer

Remove dangerous add-ons:

  1. Open Internet Explorer, click on the Gear icon (IE menu) on the top-right corner of the browser
  2. Pick Manage Add-ons.
  3. You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for suspicious plugins. Click on these entries and select Disable.Remove add-ons from Internet Explorer

Change your homepage if it was altered:

  1. Open IE and click on the Gear icon.
  2. Select Internet Options.
  3. In the General tab, delete the Home page address and replace it by your preferred one (for example, Google.com).
  4. Click Apply and then select OK.Reset IE homepage

Delete temporary files:

  1. Press on the Gear icon and select Internet Options.
  2. Under Browsing history, click Delete...
  3. Select relevant fields and press Delete.Clear temporary files from Internet Explorer

Reset Internet Explorer:

  1. Click on Gear icon > Internet options and select Advanced tab.
  2. Select Reset.
  3. In the new window, check Delete personal settings and select Reset.Reset Internet Explorer

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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