Relieve Stress Paint Trojan
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on (updated)
What is Relieve Stress Paint?
Developers present Relieve Stress Paint as legitimate software that helps people to calm down in stressful situations. On initial inspection, Relieve Stress Paint may seem legitimate and useful, however, it is categorized as a trojan. Furthermore, Relieve Stress Paint is distributed via a rogue website (that claims to be Aol.net) and with various adware-type programs.
Relieve Stress Paint poses as a paint-type application. Following infiltration, however, it opens a background process that connects to Facebook and gathers various information, including cookies and logins/passwords.
The data includes personal details that developers often misuse to generate revenue - or they sell it to cyber criminals who have the same aim (to generate money). Therefore, the presence of a trojan-type virus such as Relieve Stress Paint might lead to serious privacy issues or even identity theft.
At time of research, Relieve Stress Paint was installed with a number of adware-type applications. These programs typically do two things: 1) generate intrusive advertisements, and; 2) record data. Intrusive ads are delivered using tools that enable placement of third party graphical content on any visited website.
Most conceal underlying content, thereby significantly diminishing the browsing experience. Furthermore, intrusive ads can lead to malicious sites and execute scripts that stealthily download and install malware. Therefore, even a single click can lead to various computer infections.
Furthermore, adware gathers information such as IP addresses, websites visited, pages viewed, queries entered into search engines, keystrokes, geo-locations, and other similar information that also includes personal details.
Having adware-type applications installed can, thus, also result in privacy issues. For these reasons, Relieve Stress Paint and other adware must be uninstalled immediately.
| Name | Relieve Stress Paint virus |
| Threat Type | Trojan, Password stealing virus, Banking malware, Spyware |
| Symptoms | Trojans are designed to stealthily infiltrate victim's computer and remain silent thus no particular symptoms are clearly visible on an infected machine. |
| Distribution methods | Infected email attachments, malicious online advertisements, social engineering, software cracks. |
| Damage | Stolen banking information, passwords, identity theft, victim's computer added to a botnet. |
| Malware Removal (Windows) | To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your computer with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Combo Cleaner. |
Although Relieve Stress Paint targets Facebook accounts only, it shares many similarities with dozens of other trojans, such as TrickBot, Pony, Adwind, and many others.
These viruses are much more advanced and dangerous, since they are capable of cracking saved passwords of more important accounts (e.g., cryptowallet, banking,and similar) and even taking control of the victim's computer. All adware-type applications are often very similar.
By offering "useful features", these potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) attempt to give the impression of legitimacy, however, rather than enabling the functions promised, they gather information and deliver intrusive advertisements, thereby posing a direct threat to your privacy and Internet browsing safety. Adware is designed only to generate revenue for the developers.
How did Relieve Stress Paint install on my computer?
As mentioned above, Relieve Stress Paint has an official promotion website, however, it is also proliferated together with adware (so-called "bundling" method). The official promotion site's URL is presented as aol.net, however, the URL is bogus - aol.net is a deceptive tactic to trick users into believing that the site is legitimate.
"Bundling" is stealth installation of third party programs with regular (typically free) software. PUP developers do not disclose this information properly - they hide "bundled" PUPs within "Custom/Advanced" settings (or other sections) of the download/installation processes.
Many users rush download and installation processes and skip steps. In doing so, they expose their systems to risk of various infections and compromise their privacy.
How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications?
Potentially unwanted programs are commonly distributed using the aforementioned "bundling" method and intrusive advertisements. Therefore, to prevent infiltration, be very cautious when downloading/installing software and browsing the Internet. Carefully analyze each step of the download/installation processes and opt-out of all additionally-included programs.
If this option is not available, cancel the entire process. We also advise you to download your apps from official sources only (via direct download links) rather than using third party downloaders/installers. These tools are often monetized by promoting PUPs, and thus should not be used.
Developers invest many resources into intrusive ad design, thereby making them appear legitimate, however, distinguishing these ads is simple: most lead to dubious websites (gambling, adult dating, pornography, and and so on).
If you experience these redirects, immediately eliminate all dubious applications and browser plug-ins. The main reasons for computer infections are poor knowledge and careless behavior - the key to safety is caution.
Screenshot of Relieve Stress Paint application:
Instant automatic malware removal:
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Quick menu:
- What is Relieve Stress Paint?
- STEP 1. Uninstall Relieve Stress Paint application using Control Panel.
- STEP 2. Remove adware from Internet Explorer.
- STEP 3. Remove rogue extensions from Google Chrome.
- STEP 4. Remove rogue add-ons from Mozilla Firefox.
- STEP 5. Remove deceptive extensions from Safari.
- STEP 6. Remove rogue plug-ins from Microsoft Edge.
Adware removal:
Windows 11 users:
Right-click on the Start icon, select Apps and Features. In the opened window search for the application you want to uninstall, after locating it, click on the three vertical dots and select Uninstall.
Windows 10 users:
Right-click in the lower left corner of the screen, in the Quick Access Menu select Control Panel. In the opened window choose Programs and Features.
Windows 7 users:
Click Start (Windows Logo at the bottom left corner of your desktop), choose Control Panel. Locate Programs and click Uninstall a program.
macOS (OSX) users:
Click Finder, in the opened screen select Applications. Drag the app from the Applications folder to the Trash (located in your Dock), then right click the Trash icon and select Empty Trash.
In the uninstall programs window, look for "Relieve Stress Paint", select this entry and click "Uninstall" or "Remove".
After uninstalling the potentially unwanted program that causes Relieve Stress Paint ads, scan your computer for any remaining unwanted components or possible malware infections. To scan your computer, use recommended malware removal software.
Remove adware from Internet browsers:
At time of research, Relieve Stress Paint did not install its browser plug-ins on Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, or Mozilla Firefox, however, it was bundled with other adware. Therefore, you are advised to remove all potentially unwanted browser add-ons from your Internet browsers.
Video showing how to remove potentially unwanted browser add-ons:
Remove malicious add-ons from Internet Explorer:
Click the "gear" icon 
(at the top right corner of Internet Explorer), select "Manage Add-ons". Look for any recently-installed suspicious browser extensions, select these entries and click "Remove".
Optional method:
If you continue to have problems with removal of the relieve stress paint virus, reset your Internet Explorer settings to default.
Windows XP users: Click Start, click Run, in the opened window type inetcpl.cpl In the opened window click the Advanced tab, then click Reset.
Windows Vista and Windows 7 users: Click the Windows logo, in the start search box type inetcpl.cpl and click enter. In the opened window click the Advanced tab, then click Reset.
Windows 8 users: Open Internet Explorer and click the gear icon. Select Internet Options.
In the opened window, select the Advanced tab.
Click the Reset button.
Confirm that you wish to reset Internet Explorer settings to default by clicking the Reset button.
Remove malicious extensions from Google Chrome:
Click the Chrome menu icon 
(at the top right corner of Google Chrome), select "More tools" and click "Extensions". Locate all recently-installed suspicious browser add-ons and remove them.
Optional method:
If you continue to have problems with removal of the relieve stress paint virus, reset your Google Chrome browser settings. Click the Chrome menu icon (at the top right corner of Google Chrome) and select Settings. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen. Click the Advanced… link.
After scrolling to the bottom of the screen, click the Reset (Restore settings to their original defaults) button.
In the opened window, confirm that you wish to reset Google Chrome settings to default by clicking the Reset button.
Remove malicious plug-ins from Mozilla Firefox:
Click the Firefox menu 
(at the top right corner of the main window), select "Add-ons". Click "Extensions", in the opened window, remove all recently-installed suspicious browser plug-ins.
Optional method:
Computer users who have problems with relieve stress paint virus removal can reset their Mozilla Firefox settings.
Open Mozilla Firefox, at the top right corner of the main window, click the Firefox menu, in the opened menu, click Help.
Select Troubleshooting Information.
In the opened window, click the Refresh Firefox button.
In the opened window, confirm that you wish to reset Mozilla Firefox settings to default by clicking the Refresh Firefox button.
Remove malicious extensions from Safari:
Make sure your Safari browser is active, click Safari menu, and select Preferences....
In the opened window click Extensions, locate any recently installed suspicious extension, select it and click Uninstall.
Optional method:
Make sure your Safari browser is active and click on Safari menu. From the drop down menu select Clear History and Website Data...
In the opened window select all history and click the Clear History button.
Remove malicious extensions from Microsoft Edge:
Click the Edge menu icon 
(at the upper-right corner of Microsoft Edge), select "Extensions". Locate all recently-installed suspicious browser add-ons and click "Remove" below their names.
Optional method:
If you continue to have problems with removal of the relieve stress paint virus, reset your Microsoft Edge browser settings. Click the Edge menu icon (at the top right corner of Microsoft Edge) and select Settings.
In the opened settings menu select Reset settings.
Select Restore settings to their default values. In the opened window, confirm that you wish to reset Microsoft Edge settings to default by clicking the Reset button.
- If this did not help, follow these alternative instructions explaining how to reset the Microsoft Edge browser.
Outstanding!
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