How to remove apps promoting the Online Virus Scanner site

What is Online Virus Scanner?

This Online Virus Scanner website cannot be trusted - it is designed by scammers who attempt to deceive unsuspecting visitors into providing their email login credentials. It has logos of reputable, well-known antivirus programs at the bottom of the page, however, none have anything to do with this phishing website.

Typically, scammers behind phishing websites seek to steal login credentials (of email, social media, banking, and other accounts) or other sensitive, confidential information. In most cases, they design the websites to appear as legitimate, trustworthy websites.

In this particular case, the Online Virus Scanner phishing website is disguised as a page designed to scan computers for threats using legitimate anti-malware engines (such as Avast, Norton, AVG, Symantec, etc.). This deceptive website performs a fake scan and then asks users to enter email credentials.

Its main purpose is to steal email accounts. Scammers/cyber criminals responsible can misuse stolen accounts to send malicious spam email (malspam) to other users, email scams, and access confidential emails that might contain sensitive information such as login credentials of other accounts, credit card details, etc.

They may also try to use stolen email credentials to log into other accounts - in some cases, they use identical login credentials for multiple accounts. In any case, ignore this phishing website, and the same applies to others of this kind.

Threat Summary:

Name	Online Virus Scanner phishing website
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud.
Supposed Functionality	Removal of viruses using reputable detection engines.
Symptoms	Hoax computer scan.
Distribution methods	Compromised websites, rogue online pop-up ads, potentially unwanted applications.
Damage	Loss of sensitive private information, identity theft, possible malware infections.
Malware Removal (Windows)	To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your computer with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Combo Cleaner. ▼ Download Combo Cleaner To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

More examples of phishing scams are "Spotify Email Scam", "SendGrid Email Scam" and "GitHub Email Scam". In most cases, cyber criminals use phishing techniques to trick users into providing sensitive, confidential information via email, text messages, websites or advertisements.

Typically, users do not visit phishing websites intentionally - they are mostly opened through other untrusted pages, deceptive advertisements or by installed potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) that users often download and install unintentionally.

How did potentially unwanted applications install on my computer?

Users often download and install PUAs when they click deceptive advertisements or download and install their programs without changing settings that are available in the set-ups. Developers distribute PUAs by including them into the set-ups of other programs as 'additional offers', which can be found (and declined) in "Advanced", "Custom", and other settings.

Many users fail to even check these settings, thereby accepting offers to download and install included applications. This distribution method is called "bundling". Clicking ads can also cause unwanted downloads and installations when they execute certain scripts.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications

Check all "Custom", "Advanced", and other settings, and decline offers to download or install additional, unwanted apps. Programs, files should be downloaded only from official pages and via direct links. It is not safe to use unofficial websites, Peer-to-Peer networks (e.g., torrent clients, eMule), third party downloaders or other sources/tools.

Also avoid third party installers. Do not click ads that appear on untrusted, dubious pages, since they often promote other pages of this kind or even cause unwanted downloads and installations. Remove any unknown, unwanted extensions, plug-ins and add-ons that are installed on the browser, and programs of this kind are installed on the operating system.

If your computer is already infected with PUAs, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate them.

The appearance of Online Virus Scanner phishing website (GIF):

Text in this website:

Online Virus Scanner

User Authentication

Confirm your account below to complete Email scan & delete infected all files
Email
Password
Complete Scan >>

Instant automatic malware removal: Manual threat removal might be a lengthy and complicated process that requires advanced IT skills. Combo Cleaner is a professional automatic malware removal tool that is recommended to get rid of malware. Download it by clicking the button below:
▼ DOWNLOAD Combo Cleaner By downloading any software listed on this website you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

Quick menu:

• What is "Online Virus Scanner"?
• STEP 1. Uninstall deceptive applications using Control Panel.
• STEP 2. Remove rogue extensions from Google Chrome.
• STEP 3. Remove potentially unwanted plug-ins from Mozilla Firefox.
• STEP 4. Remove rogue extensions from Safari.
• STEP 5. Remove rogue plug-ins from Microsoft Edge.
• STEP 6. Remove adware from Internet Explorer.

Removal of potentially unwanted applications:

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 any suspicious/recently-installed applications, select these entries and click "Uninstall" or "Remove".

After uninstalling the potentially unwanted application, scan your computer for any remaining unwanted components or possible malware infections. To scan your computer, use recommended malware removal software.

Remove rogue extensions from Internet browsers:

Video showing how to remove potentially unwanted browser add-ons:

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 online virus scanner phishing website, 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 on "Extensions", in the opened window remove all recently-installed suspicious browser plug-ins.

Optional method:

Computer users who have problems with online virus scanner phishing website 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 online virus scanner phishing website, 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.

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 online virus scanner phishing website, 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.

Summary:

Commonly, adware or potentially unwanted applications infiltrate Internet browsers through free software downloads. Note that the safest source for downloading free software is via developers' websites only. To avoid installation of adware, be very attentive when downloading and installing free software. When installing previously-downloaded free programs, choose the custom or advanced installation options – this step will reveal any potentially unwanted applications listed for installation together with your chosen free program.

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