How to stop redirects to and from critical-alert.info

What is critical-alert[.]info?

Sharing many similarities with espublicaldru.info, doswinuba.com, vildq.com and thousands of others, critical-alert[.]info is a rogue website. Visitors are presented with dubious content and/or are redirected to other dubious or possibly malicious pages.

Few users access these web pages intentionally - most are redirected to them by intrusive ads or by Potentially Unwanted Applications (PUAs). These apps do not need explicit user consent to be installed onto systems. PUAs cause redirects, run intrusive advertisement campaigns and gather browsing-related information.

Once accessed, critical-alert[.]info checks visitors' IP (Internet Protocol) addresses to learn their geolocations. The latter is crucial in determining the website's behavior. Therefore, whether users are redirected elsewhere and/or are presented with dubious material depends on their geolocations.

Furthermore, as with most sites of this type, critical-alert[.]info uses deceptive tactics to trick visitors into allowing its browser notifications. The web page states that "To access to the video, click Allow". Should these notifications be enabled, critical-alert[.]info starts running intrusive ad campaigns.

The delivered advertisements are more than just a nuisance, they are also a threat to device integrity and user privacy. When clicked, intrusive ads can redirect to various untrusted/malicious websites and some can even stealthily download/install software (e.g. PUAs).

These unwanted applications can have varied capabilities and they can be in different combinations. They can force-open dubious/malicious sites and deliver intrusive ad campaigns.

Furthermore, most PUAs can track data. They monitor browsing activity (URLs visited, pages viewed, search queries typed, etc.) and gather sensitive information extracted from it (IP addresses, geolocations and other details). The collected data typically contains personally identifiable information.

PUA developers monetize this information by sharing it with and/or selling it to third parties (potentially, cyber criminals). To summarize, the presence of unwanted software on devices can result in system infections, serious privacy issues, financial loss and even identity theft.

To protect device and user safety, all suspect applications and browser extensions/plug-ins must be removed immediately upon detection.

Threat Summary:

Name	critical-alert.info pop-up
Threat Type	Push notifications ads, Unwanted ads, Pop-up ads.
Detection Names	ESET (Malware), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal).
Serving IP Address	213.227.145.147
Observed Domains	71tia.critical-alert[.]info; wadow.critical-alert[.]info; rmask.critical-alert[.]info; ffp3y.critical-alert[.]info; cuvid.critical-alert[.]info; lffp3.critical-alert[.]info; mgpfq.critical-alert[.]info; c2zhl.critical-alert[.]info; waeo9.critical-alert[.]info; 04xbo.critical-alert[.]info
Symptoms	Seeing advertisements not originating from the sites you are browsing. Intrusive pop-up ads. Decreased Internet browsing speed.
Distribution Methods	Deceptive pop-up ads, potentially unwanted applications (adware).
Damage	Decreased computer performance, browser tracking - privacy issues, possible additional 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.

PUAs may seem legitimate and useful. They entice users into download/installation and/or purchase with a broad range of functionality, yet despite how good these features may sound, they are rarely operational. The only purpose of this unwanted software is to generate revenue for the developers.

Regular users receive no real value and can instead experience serious problems. PUAs operate by causing redirects, running intrusive advertisement campaigns and collect private data.

How did adware install on my computer?

PUAs are often downloaded/installed together with other products. This deceptive marketing technique of pre-packing regular software with unwanted or malicious additions is called "bundling".

By rushing through download/installation of software (e.g. ignoring terms, skipping steps and sections, using "Quick/Express" settings, etc.) many users risk unintentionally allowing bundled content into their devices. Intrusive advertisements proliferate PUAs as well.

When clicked, the ads can execute scripts to download/install these applications without users' permission. Some PUAs have "official" download web pages from which they can be downloaded.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications

You are advised to research all software before download/installation. Use only official and verified download channels. Unofficial and free file-hosting websites, Peer-to-Peer sharing networks (BitTorrent, Gnutella, eMule), and other third party downloaders commonly offer harmful and bundled content, and are therefore untrusted and should be avoided.

When downloading/installing, read the terms, study all possible options, use the "Custom/Advanced" settings and opt-out of additional apps, tools, features, and so on. Intrusive advertisements typically seem legitimate, however, they can redirect to dubious and malicious sites (e.g. gambling, pornography, adult-dating, and many others).

If you encounter ads or redirects of this kind, inspect the system and remove all dubious applications and browser extensions/plug-ins immediately. If your computer is already infected with rogue applications, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate them.

Appearance of critical-alert[.]info website (GIF):

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 critical-alert.info pop-up?
• STEP 1. Remove spam notifications from Google Chrome
• STEP 2. Remove spam notifications from Google Chrome (Android)
• STEP 3. Remove spam notifications from Mozilla Firefox
• STEP 4. Remove spam notifications from Microsoft Edge
• STEP 5. Remove spam notifications from Safari (macOS)

Disable unwanted browser notifications:

Video showing how to disable web browser notifications:

Remove spam notifications from Google Chrome:

Click the Menu button (three dots) on the right upper corner of the screen and select "Settings". In the opened window select "Privacy and security", then click on "Site Settings" and choose "Notifications".

In the "Allowed to send notifications" list search for websites that you want to stop receiving notifications from. Click on the three dots icon near the website URL and click "Block" or "Remove" (if you click "Remove" and visit the malicious site once more, it will ask to enable notifications again).

Remove spam notifications from Google Chrome (Android):

Tap the Menu button (three dots) on the right upper corner of the screen and select "Settings". Scroll down, tap on "Site settings" and then "Notifications".

In the opened window, locate all suspicious URLs and tap on them one-by-one. Once the pop-up shows up, select either "Block" or "Remove" (if you tap "Remove" and visit the malicious site once more, it will ask to enable notifications again).

Remove spam notifications from Mozilla Firefox:

Click the Menu button (three bars) on the right upper corner of the screen. Select "Settings" and click on "Privacy & Security" in the toolbar on the left hand side of the screen. Scroll down to the "Permissions" section and click the "Settings" button next to "Notifications".

In the opened window, locate all suspicious URLs and block them using the drop-down menu or either remove them by clicking "Remove Website" at the bottom of the window (if you click "Remove Website" and visit the malicious site once more, it will ask to enable notifications again).

Remove spam notifications from Microsoft Edge:

Click the menu button (three dots) on the right upper corner of the Edge window and select "Settings". Click on "Cookies and site permissions" in the toolbar on the left hand side of the screen and select "Notifications".

Click three dots on the right hand side of each suspicious URL under "Allow" section and click "Block" or "Remove" (if you click "Remove" and visit the malicious site once more, it will ask to enable notifications again).

Remove spam notifications from Safari (macOS):

Click "Safari" button on the left upper corner of the screen and select "Preferences...". Select the "Websites" tab and then select "Notifications" section on the left pane.

Check for suspicious URLs and apply the "Deny" option using the drop-down menu or either remove them by clicking "Remove" at the bottom of the window (if you click "Remove" and visit the malicious site once more, it will ask to enable notifications again)

How to avoid browser notification spam?

Internet users should be very skeptical when being asked to allow notifications. While this is a useful feature that allows you to receive timely news from websites you like, deceptive marketers frequently abuse it.

Only allow notifications from websites that you fully trust. For added security - use an anti-malware application with a real-time web browsing monitor to block shady websites that tries to trick you into allowing spam notifications. We recommend using Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows.

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