How to stop a web browser from opening wholeactualjournal.com?

What is wholeactualjournal[.]com?

Wholeactualjournal[.]com is one of the many websites designed to display questionable, often deceptive content and promote a variety of shady pages (its functionality depends on visitor's IP address). It is similar to bigclik[.]club, akemewelsu[.]biz, gate15[.]xyz, and a great deal of other pages.

Most of these websites get opened through unreliable sites, dubious advertisements or potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) that most users download or install unknowingly. In other words, it is uncommon for pages like wholeactualjournal[.]com to be visited on purpose.

It is common that websites like wholeactualjournal[.]com open download pages for PUAs (e.g., adware, browser hijackers and other apps of this kind, potentially malicious sites, pages designed to collect personal information, and so on. A couple of examples of websites that sites like wholeactualjournal[.]com can be designed to open are "Important Defender Update Available", "McAfee Tollfree", "Instagram Copyright Infringement".

Another detail about these pages is that most of them use some clickbait technique to trick visitors into clicking the "Allow" (into agreeing to receive their notifications). For instance, they display a fake CAPTCHA test suggesting that by clicking the "Allow" button, visitors will prove that they are not robots.

Wholeactualjournal[.]com displays a message saying that visitors have to click that button to continue watching some video. Typically, notifications displayed by websites like wholeactualjournal[.]com are used to advertise unwanted software, questionable web pages, etc.

A couple of examples of notifications that the wholeactualjournal[.]com displays are provided below. As mentioned in the first paragraph, it is common for pages like wholeactualjournal[.]com to be promoted via potentially unwanted applications.

Apps of this kind tend to be designed to gather IP addresses, geolocations, entered search queries, addresses of visited pages, etc.), and even sensitive information. The problem with it is that individuals behind those apps are likely to sell gathered information to third parties (potentially cybercriminals), use it for marketing purposes, or use other ways to monetize it.

Also, there are many PUAs that are monetized by designing them to generate advertisements (e.g., banners, coupons, pop-up ads, surveys). More often than not, those ads are used to advertise untrustworthy websites.

In some cases, they are designed to cause unwanted downloads or installations by running certain scripts.

Threat Summary:

Name	Ads by wholeactualjournal.com
Threat Type	Push notifications ads, Unwanted ads, Pop-up ads
Serving IP Address	139.45.197.190
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.

To summarize, pages like wholeactualjournal[.]com should not be visited, and potentially unwanted applications should not be installed. It is worthwhile to mention that PUAs can be advertised as legitimate, useful.

Although, most of them have one goal - to generate revenue for their developers. Most PUAs are useless to their users and can cause them various problems.

If a browser often opens wholeactualjournal[.]com or other untrustworthy websites often, it likely has some unwanted app installed on it. As mentioned in the first paragraph, most users download and install apps of this kind unknowingly.

How did adware install on my computer?

One of the popular ways to distribute potentially unwanted applications is by using a marketing method called "bundling". In such cases, apps of this kind can be found in downloaders and installers for other programs as extra/additional offers.

Usually, such offers can be declined using "Advanced", "Custom" or similar settings, or by unticking ticked checkboxes that downloaders, installers bundled with PUAs have in them. When users download or install programs without changing those settings, they download or install offered applications too.

Another deceptive way to trick users into downloading or installing PUAs is by designing advertisements to execute certain scripts. Users cause unexpected downloads, installations by clicking those ads.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications?

Programs (and files) should be downloaded from trustworthy, official websites and through direct links. It is not safe to trust third-party downloaders, Peer-to-Peer networks (like torrent clients, eMule, etc.), unofficial web pages, and other sources of this kind.

They can be used to distribute PUAs and malicious software. Third-party installers can be designed to install unwanted software too.

Downloaders and installers with checkboxes, "Advanced", "Custom" or other settings are likely to be bundled with potentially unwanted applications. Therefore, it is advisable to check them for unwanted offers and decline them before finishing downloads, installations.

Advertisements on questionable websites can be designed to open untrustworthy websites or cause unwanted downloads, installations. Therefore, it is recommended not to click those ads as well.

Any unwanted, suspicious extensions, add-ons, or plug-ins installed on a web browser should be removed from it. The same should be done with software of this kind installed on the operating system.

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 wholeactualjournal[.]com website (GIF):

Notifications from wholeactualjournal[.]com:

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 Ads by wholeactualjournal.com?
• 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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