Ads by Shop Smart

What is Shop Smart?

Shop Smart is a bogus browser extension claiming to save time and money by enabling comparison shopping, coupons, and displaying special deals/discounts available within online stores. Although this functionality seem legitimate and useful, this application is categorized as adware and potentially unwanted program (PUP).

The main reason for these negative associations is a deceptive software marketing method called 'bundling' used to distribute the Shop Smart app.

Bundling allows developers to stealthily distribute their applications together with regular software, and therefore, users often inadvertently install PUPs such as Shop Smart during download of free software from freeware download websites.

Once installed on Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox, ShopSmart displays intrusive online advertisements that often redirect to bogus websites. Most of these websites contain infectious content and clicking on the generated ads exposes your computer to risk of infection.

Furthermore, Shop Smart gathers various Internet browsing-related information including IP addresses, search queries, websites visited, and pages viewed. This information is mostly related to software or hardware, however, it may also contain personally identifiable details.

Thus, having Shop Smart installed on your system can lead to serious privacy issues or even identity theft. There are many adware-type apps offering similar or identical functionality to ShopSmart. PriceMinus, Find-A-Deal, and PayYou are just some examples from a long list of rogue applications promising to enable features to improve the Internet browsing experience.

Although these claims may seem valid, none of these applications, including Shop Smart, deliver any real value to the user - they are developed simply to generate revenue by the display of intrusive online ads and sharing collected data with third parties. For these reasons, you are strongly advised to uninstall ShopSmart from your system immediately.

Close analysis of Shop Smart reveals that this adware is often distributed using small 'download programs' (also called 'installers', 'download managers', 'download clients', etc.) that are employed by freeware download websites including download.com, soft32.com, and softonic.com.

The developers claim that these applications ease the download process, however, their purpose is to monetize freeware download websites' traffic and free services by offering installation of third party apps together with the chosen software. These additional programs are sometimes hidden under the 'Custom' or 'Advanced' download/installation options.

The developers make assurances that their promoted applications are '100% legitimate and virus-free', however, most are adware or malware. Computer infections such as these can be avoided by paying close attention during the download of free software and unchecking any bundled applications included.

Furthermore, downloaded programs should be installed using the 'Custom' or 'Advanced' options - this will reveal any concealed third party apps listed for installation and allow you to opt-out. If you have installed ShopSmart, follow the instructions below to uninstall this rogue app from your system.

Intrusive online advertisements generated by Shop Smart adware:

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Quick menu:

• What is Shop Smart?
• STEP 1. Uninstall Shop Smart application using Control Panel.
• STEP 2. Remove Shop Smart adware from Internet Explorer.
• STEP 3. Remove Shop Smart ads from Google Chrome.
• STEP 4. Remove 'Ads by Shop Smart' from Mozilla Firefox.
• STEP 5. Remove Shop Smart adware from Safari.
• STEP 6. Remove rogue plug-ins from Microsoft Edge.

Shop Smart 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 "Shop Smart", select this entry and click "Uninstall" or "Remove".

After uninstalling the potentially unwanted program that causes Shop Smart ads, scan your computer for any remaining unwanted components or possible malware infections. To scan your computer, use recommended malware removal software.

Remove Shop Smart adware from Internet browsers:

At time of research, ShopSmart 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 shopsmart adware, 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 "Tools" and click "Extensions". Locate all recently-installed suspicious browser add-ons, select these entries and click the trash can icon.

Optional method:

If you continue to have problems with removal of the shopsmart adware, 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 plugins 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 shopsmart adware 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 shopsmart adware, 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.

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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