Ads by Altonav

What is Altonav?

Altonav is a deceptive application claiming to improve the Internet browsing experience by allowing users to access websites without entering the full URL. In addition, Altonav supposedly helps to save time and money when shopping online by displaying coupons, special deals/discounts within online stores, and enabling comparison shopping features.

Initially, Altonav might seem a legitimate and useful application, however, by offering these useful features, Altonav is designed to give the impression of credible software. In fact, it is an advertising-generating, information tracking adware-type application that infiltrates systems without users' permission.

Following successful infiltration, Altonav delivers coupon, pop-up, and other similar intrusive online advertisements. It employs a virtual layer (a tool allowing placement of third party content on any visited websites), and thus, none of these ads originate from users' visited sites.

Furthermore, by concealing underlying content, they significantly diminish the Internet browsing experience. Most redirect to e-commerce websites (such as online stores), however, be aware that some will redirect to malicious sites contain infectious content.

Accidental clicks on these ads can result in a high-risk adware or malware infections. In addition, users' Internet browsing activity is continually monitored, since Altonav collects various information including Internet Protocol (IP) addresses (to determine geographic location), website URLs visited, pages viewed, search queries, and other Internet browsing-related information.

This information may seem insignificant, however, some of these data types can include personally identifiable details that developers share with third parties (who misuse the information to generate revenue).

Therefore, having Altonav installed on your system is risky and can lead to serious privacy issues or even identity theft. We strongly recommend that you uninstall this application immediately.

Adware-type applications have similar behavior. There are hundreds of potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) virtually identically to Altonav including StreamX, LuckySave, and Vital Browser Helper. Adware-type applications are designed to trick users to install by offering a number of useful features.

Yet, after successful infiltration, these applications simply generate intrusive online advertisements and collect personal data. Their purpose is to generate revenue for the developers, with no real value provided to users.

How did Altonav install on my computer?

This application is free for anyone to download on its official website, however, most users install it inadvertently due to a deceptive software marketing method called 'bundling' - stealth installation of PUPs with regular software/apps. Developers intentionally hide rogue applications within the 'Custom' or 'Advanced' settings (which users often skip).

By not expressing enough caution, and rushing the download/installation procedures, they install deceptive applications inadvertently and expose their systems to risk of infection.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications?

Bogus applications are usually concealed, and therefore, it is important to pay close attention during the download and installation processes. Select the 'Custom' or 'Advanced' options and closely analyze each step when downloading and installing software.

Furthermore, never accept offers to download or install additional software - in doing so, you will expose your system to risk of infection.

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Quick menu:

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

Altonav 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 "Altonav", select this entry and click "Uninstall" or "Remove".

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

Remove Altonav adware from Internet browsers:

At time of research, Altonav 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 altonav 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 altonav 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 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 altonav 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 altonav 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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