You’re most probably on this page due to a recent infection with a program called the Mediasource.online Virus on your computer. If this is so, the chances are that you might have already experienced the downpour of rage-inducing offers that this kind of unwanted software delivers and must be wondering how to deal with them. You may have also come across the term Browser Hijacker – software, used for aggressive ads generation – and that’s exactly the type of software you are dealing with currently. Some of the most likely side effects of having this software on your PC, aside from the ads may include a change in the browser’s front page or search engine, as well as the automatic page-redirects to different sponsored sites. On this page, however, you’ll find a guide that can assist you to uninstall those changes and remove Mediasource.online in a fast and reliable manner.
Now, it is common for most of the people who face Browser Hijackers to incorrectly believe their system has become a victim of a malicious program. That’s why if you are reading this, you also might like to learn if Mediasource.online is a virus or not. Fortunately, there is a significant difference between ad-generating programs like this one and computer viruses and here we will explain it. Computer viruses are destructive pieces of computer code written for a specialized job – for example, spying, data destruction, and others. Ransomware is a type of harmful virus we can use as an example. This malware will lock all personal files in the PC and blackmail its victims for ransom money for their rescue. Hopefully, with this illustration, you can make the contrast between the dangerous nature of a software virus and the frustrating, but predominantly safer behavior of a Browser Hijacker like Mediasource.online, Site-great.xyz or www2.savemax.store . At its worst, the hijacker may only spam your screen with potentially unwanted ads, banners, and pop-ups but it is unlikely to cause any system damage or file theft. Nonetheless, none of this is to claim that Mediasource.online should not be removed. The annoyance and the constant disturbance such an app may create in the long run may result in your inability to browse the web in peace. Moreover, interacting with the Pop-ups displayed by the hijacker may be a really bad idea. Some of them may not even be reliable. They might redirect you to all sorts of different websites promoting sponsored items. For instance, you may come across ads that pretend to offer goods from Internet shops you are currently using but the moment you click on them, they may redirect you to a completely different site. It might get even worse if those ads link to potentially harmful or attack sites. In such cases, you may land on scam messages that are attempting to sell you anti-malware or System optimization programs by generating Adverts which seem like computer errors or other issues. And since it could be difficult to recognize an actual error from a made-up one, the most effective approach, when encountered with such messages, is to get rid of them as soon as you can and uninstall the software that generates them.
SUMMARY:
| Name | Mediasource.online |
| Type | Browser Hijacker |
| Danger Level | Medium (nowhere near threats like Ransomware, but still a security risk) |
| Symptoms | Various sponsored ads, pop-ups, and redirect links may cover your screen during your browsing sessions. |
| Distribution Method | Software bundles, ads, torrents, spam messages, free downloads, automatic updates, shareware sites. |
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Remove Mediasource.online Pop up “Virus”
Mediasource.online Android Removal guide
Mediasource.online Mac Removal guide.
The following guide is only for windows users, it will help our readers get rid of the unpleasant Mediasource.online software. Follow the instructions and complete each step for best results. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them using our comment section down below.
Preparation: Entering Safe Mode and Revealing Hidden Files and Folders
Before you proceed with the actual removal instructions, you will need to take two extra steps in order to ensure that the guide has maximum effect.
For best results, we advise our readers to boot into Safe Mode prior to attempting to remove Mediasource.online. If you do not know how to do that, here is a separate How to Enter Safe Mode guide.
Also, in order to be able to see any potentially undesirable files, you should reveal any hidden files and folders on your PC – here is how to do that.
Removing Mediasource.online From Windows
Step 1: Checking the Task Manager
Before we start deleting files related to Mediasource.online we want to make sure that all services related to the viruses are killed before we proceed.
Open your Task Manager by using the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys and go to the Processes tab. Look for any suspicious processes. For example, any unfamiliar process that uses high amounts of RAM and/or CPU. If you aren’t sure if a certain process comes from malware, tell us in the comments.
Right-click on any process that you consider shady and select Open File Location. Delete anything from the file location of the process.
Step 2: Disabling Startup programs
Use the Winkey + R keyboard combination to open the Run search bar and type msconfig. Hit Enter and in the newly opened window, go to the Startup tab. There, look for suspicious entries with unknown manufacturer or ones that have the name Mediasource.online on them. Right-click on those, and select disable.
Step 3: Uninstalling unwanted programs
Go to Start Menu > Control Panel > Uninstall a Program. Click on Installed On to sort the entries by date from most recent to oldest and look through the programs that come at the top of the list. Right-click on any entries that appear shady and unwanted and then select Uninstall to remove them from your PC. If you see the name Mediasource.online in the list of programs, be sure to remove the software without hesitation.
Step 4: Checking for shady IP’s
Open your Start Menu and copy-paste notepad %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/hosts in the search bar. In the notepad file, look below Localhost and see if there are any IP addresses there. If there are some, send them to us in the comments and we will tell you if you should take any action. [add_forth_banner]
Step 5: Cleaning-up the browsers
You will also have to uninstall any undesirable browser extensions from your browser programs. Here’s how to do that for some of the more popular browsers:
Getting rid of Mediasource.online from Chrome
Open Chrome and open its main menu. Go to More Tools > Extensions. Look through the list of extensions and uninstall any that you think could be suspicious. To remove them – click on the trash can icon next to each extension.
You can also use a specialized Chrome CleanUp tool if you cannot manually remove a certain extension. Here is an article where you can learn more about the CleanUp tool.
Removing Mediasource.online From Firefox
Open Firefox and go to its Menu. Select the Add-ons button.From the left panel, select Extensions and take a look at the different entries. Remove any of the that might be unwanted.
Removing Mediasource.online From Windows Internet Explorer
Once you open your IE browser, click on the Tools button at the top-right corner of the program and from the drop-down menu select Manage Add-ons. Check each one of the four different groups of add-ons and search for anything that seems undesirable. If you find anything, click on it and them select Remove.
Removing Mediasource.online From Windows Edge
Open the main menu of Microsoft Edge and go to Extensions. Find the extensions that you believe could be unwanted and right-click on them. Then, select Uninstall.
Step 6: Checking the Registry Editor
Open the Run search bar again and type regedit in it. Hit Enter and once the Registry Editor opens press Ctrl + F. In the search field type Mediasource.online and click on Find Next. Tell us in the comments if any results came up when you searched for Mediasource.online in your PC’s Registry.
Step 7: Deleting recent entries
For this step, you will have to open your Start Menu and copy-paste the following lines, one by one:
- %AppData%
- %LocalAppData%
- %ProgramData%
- %WinDir%
- %Temp%
Hit Enter after each one to open a file directory. In the directories, delete the most recent entries that you find there. In the Temp folder, delete all files.
Step 8: System Restore
In order to be fully sure that the unwanted software has been removed from your machine, you can also try using a Restore Point to roll back your system its last stable configuration. However, in order to do that, you would have to previously had had a restore point created. On most systems, such points get created automatically but this isn’t always the case.
- If you want to learn how to configure System Restore and how to manually create Restore Points, follow this link.
- Open your Start Menu and type System Restore.
- Click on the first result – a setup wizard should open.
- Read the brief description of the process and select Next.
- Now, choose a restore from the presented list. You can also check the Show more restore points option in order to reveal any other restore points that might be saved on your PC.
- Click on Scan for affected programs to see what programs will get deleted or restored after you use the Restore Point. (optional)
- Click on next and take and then select Finish.
- A warning window will appear telling you that once the process starts, it shouldn’t be interrupted. Select Yes and be patient as this might take some time. Do not do anything on your PC throughout the duration of the process.
Step 9: Windows Refresh/Reset
Use this method only if nothing else has worked so far as it is a last resort option. If you do not know how to do it, this separate guide will give you the information that you need.
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