Here's an example of an Asian brides advertisement (blurred) displayed by the OnlineBrowserAdvertising adware. Ads are usually labeled as "Ads by OnlineBrowserAdvertising".
If you want to stay as safe in your online life as possible there are a few things you need to know about adware and Potentially Unwanted Programs, otherwise known as PUPs. Firstly, despite being only potentially unwanted – and therefore by default, potentially wanted - in the majority of cases, a PUP is normally not much more than an irritant and is more often than not, not particularly useful either. Unless, of course, you don't mind that your web browser is plagued by unwanted ads and pop-ups pushing dodgy services and products. Please note that adware and PUPs also make hundreds of http connections to ad servers therefore making websites load slower.
Having said that, although we think we know everything about defending ourselves and our data from online theft and fraud, the problem is that as hackers and spammers get increasingly inventive, none of us really know when we could be hit by a virus or malware that could really do us some damage. OnlineBrowserAdvertising and similar adware programs are generally seen as less harmful than other types of malicious software, but again, how can we really be sure that unwanted software on your machine is not going to cause any problems?
PUPs benefit the developer – not you
They may not be rogue antivirus software, a Trojan horse, or ransomware but adware and PUPs can still leave you vulnerable to security risks. The very fact that they sneak onto your PC without being massively open or honest about it speaks volumes about their true intent. The fact is, that so-called helpful new tool bar has been created with an agenda in mind – and that's to redirect your web searches to websites that the developer wants you to visit. Sorry to break it to you but they don't really care if they're making your user experience any easier.What is the OnlineBrowserAdvertising method of installation?
It's probably fair to say that the majority of us don't pay too much attention to license agreements and terms and conditions when we're downloading programs or software from the Internet. We're all guilty of being so eager to download that must have program or software update that we skip through these T's & C's without reading them. And therein lies the problem. OnlineBrowserAdvertising manages to avoid being labeled as malware because it does not technically fall into the malicious software category – believe it or not some people actually find it useful.The developers of adware argue that they are not malware because they state the presence of the adware in the license agreement. While this cannot be denied, the fact is that any mention of the adware or PUP is usually shrouded in ambiguous wording and/or has the boxes saying that you'd like to install it already pre-checked.
But End User License Agreements are boring!
I'm not going to argue with you about that! But that could be the reason that you're reading this. We agree that reading the small print is tedious – but so then is the frustration of being constantly redirected to websites you don't want to visit and getting rid of annoying pop-ups and ads by OnlineBrowserAdvertising.So what's the moral of the story? The point is that when you're downloading something (and remember PUPs can be bundled with ANY program – both legitimate and not so) to always read the license agreement careful so you're well informed about exactly what you’re installing.
If you have questions, leave a down comment below. I will be more than happy to help you. Good luck and be safe online!
Written by Michael Kaur, http://deletemalware.blogspot.com
OnlineBrowserAdvertising Removal Guide:
1. First of all, download anti-malware software and run a full system scan. It will detect and remove this infection from your computer. You may then follow the manual removal instructions below to remove the leftover traces of this malware. Hopefully you won't have to do that.
2. Remove OnlineBrowserAdvertising related programs from your computer using the Add/Remove Programs control panel (Windows XP) or Uninstall a program control panel (Windows 7 and Windows 8).
Go to the Start Menu. Select Control Panel → Add/Remove Programs.
If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, select Control Panel → Uninstall a Program.
If you are using Windows 8, simply drag your mouse pointer to the right edge of the screen, select Search from the list and search for "control panel".
Or you can right-click on a bottom left hot corner (formerly known as the Start button) and select Control panel from there.
3. When the Add/Remove Programs or the Uninstall a Program screen is displayed, scroll through the list of currently installed programs and remove the following:
- MediaPlayerplus
- VideoBuzz
- TidyNetwork
- OnlineBrowserAdvertising
- and any other recently installed application
Simply select each application and click Remove. If you are using Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8, click Uninstall up near the top of that window. When you're done, please close the Control Panel screen.
Remove OnlineBrowserAdvertising related extensions from Google Chrome:
1. Click on Chrome menu button. Go to Tools → Extensions.
2. Click on the trashcan icon to remove MediaPlayerplus, VideoBuzz, TidyNetwork, OnlineBrowserAdvertising and other extensions that you do not recognize.
If the removal option is grayed out then read how to remove extensions installed by enterprise policy.
Remove OnlineBrowserAdvertising related extensions from Mozilla Firefox:
1. Open Mozilla Firefox. Go to Tools → Add-ons.
2. Select Extensions. Click Remove button to remove MediaPlayerplus, VideoBuzz, TidyNetwork, OnlineBrowserAdvertising and other extensions that you do not recognize.
Remove OnlineBrowserAdvertising related add-ons from Internet Explorer:
1. Open Internet Explorer. Go to Tools → Manage Add-ons. If you have the latest version, simply click on the Settings button.
2. Select Toolbars and Extensions. Click Remove/Disable button to remove the browser add-ons listed above.
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