These days there’s no escaping the constant stream of adverts that we are bombarded with in our day to day existences but it’s not just magazines and television that are constantly selling to us – even our computers are in on the act too!
Many websites run advertising, whether it’s banners for their own products or for another company, or Google ads. However you may have also noticed the increasing existence of pop-up adverts which thanks to advertising-supported software (normally known as adware) is a software package that downloads, displays or plays an advert for a product or service on your computer, including pop-up ads from ad.xtendmedia.
If we’re being honest the majority of us find pop-up ads pretty irritating. Most of us don’t give them any more than a cursory glance – normally followed with an irritable “Go away!” The strange thing is though that they must be at least a little effective because companies certainly seem to keep on using them as a means of advertising.
But that’s not all there is to adware and you shouldn’t be fooled into thinking that pop-ups are merely trying to sell you something as besides generating income for their creator, adware can also be used to install unwanted software – or worse, Spyware - onto your PC.
Spyware, as the name suggests is software which monitors, or more accurately, spies, upon you and it can have two functions: some spyware gathers data about your computer usage and which websites you use so that it can tailor further adverts to your interests (thus making you more likely to click on them) but other spyware has a little more than marketing in mind. Of course, this isn't the case because ad.xtendmedia doesn't collect any sensitive or personally identifiable information. But still, you should not the risks of adware and spyware infections.
Unscrupulous makers of adware that is bundled with spyware will either use this data to further their own gain or sell the information on to a third party. Malicious spyware can also corrupt the files and documents that you have stored on your computer.
It must be pointed out that not all adware is malware and when it isn’t being used to steal data it has most likely been created so that the developer of a website can recoup some of their costs. Sometimes it may be given to the user for free or at least at a reduced price with income being derived from the adverts meaning that the software developer is more likely to develop and maintain the software product and create regular upgrades.
Some adware might be what is known as shareware – also sometimes called trialware or demoware. Shareware is software which you will only be given a sample of for a limited time period. It is usually also only a ‘sneak preview’ of the full software package and used to whet our appetites and make us want to purchase the full package. Shareware software will hint at the amazing things that the real deal has to offer whilst giving us a little taster of the benefits we could experience if the full package was downloaded. Take email for example; an email program might have something called an adware mode integrated in their coding. You’ll download this new email inbox, enjoy using your account with all of its functions and benefits however once your trial period is up you’ll then be given three choices. Use your account as it now is in its diminished (and probably annoying!) version, get the full upgrade for free BUT with adverts and pop-up windows, or finally you can get the full version with all features and no adverts – but for a price.
So as we’ve seen some adware is simply irritating, some sucks us in to paying for something we perhaps never knew we wanted and could very likely get for free (should you really be paying for your email account…) and other adware is bundled with unwanted software such as spyware which can do great damage. So how do you protect yourself from the nuisance and potential danger caused by ad.xtendmedia? The answer is simple; install the best antivirus software you can find on your computer and make sure it’s always bang up to date! What is more, I will show how to opt-our from ad.xtendmedia service and how to disable digital identifiers and tracking cookies.
To remove ad.xtendmedia from your computer, please follow the removal instructions below. If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave a comment below. I will try to help you or answers your questions. Good luck and be safe online!
Written by Michael Kaur, http://deletemalware.blogspot.com
ad.xtendmedia removal instructions:
1. First of all, download recommended 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 browser hijacker. Hopefully you won't have to do that.
2. Uninstall recently installed web browser toolbars and other web browser add-ons. You should also remove recently installed software, especially freeware and shareware because there's a good chance that the popups and ad.xtendmedia redirects you are experiencing are caused by either these programs or web browser add-ons that came with them.
3. Opt-out from ad.xtendmedia here: http://xtendmedia.com/opt-out
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