The internet is full of scammers that are always keen to make quick profits from unsuspecting victims. Some of these scams even use legitimate and legal websites to confuse people and exploit them, once they fall into their trap. Helpme.net Scam is no different and uses a similar method to target its victims.
The scam cleverly uses a tech support service to target internet users. It had become dormant some years ago but has started to surface again recently. The scam shows up as a tech support alert, and if anyone tries to access the website, he or she is redirected to fastsupport.com.
Although fastsupport.com is a legitimate platform, some hackers use it to gain unsolicited access to a targeted computer. After the hacker gains access to your computer, he can take over its controls and use it as he pleases.
Needless to say, the Helpme.net Scam is dangerous and should be removed from your computer as soon as possible.
Here we will give our readers an overall description of how the scam works, and you can learn how to avoid the scam altogether. Besides that, this article contains a comprehensive Helpme.net scam removal guide that has a step-by-step procedure for removing this virus.
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First of all, the scammers need to establish contact with their potential victim. They can do that in a number of ways. For instance, users can receive a pop-up message asking them to call a representative of Microsoft or any other major service they are using. This supposed tech-support representative will then tell you that there is some issue with your machine.
It’s likely that this agent will claim that your computer suffers from critical security vulnerabilities, dangerous malware infections, or needs some important software update. He or she will then say that the only way to resolve those issues is to follow all instructions to the last bit.
Other times, the victim will see a message that their Windows license has expired or a pop-up saying that their PC will get blocked if they don’t act soon. They will also provide a number which belongs to these scammers. Like the previous case, these scammers will claim that they can help with the removal of anything that is blocking their device.
If you follow those instructions, you will get infected with even more viruses on your computer. Moreover, you will give the malicious user ‘tech support agent’ the chance to create further vulnerabilities in your system.
By itself, Helpme.net Scam is not a malicious program. However, it can trigger several unsafe activities that make your system vulnerable to extremely dangerous viruses. These malware infections include viruses such as ransomware or Trojan horses. Trojans and ransomware do more damage to your machine than the Helpme.net scam itself.
For instance, the Helpme.net scam can generate an advertisement that has ransomware embedded. That ransomware will then block your computer entirely and ask for payment to return access to you. Because such events have happened in the past, victims have started to consider Helpme.net a virus as well.
Usually, these messages and pop-ups are the results of any adware installed on your computer. This malicious adware infiltrates your system after you click infected advertisements or install software that has traces of the virus.
One of the major signs that you have been affected by this virus is that you will see unwanted content on your web browser. This happens on all popular browsers including Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge.
For instance, you will see a redirection to unsafe websites during browsing sessions. Other times, you will see several sponsored links in all your web search results. Victims have also reported various kinds of banners, coupons, auto-play ads, offers, pop-ups, and deals on the websites they are visiting. These intrusive ads cover the legitimate contents using a virtual layer. Moreover, you will see a significant change in the response and loading time of your web pages.
Adware such as helpme.net is known to gather a significant amount of personally identifiable information about its victims. This helps them create different cohorts for targeted advertisement. Consequently, they use this information to help sponsors in producing ads that might persuade you into buying their products.
Regardless of whether they harm you directly or not, they are dangerous for your computer’s safety. We advise our readers never to hesitate when it comes to removing the Helpme.net scam from their system. Follow our Helpme.net scam removal guide to remove the virus from your computer.
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| Name of Software | Helpme.net scam |
| Type | Browser Hijacker/Potentially Unwanted Program/Adware |
| Danger Level | Helpme.net is not a full-blown virus but has the potential to damage your computer. The application presents a low or medium risk because of its tendency to make way for other viruses to infect your computer. |
| Symptoms | As a user, you can experience various forms of advertisements, including banners, audio or video ads, and pop-ups. Besides that, the response time of your web pages and the performance your web browser will slow down tremendously. |
| Distribution Method | Adware and other kinds of potentially unwanted programs don’t install on devices on their own. Most times, these applications are embedded with free software services you download on your machine. You can also get infected with these programs when you visit shady, untrustworthy websites. Prevention is the best way to avoid these potentially unwanted programs. |
| Detection Tool | The internet has a number of tools that claim to detect viruses on computers. However, only a few have the capacity to detect various forms of viruses found on the internet. In our opinion, TotalAV antivirus is the best tool to detect all kinds of viruses, regardless of which platform you are using it on. TotalAV has no problems clearing out the Helpme.net scam from your machine. The antivirus is completely free, and you can even try out the premium version by choosing the 7-day trial. TotalAV stops viruses before they have the chance to infect your device. Download the antivirus by visiting the company’s website download page. |
There are various ways to remove the Helpme.net scam from your computer. You can remove the virus manually, but that can leave the core files of the scam in your computer. If you don’t remove the core files of the unwanted program from your computer, the virus is bound to return again and again.
As a result, your computer will constantly be at risk of getting exposed by dangerous viruses such as Trojans and ransomware. The best way to remove the virus from your computer will be to purchase the Total AV antivirus, which will remove Helpme.net Scam or any other virus in the system.
However, if you’re not sure about buying Total AV antivirus yet, you can try the following techniques to remove the virus from your system manually.
The web browser is the first component of your system a browser hijacker targets. In essence, Helpme.net scam is a browser hijacker because it tries to change the way your web browser works. However, it’s possible to disinfect your browser by resetting its settings.
In fact, resetting the browser settings is one of the few useful manual options that work against browser hijackers like Helpme.net. Besides that, it deletes any additional programs that have found their way into your web browser. To reset the browser, follow the steps below:
Open Google Chrome and search for the symbol at the top-right corner of the browser. After clicking this option, you‘ll see a list of available options. Among these options, select Settings to view the browser settings. Once these settings open, scroll down, and select the ‘Advanced’ option.
When the advanced settings section opens, scroll down to “Reset and Clean Up” at the bottom of the screen. Here you will see the “Restore settings to their original defaults” option which you have to click to proceed the resetting the browser.
After the last step, a pop-up will appear, asking you whether you want to reset the settings or not. Confirm your action by selecting the “Reset Settings” option and remove all additional applications form the browser.
Note: Keep in mind that resetting your web browser will remove every extension from the browser. This means that even useful extensions installed on the device will get removed. As a result, it will also delete any important information saved in these extensions.
Another way to tackle the Helpme.net virus is by clearing your system registry with the help of Regedit. But before trying to attempt this method, you should know that it requires a technical understanding of your operating system.
If you delete the wrong files in the registry, you can wipe out your whole operating system in a flash. So, we wouldn’t advise trying this unless you’re 100% sure about what you’re doing.
Clearing the system registry isn’t enough. First of all, you have to detect the malicious programs that are responsible for popping advertisements. To know which programs are spamming your computer with ads, a search which programs are currently installed on your operating system. For that, press “Windows+R” simultaneously and type “appwiz.cpl” in the text box of Run command interface.
This will open the Control Panel. The CP is responsible for displaying all the applications installed on your computer. Identify any suspicious software on the system and remove them by hovering your mouse over, pressing right-click and selecting Uninstall.
After removing these malicious programs from the CP, you’ll need to clean up their core files to get rid of Helpme.net and other malicious programs. As discussed before, this will be done through the System Registry.
Follow these steps to remove all corrupted registry files in the Windows operating system:
Again, we discourage our users from trying to delete anything from the system registry. A safer method of getting rid of malicious program from your system is removing the infected files with the help of a deep cleansing antivirus such as TotalAV.
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