How To Remove Captcha244.ga POP-UP Scam Adware From Mac PC

Tips To Delete Captcha244.ga POP-UP Scam Virus From Computer

Captcha244.ga POP-UP Scam is often executed by malicious websites where you are redirected by adware or PUP which is already installed on your computer. This potentially unwanted program silently infiltrates your PC without your consent and then conducts a series of malicious activities in the background. It floods your system screen with thousands of annoying ads and pop-ups all over the day and makes your Online sessions very complex and problematic. These ads include sponsored links and once you click on them, you are redirected to domains where numerous affiliated products and services are promoted. However, this nasty adware might also lead you to phishing, scamming or even malware-laden sites were you are scammed into installing rogue software.

More About Captcha244.ga POP-UP Scam:

In the Captcha244.ga POP-UP Scam, the affected users are told that their Apple devices are infected with Pegasus spyware. They are then convinced to call on a fake tech support number in order to take help of remote technician and fix the issue. According to the message, the infection has supposedly occurred due to an unexpected error. It then asks the victims to call “Apple Care” – a fake tech support helpline number. We highly advise to ignore these fake messages and avoid calling on any suspicious number. This is just a scam by potent hackers in order to deceive the victims into installing a PUP or other malware in their systems.

Once you call on the so-called tech support number provided by Captcha244.ga POP-UP Scam, the man on the other side of the call suggests you to buy and install a recommended software which is indeed a notorious program, and can cause severe threats inside the machine upon getting installed. Ads delivered by this nasty PUP are in various forms such as coupons, banners, offers, deals, discounts etc. that look very eye-catching and can easily gain your attention. These ads work on pay-per-click mechanism and earn revenues for the creators upon being clicked. We highly advise to not interact with these Captcha244.ga POP-UP Scam ads as they might redirect you to highly infectious web portals that are fully occupied with vicious materials.

Ways To Spread This PUP:

There are various illusive methods through which such types of potentially unwanted applications are spread such as freeware downloads, infected removal drives, peer to peer network sharing, malicious ads or hyperlinks and so on. However, the most common way used by Cyber criminals to distribute such ad-supported applications is via software bundling. It is attached with third-party programs as an additional tool and when you download and install the program via “Quick” or “Recommended” wizard, there is huge possibility that you might end up with getting such adware in the work-station as well along with the main software.

In order to prevent your device from getting infected with Captcha244.ga POP-UP Scam virus or other similar threats, it is necessary to be very attentive while browsing the net. Download any freeware program from trusty or official source only and always select “Custom” or “Advanced” setting to install the app as here you can take full control over the incoming components. You have to untick the components that give a concerning look and choose only the main software.

Summarize Information

Name: Captcha244.ga POP-UP Scam

Type: Mac virus, Adware, Social engineering, Potentially unwanted program

Functionality: Claims visitors PCs are infected with spyware and tries to scam them into installing rogue software, promote sponsored products, services and programs and make Online revenues for the developers, Also steal users’ personal and confidential information and share them with hackers for evil purposes.

Symptoms: Modified Internet browsers settings like homepage, default Internet search engine, identity theft, new tab settings. Users are enforced to visit hijacker’s website and search the Internet using their search engines, slowness of infected system’s performance.

Distribution methods: Free software installers (bundling), Deceptive emails, malicious pop-ups ads, fake flash player installers.

Damage: Internet browsing tracking (potential privacy issues), displaying of unwanted ads, redirects to shady websites.

Removal: To get rid of this infection and other malware threats, our security researchers recommend scanning your computer with a powerful anti-malware tool.

Other Common Symptoms of Captcha244.ga POP-UP Scam:

Captcha244.ga POP-UP Scam virus can track your web activities and steal your personal and confidential data such as user ids, passwords, credit card, debit card, bank account and other financial details and expose them to hackers for evil purposes. IT makes spiteful entries in boot section and alters its default settings in order to get automatically activated every time the machine is started but that results in several pernicious issues such as hard drive crash, boot errors, software, application malfunctioning and so on. This perilous adware consumes huge amount of memory resources and drags down the overall computer performance severely. Due to this, PC begins responding in a very slow manner and takes more than usual time to complete any task. And hence, to prevent all these threats from being occurred, you must remove Captcha244.ga POP-UP Scam virus from the PC immediately.

Remove Files and Folders Related to Captcha244.ga POP-UP Scam

Open the “Menu” bar and click the “Finder” icon. Select “Go” and click on “Go to Folder…”

Step 1: Search the suspicious and doubtful malware generated files in /Library/LaunchAgents folder

Type /Library/LaunchAgents in the “Go to Folder” option

In the “Launch Agent” folder, search for all the files that you have recently downloaded and move them to “Trash”. Few of the examples of files created by browser-hijacker or adware are as follow, “myppes.download.plist”, “mykotlerino.Itvbit.plist”, installmac.AppRemoval.plist”, and “kuklorest.update.plist” and so on.

Step 2: Detect and remove the files generated by the adware in “/Library/Application” Support folder

In the “Go to Folder..bar”, type “/Library/Application Support”

Search for any suspicious newly added folders in “Application Support” folder. If you detect any one of these like “NicePlayer” or “MPlayerX” then send them to “Trash” folder.

Step 3: Look for the files generated by malware in /Library/LaunchAgent Folder:

Go to Folder bar and type /Library/LaunchAgents

You are in the “LaunchAgents” folder. Here, you have to search for all the newly added files and move them to “Trash” if you find them suspicious. Some of the examples of suspicious files generated by malware are “myppes.download.plist”, “installmac.AppRemoved.plist”, “kuklorest.update.plist”, “mykotlerino.ltvbit.plist” and so on.

Step4: Go to /Library/LaunchDaemons Folder and search for the files created by malware

Type /Library/LaunchDaemons in the “Go To Folder” option

In the newly opened “LaunchDaemons” folder, search for any recently added suspicious files and move them to “Trash”. Examples of some of the suspicious files are “com.kuklorest.net-preferences.plist”, “com.avickUpd.plist”, “com.myppes.net-preference.plist”, “com.aoudad.net-preferences.plist” and so on.

Step 5: Use Combo Cleaner Anti-Malware and Scan your Mac PC

The malware infections could be removed from the Mac PC if you execute all the steps mentioned above in the correct way. However, it is always advised to be sure that your PC is not infected. It is suggested to scan the work-station with “Combo Cleaner Anti-virus”.

Once the file gets downloaded, double click on combocleaner.dmg installer in the newly opened window. Next is to open the “Launchpad” and press on “Combo Cleaner” icon. It is advised to wait until “Combo Cleaner” updates the latest definition for malware detection. Click on “Start Combo Scan” button.

A depth scan of your Mac PC will be executed in order to detect malware. If the Anti-virus scan report says “no threat found” then you can continue with guide further. On the other hand, it is recommended to delete the detected malware infection before continuing.

Now the files and folders created by the adware is removed, you have to remove the rogue extensions from the browsers.

Remove Captcha244.ga POP-UP Scam from Internet Browsers

Delete Doubtful and Malicious Extension from Safari

Go to “Menu Bar” and open “Safari” browser. Select “Safari” and then “Preferences”

In the opened “preferences” window, select “Extensions” that you have recently installed. All such extensions should be detected and click the “Uninstall” button next to it. If you are doubtful then you can remove all the extensions from “Safari” browser as none of them are important for smooth functionality of the browser.

In case if you continue facing unwanted webpage redirections or aggressive advertisements bombarding, you can reset the “Safari” browser.

“Reset Safari”

Open the Safari menu and choose “preferences…” from the drop-down menu.

Go to the “Extension” tab and set the extension slider to “Off” position. This disables all the installed extensions in the Safari browser

Next step is to check the homepage. Go to “Preferences…” option and choose “General” tab. Change the homepage to your preferred URL.

Also check the default search-engine provider settings. Go to “Preferences…” window and select the “Search” tab and select the search-engine provider that you want such as “Google”.

Next is to clear the Safari browser Cache- Go to “Preferences…” window and select “Advanced” tab and click on “Show develop menu in the menu bar.“

Go to “Develop” menu and select “Empty Caches”.

Remove website data and browsing history. Go to “Safari” menu and select “Clear History and Website Data”. Choose “all history” and then click on “Clear History”.

Remove Unwanted and Malicious Plug-ins from Mozilla Firefox

Delete Captcha244.ga POP-UP Scam add-ons from Mozilla Firefox

Open the Firefox Mozilla browser. Click on the “Open Menu” present in the top right corner of the screen. From the newly opened menu, choose “Add-ons”.

Go to “Extension” option and detect all the latest installed add-ons. Select each of the suspicious add-ons and click on “Remove” button next to them.

In case if you want to “reset” the Mozilla Firefox browser then follow the steps that has been mentioned below.

Reset Mozilla Firefox Settings

Open the Firefox Mozilla browser and click on “Firefox” button situated at the top left corner of the screen.

In the new menu, go to “Help” sub-menu and choose “Troubleshooting Information”

In the “Troubleshooting Information” page, click on “Reset Firefox” button.

Confirm that you want to reset the Mozilla Firefox settings to default by pressing on “Reset Firefox” option

The browser will get restarted and the settings changes to factory default

Delete Unwanted and Malicious Extensions from Google Chrome

Open the chrome browser and click on “Chrome menu”. From the drop down option, choose “More Tools” and then “Extensions”.

In the “Extensions” option, search for all the recently installed add-ons and extensions. Select them and choose “Trash” button. Any third-party extension is not important for the smooth functionality of the browser.

Reset Google Chrome Settings

Open the browser and click on three line bar at the top right side corner of the window.

Go to the bottom of the newly opened window and select “Show advanced settings”.

In the newly opened window, scroll down to the bottom and choose “Reset browser settings”

Click on the “Reset” button on the opened “Reset browser settings” window

Restart the browser and the changes you get will be applied

The above mentioned manual process should be executed as it is mentioned. It is a cumbersome process and requires a lot of technical expertise. And hence it is advised for technical experts only. To be sure that your PC is free from malware, it is better that you scan the work-station with a powerful anti-malware tool. The automatic malware removal application is preferred because it doesn’t requires any additional technical skills and expertise.

Download the application and execute it on the PC to begin the depth scanning. Once the scanning gets completed, it shows the list of all the files related to Captcha244.ga POP-UP Scam. You can select such harmful files and folders and remove them immediately.