Remove Special-for.me: Avoid Intrusive Ads

Special-for.me: Complete Delete Guide

Special-for.me is a deceptive web portal that is used for tricking visitors into Push Notification subscriptions. These alerts allow third-parties to generate pop-up ads directly to the PC’s desktop. Redirects to this notorious domain can start out of nowhere. Nonetheless, this perilous site is directly bound to some adware-type infections, so if you are receiving pop-ups saying that the “Special-for.me wants to show notifications” frequently, a potentially unwanted program (PUP) must be running inside your computer. You can control the pop-ups easily by resetting the browser or stopping notifications from the page completely, the frequent redirects to Special-for.me might continue. In this case, the probability of adware is quite high.

Special-for.me: Depth View

The adware that reroutes to Special-for.me most likely penetrated your computer along with other freeware apps you acquired from third-party pages. For that reason, you might never notice the PUP installed on your system, although symptoms of the threat are evident. Redirects to this site might also indicate that various unwanted apps or even malware are active on your work-station. To find and remove them instantly, scan your device with anti-malware software. These shady domains are created to generate revenue by increasing internet traffic to sponsored pages, which consequently increases their sales, popularity, etc.

Push notification viruses like Special-for.me can do that by displaying misleading ads and causing sudden redirects. Delivered ads are considered deceptive as their contents don’t match the portals users will end up on if they click on them. This means that an ad for a breaking news story might redirect you to a site that tries to sell you some useless software. So, avoid tapping on them. This Special-for.me could force you to visit any of its sponsored portals if a sudden redirect is triggered that could take place at any time, on-demand.

After that, a new tab is opened and a website shown with suspicious, unreliable, or even malevolent content, including:

• tech support scams,
• gambling,
• other push notification viruses,
• PUPs,
• malware, etc.

This nasty PUP is able to track the activities its victims and collect various data regarding their browsing preferences e.g., entered search queries, IP addresses, geolocations, sites visited, links clicked, and even personal data like credit card and banking details. Later on, the gathered data is shared with third-parties and often utilized for generating personalized ads, making deceptive transactions, etc. So, an instant Special-for.me removal must be performed.

Ways To Distribute Special-for.me:

Bundled software and freeware are the most popular adware distribution locations. These dubious applications are created by developers and planted in original software packages which can be downloaded on third-party sites or from indirect downloading hyperlinks for free. When people choose Quick or Standard installation options after downloading a freeware from well-known site like softonic.com, download.com, cnet.com, soft32.com, etc., they end up with installing all the components deed to the software bundle including PUPs.

If you are looking for ways to prevent such unwanted installations, we recommend always paying attention to your downloads and installations. However, it will be better to always select the Custom or Advanced configuration mode and avoid all Quick options which allow suspicious content to sneak in the device unnoticed. Also, choose only trustworthy sources, official sites, and direct links for your applications and stay away from unreliable and free file-hosting portals. But at the moment, you must remove Special-for.me from the work-station as early as possible.

Antimalware Details And User Guide

Click Here For Windows Click Here For Mac

Important Note: This malware asks you to enable the web browser notifications. So, before you go the manual removal process, execute these steps.

Google Chrome (PC)

• Go to right upper corner of the screen and click on three dots to open the Menu button
• Select “Settings”. Scroll the mouse downward to choose “Advanced” option
• Go to “Privacy and Security” section by scrolling downward and then select “Content settings” and then “Notification” option
• Find each suspicious URLs and click on three dots on the right side and choose “Block” or “Remove” option

Google Chrome (Android)

• Go to right upper corner of the screen and click on three dots to open the menu button and then click on “Settings”
• Scroll down further to click on “site settings” and then press on “notifications” option
• In the newly opened window, choose each suspicious URLs one by one
• In the permission section, select “notification” and “Off” the toggle button

Mozilla Firefox

• On the right corner of the screen, you will notice three dots which is the “Menu” button
• Select “Options” and choose “Privacy and Security” in the toolbar present in the left side of the screen
• Slowly scroll down and go to “Permission” section then choose “Settings” option next to “Notifications”
• In the newly opened window, select all the suspicious URLs. Click on the drop-down menu and select “Block”

Internet Explorer

• In the Internet Explorer window, select the Gear button present on the right corner
• Choose “Internet Options”
• Select “Privacy” tab and then “Settings” under the “Pop-up Blocker” section
• Select all the suspicious URLs one by one and click on the “Remove” option

Microsoft Edge

• Open the Microsoft Edge and click on the three dots on the right corner of the screen to open the menu
• Scroll down and select “Settings”
• Scroll down further to choose “view advanced settings”
• In the “Website Permission” option, click on “Manage” option
• Click on switch under every suspicious URL

Safari (Mac):

• On the upper right side corner, click on “Safari” and then select “Preferences”
• Go to “website” tab and then choose “Notification” section on the left pane
• Search for the suspicious URLs and choose “Deny” option for each one of them

Manual Steps to Remove Special-for.me:

Remove the related items of Special-for.me using Control-Panel

Windows 7 Users

Click “Start” (the windows logo at the bottom left corner of the desktop screen), select “Control Panel”. Locate the “Programs” and then followed by clicking on “Uninstall Program”

Windows XP Users

Click “Start” and then choose “Settings” and then click “Control Panel”. Search and click on “Add or Remove Program’ option

Windows 10 and 8 Users:

Go to the lower left corner of the screen and right-click. In the “Quick Access” menu, choose “Control Panel”. In the newly opened window, choose “Program and Features”

Mac OSX Users

Click on “Finder” option. Choose “Application” in the newly opened screen. In the “Application” folder, drag the app to “Trash”. Right click on the Trash icon and then click on “Empty Trash”.

In the uninstall programs window, search for the PUAs. Choose all the unwanted and suspicious entries and click on “Uninstall” or “Remove”.

After you uninstall all the potentially unwanted program causing Special-for.me issues, scan your computer with an anti-malware tool for any remaining PUPs and PUAs or possible malware infection. To scan the PC, use the recommended the anti-malware tool.

How to Remove Adware (Special-for.me) from Internet Browsers

Delete malicious add-ons and extensions from IE

Click on the gear icon at the top right corner of Internet Explorer. Select “Manage Add-ons”. Search for any recently installed plug-ins or add-ons and click on “Remove”.

Additional Option

If you still face issues related to Special-for.me removal, you can reset the Internet Explorer to its default setting.

Windows XP users: Press on “Start” and click “Run”. In the newly opened window, type “inetcpl.cpl” and click on the “Advanced” tab and then press on “Reset”.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 Users: Press the Windows logo, type inetcpl.cpl in the start search box and press enter.  In the newly opened window, click on the “Advanced Tab” followed by “Reset” button.

For Windows 8 Users: Open IE and click on the “gear” icon. Choose “Internet Options”

Select the “Advanced” tab in the newly opened window

Press on “Reset” option

You have to press on the “Reset” button again to confirm that you really want to reset the IE

Remove Doubtful and Harmful Extension from Google Chrome

Go to menu of Google Chrome by pressing on three vertical dots and select on “More tools” and then “Extensions”. You can search for all the recently installed add-ons and remove all of them.

Optional Method

If the problems related to Special-for.me still persists or you face any issue in removing, then it is advised that your reset the Google Chrome browse settings. Go to three dotted points at the top right corner and choose “Settings”. Scroll down bottom and click on “Advanced”.

At the bottom, notice the “Reset” option and click on it.

In the next opened window, confirm that you want to reset the Google Chrome settings by click on the “Reset” button.

Remove Special-for.me plugins (including all other doubtful plug-ins) from Firefox Mozilla

Open the Firefox menu and select “Add-ons”. Click “Extensions”.  Select all the recently installed browser plug-ins.

Optional Method

If you face problems in Special-for.me removal then you have the option to rese the settings of Mozilla Firefox.

Open the browser (Mozilla Firefox) and click on the “menu” and then click on “Help”.

Choose “Troubleshooting Information”

In the newly opened pop-up window, click “Refresh Firefox” button

The next step is to confirm that really want to reset the Mozilla Firefox settings to its default by clicking on “Refresh Firefox” button.

Remove Malicious Extension from Safari

Open the Safari and go to its “Menu” and select “Preferences”.

Click on the “Extension” and select all the recently installed “Extensions” and then click on “Uninstall”.

Optional Method

Open the “Safari” and go menu. In the drop-down menu, choose “Clear History and Website Data”.

In the newly opened window, select “All History” and then press on “Clear History” option.

Delete Special-for.me (malicious add-ons) from Microsoft Edge

Open Microsoft Edge and go to three horizontal dot icons at the top right corner of the browser. Select all the recently installed extensions and right click on the mouse to “uninstall”

Optional Method

Open the browser (Microsoft Edge) and select “Settings”

Next steps is to click on “Choose what to clear” button

Click on “show more” and then select everything and then press on “Clear” button.

Conclusion

In most cases, the PUPs and adware gets inside the marked PC through unsafe freeware downloads. It is advised that you should only choose developers website only while downloading any kind of free applications.  Choose custom or advanced installation process so that you can trace the additional PUPs listed for installation along with the main program.