Remove awardhotspot.com pop-up ads (Virus Removal Guide)

If you are seeing in-text ads from awardhotspot.com in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome, then your computer is infected with an adware or potentially unwanted program.

awardhotspot.com is not a malicious domain itself, however cyber criminals are using malicious programs to display ads from this domain, and thus getting pay-per-click revenue.

The awardhotspot.com pop-ups are caused by an ad-supported (users may see additional banner, search, pop-up, pop-under, interstitial and in-text link advertisements) cross web browser plugin for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome, and distributed through various monetization platforms during installation.
The malicious extension that is responsible for the awardhotspot.com pop-up ads is typically added when you install another free software (video recording/streaming, download-managers or PDF creators) that had bundled into their installation this adware program. When you install these free programs, they will also install awardhotspot.com as well. Some of the programs that are known to bundle with the awardhotspot.com adware include 1ClickDownload, Superfish, Yontoo and FBPhotoZoom.

Once installed, the awardhotspot.com browser extension will highlight words on the websites that you are visiting transforming them into hyperlinks. These awardhotspot.com links are placed inside your text (hence the name), and they come with a double underline to differentiate them from normal links. Once the user rolls the mouse over the link the advertising will pop. Should the user click on the awardhotspot.com pop-up links the browser extension developer will get an affiliate revenue.

The awardhotspot.com adware infection is designed specifically to make money. It generates web traffic, collects sales leads for other dubious sites, and will display advertisements and sponsored links within your web browser.
awardhotspot.com it’s technically not a virus, but it does exhibit plenty of malicious traits, such as rootkit capabilities to hook deep into the operating system, browser hijacking, and in general just interfering with the user experience. The industry generally refers to it as a “PUP,” or potentially unwanted program.

You should always pay attention when installing software because often, a software installer includes optional installs, such as this awardhotspot.com adware. Be very careful what you agree to install.
Always opt for the custom installation and deselect anything that is not familiar, especially optional software that you never wanted to download and install in the first place. It goes without saying that you should not install software that you don’t trust.

How to remove awardhotspot.com pop-up ads (Virus Removal Guide)

This page is a comprehensive guide, which will remove awardhotspot.com pop-ups from your computer, and any other adware program that may have been installed during the setup process.
Please perform all the steps in the correct order. If you have any questions or doubt at any point, STOP and ask for our assistance.
STEP 1: Uninstall awardhotspot.com malicious programs from your computer
STEP 2: Remove awardhotspot.com pop-up ads from Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome
STEP 3: Remove awardhotspot.com adware with AdwCleaner
STEP 4: Remove awardhotspot.com virus with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free
STEP 5: Double-check for the awardhotspot.com infection with HitmanPro

STEP 1 : Remove awardhotspot.com malicious.com programs from your computer

The awardhotspot.com pop-up ads may be displayed by an adware program that you have recently installed on your computer. In our case awardhotspot.com pop-ups were installed with the BrowseToSave, SuperLyrics, Babylon Toolbar, Plus-HD 1.3, TidyNetwork.com and WebCake 3.0 programs.
In this first step, we will try to identify and remove any malicious program that might be installed on your computer.

1. To uninstall the programs that are responsible for the awardhotspot.com pop-up ads from your computer, click the Start button, then select Control Panel, and click on 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, then select Uninstall a program.
   
2. When the Add/Remove Programs or the Uninstall a Program screen is displayed, scroll through the list of currently installed programs and uninstall LyricsSay-1, LyricXeeker, Plus-HD 1.3, Browse2Save, BetterDeals, DownloadTerms 1.0, LyricsBuddy-1, BetterSurf, ElectroLyrics-1, Feven 1.7, SuperLyrics and any other unwanted or recently installed programs from your computer.
   

Depending on what program has installed the awardhotspot.com infection, the above programs may have a different name or not be installed on your computer.
If you cannot find the program that is responsible for the awardhotspot.com redirect, you can proceed with the next step.

If you are having issues while trying to uninstall the awardhotspot.com malicious programs, you can use Revo Uninstaller to completly remove the unwated programs from your machine.

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STEP 2 : Remove awardhotspot.com pop-up ads from Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome

Remove awardhotspot.com pop-up ads from Internet Explorer

1. Open Internet Explorer, click on the gear icon  (Tools for Windows XP users) at the top (far right), then click again on Internet Options.
   
2. In the Internet Options dialog box, click on the Advanced tab, then click on the Reset button.
   
3. In the Reset Internet Explorer settings section, check the Delete personal settings box, then click on Reset.
   
4. When Internet Explorer finishes resetting, click Close in the confirmation dialogue box and then click OK.
5. Close and open Internet Explorer.

Remove awardhotspot.com pop-up ads from Mozilla Firefox

1. At the top of the Firefox window, click the Firefox button, go over to the Help sub-menu (on Windows XP, click the Help menu at the top of the Firefox window), and select Troubleshooting Information.
   
2. Click the Reset Firefox button in the upper-right corner of the Troubleshooting Information page.
   
3. To continue, click Reset Firefox in the confirmation window that opens.
4. Firefox will close and be reset. When it’s done, a window will list the information that was imported. Click Finish

Remove awardhotspot.com pop-up ads from Google Chrome

1. Remove awardhotspot.com extensions from Google Chrome.
   Click the Chrome menu   button on the browser toolbar, select Tools and then click on Extensions.
   
2. In the Extensions tab, remove (by clicking on the Recycle Bin) the LyricsSay-1, LyricXeeker, Plus-HD 1.3, Browse2Save, WebCake 3.00, DownloadTerms 1.0, LyricsBuddy-1, BetterSurf, ElectroLyrics-1, Feven 1.7, SuperLyrics and any other unknown extensions from Google Chrome.
   Basically, if you have not installed an extension, you should remove it from your web browser.
   

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STEP 3: Remove awardhotspot.com adware from your computer with AdwCleaner.

The AdwCleaner utility will scan your computer and browsers for awardhotspot.com malicious files and registry keys, that may have been installed on your computer without your knowledge.

1. You can download AdwCleaner utility from the below link.
   ADWCLEANER DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will automatically download AdwCleaner on your computer)
2. Before starting AdwCleaner, close all open programs and internet browsers, then double-click on the AdwCleaner icon.
   
   If Windows prompts you as to whether or not you wish to run AdwCleaner, please allow it to run.
3. When the AdwCleaner program will open, click on the Scan button as shown below.
   
   AdwCleaner will now start to search for awardhotspot.com malicious files that may be installed on your computer.
4. To remove the awardhotspot.com malicious files that were detected in the previous step, please click on the Clean button.
   
   AdwCleaner will now prompt you to save any open files or data as the program will need to reboot the computer. Please do so and then click on the OK button.

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STEP 4: Remove awardhotspot.com virus with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware FREE

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free utilizes Malwarebytes powerful technology to detect and remove all traces of malware including worms, trojans, rootkits, rogues, dialers, spyware and more.

1. You can download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free from the below link, then double click on it to install this program.
   MALWAREBYTES ANTI-MALWARE DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will open a download page in a new window from where you can download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free)
2. When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue with the setup process.
   
3. On the Scanner tab,select Perform quick scan and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer.
   
4. Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware will now start scanning your computer for awardhotspot.com malicious files as shown below.
   
5. When the Malwarebytes scan will be completed,click on Show Result.
   
6. You will now be presented with a screen showing you the malware infections that Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware has detected.Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image.Make sure that everything is Checked (ticked) and click on the Remove Selected button.
   

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STEP 5: Double-check for the awardhotspot.com infection with HitmanPro

HitmanPro is a second opinion scanner, designed to rescue your computer from malware (viruses, trojans, rootkits, etc.) that have infected your computer despite all the security measures you have taken (such as anti virus software, firewalls, etc.).

1. You can download HitmanPro from the below link, then double-click on it to start this program.
   HITMANPRO DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will open a new web page from where you can download HitmanPro)
2. HitmanPro will start and you’ll need to follow the prompts (by clicking on the Next button) to start a system scan with this program.
   
   
3. HitmanPro will start scanning your computer for awardhotspot.com malicious files as seen in the image below.
   
4. Once the scan is complete,you’ll see a screen which will display all the infected files that this utility has detected, and you’ll need to click on Next to remove this malicious files.
   
5. Click Activate free license to start the free 30 days trial and remove all the malicious files from your computer.
   

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Your computer should now be free of the awardhotspot.com infection. If your current anti-virus solution let this infection through, you may want to consider purchasing the PRO version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to protect against these types of threats in the future.
If you are still experiencing problems while trying to remove awardhotspot.com from your machine, please start a new thread in our Malware Removal Assistance forum.