Remove “See Similar” pop-up virus (Removal Guide)

The “See Similar” pop-up is an adware program, which will displays a “See Similar” button on product images on Youtube, Amazon, Walmart and other websites that you are visiting
The See Similar pop-up ads will be shown as boxes containing various coupons that are available or as underlined keywords, which when clicked will redirect you to an affiliate website.

The “See Similar” pop-up is cause by a browser extension that is typically added when you install another free software (video recording/streaming, download-managers or PDF creators) that had bundled into their installation an adware program. When you install these free programs, they will also install “See Similar” adware. Some of the programs that are known to bundle “See Similar” adware include WebCake, Genius Box, SpecialSavings, Superfish and many other malicious programs.

When installed on a computer, the “See Similar” adware will display a “See Similar” button on product images each time you visit a shopping website, and states it is brought to you by WebCake, Genius Box, SpecialSavings, Superfish and or another malicious program.

The “See Similar” adware may also display advertising banners on the webpages that you are visiting, and as you browse Internet, it will show coupons and other deals available on different websites.

“See Similar” 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 See Similar 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.

“See Similar” pop-ups – Virus Removal Guide

This page is a comprehensive guide, which will remove “See Similar” pop-ups from your Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome.
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 “See Similar” programs from your computer
STEP 2: Remove “See Similar” extensions from your web browser
STEP 3: Remove “See Similar” adware with AdwCleaner and Junkware Removal Tool
STEP 4: Remove “See Similar” virus with Malwarebytes and HitmanPro

STEP 1 : Uninstall “See Similar” programs from your computer

In our case the “See Similar” pop-ups were caused by a program called “WebCake”, however there are many other programs that may cause this unwanted pop-up. 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 See Similar program 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 WebCake 3.00 , Genius Box, SpecialSavings, Superfish, Yontoo and any other recently installed or unknown programs from your computer.
   

Depending on what program has installed the “See Similar” pop-ups, the above programs may have a different name. If you cannot find any unwanted programs, then you can proceed with STEP 2.

---

STEP 2 : Remove the See Similar from your web browser

Depending on what program has installed the See Similar, this hijacker may install one or more browser extensions, which we will need to remove.

Remove “See Similar” pop-ups 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 See Similar from Mozilla Firefox

1. At the top of the Firefox window, click the Firefox button, then select Add-ons.
   
2. Select the Extensions tab, then remove WebCake 3.00 , Genius Box, SpecialSavings, Superfish, Yontoo and any other unknown extensions from Mozilla Firefox.
   

Remove “See Similar” pop-ups from Google Chrome

1. Click the Chrome menu   button on the browser toolbar, select Tools and then click on Extensions.
   
2. In the Extensions tab, remove WebCake 3.00 , Genius Box, SpecialSavings, Superfish, Yontoo and any other unknown extensions by clicking on the Recycle Bin next to the plugin.
   

Please keep in mind that on some computers, this browser add-on might have a different name, if you can’t find See Similar in your list, then carefully look for any other unknown or unwanted extension and remove it from your browser.

---

STEP 3: Remove “See Similar” adware from your computer

To remove all the “See Similar” adware from your computer, we will need to run a scan with the AdwCleaner and Junkware Removal Tool utilities.

Run a computer scan with AdwCleaner to remove See Similar pop-up ads

The AdwCleaner utility will scan your computer for See Similar 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 Search button as shown below.
   
   The program will now start to search for See Similar malicious files that may be installed on your computer. When it has finished it will display a notepad screen that contains a log file of all the See Similar extensions, files, and registry keys that have been detected. Unless you see a program name that you know should not be removed, please close the Notepad window and continue with the next step.
4. To remove the See Similar malicious files that were detected in the previous step, please click on the Delete button on the AdwCleaner screen.
   
   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.
5. AdwCleaner will now delete all detected adware from your computer. When it is done it will display an alert that explains what PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs) and Adware are. Please read through this information and then press the OK button. You will now be presented with an alert that states AdwCleaner needs to reboot your computer.
   Please click on the OK button to let AdwCleaner reboot your computer.

Remove See Similar popups with Junkware Removal Tool

Junkware Removal Tool is a powerful utility, which will remove See Similar from Internet Explorer, Firefox or Google Chrome.

1. You can download the Junkware Removal Tool utility from the below link:
   JUNKWARE REMOVAL TOOL DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will automatically download the Junkware Removal Tool utility on your computer)
2. Once Junkware Removal Tool has finished downloading, please double-click on the JRT.exe icon as seen below.
   
   If Windows prompts you as to whether or not you wish to run Junkware Removal Tool, please allow it to run.
3. Junkware Removal Tool will now start, and at the Command Prompt, you’ll need to press any key to perform a scan for the See Similar virus.
   
   Please be patient as this can take a while to complete (up to 10 minutes) depending on your system’s specifications.
4. When the scan Junkware Removal Tool will be completed, this utility will display a log with the malicious files and registry keys that were removed from your computer.
   

---

STEP 4: Remove See Similar virus from your computer

Run a computer scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to remove See Similar virus

1. You can download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free from the below link, then double-click on the icon named mbam-setup.exe 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, then at the last screen click on the Finish button.
   
3. On the Scanner tab, select Perform quick scan, and then click on the Scan button to start searching for the See Similar malicious files.
   
4. Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware will now start scanning your computer for See Similar as shown below.
   
5. When the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware scan has finished, click on the Show Results button.
   
6. You will now be presented with a screen showing you the computer infections that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware has detected. Make sure that everything is Checked (ticked), then click on the Remove Selected button.
   

Double-check for the See Similar infection with HitmanPro

1. You can download HitmanPro from the below link:
   HITMANPRO DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will open a web page from where you can download HitmanPro)
2. Double-click on the file named HitmanPro.exe (for 32-bit versions of Windows) or HitmanPro_x64.exe (for 64-bit versions of Windows). When the program starts you will be presented with the start screen as shown below.
   
   Click on the Next button, to install HitmanPro on your computer.
   
3. HitmanPro will now begin to scan your computer for See Similar malicious files.
   
4. When it has finished it will display a list of all the malware that the program found as shown in the image below. Click on the Next button, to remove See Similar adware.
   
5. Click on the Activate free license button to begin the free 30 days trial, and remove all the malicious files from your computer.
   

---

Your computer should now be free of the See Similar 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, and perform regular computer scans with HitmanPro.
If you are still experiencing problems while trying to remove See Similar virus from your machine, please start a new thread in our Malware Removal Assistance forum.