Superfish Window Shopper is an potentially unwanted program that will display their own ads on eBay,Best Buy,Wallmart and other websites that you are visiting.These advertisements will be shown as boxes containing various coupons that are available or as underlined keywords, which when clicked will display an advertisement that states it is brought to you by Superfish Window Shopper.
Superfish Window Shopper is an add-on for Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome that is typically installed when you install other free programs. When you install these free programs, they will also install Superfish Window Shopper as well. Some of the programs that are known to bundle CouponDropDown include 1ClickDownload, Yontoo, and FBPhotoZoom.
Once Superfish Window Shopper is installed, you will see a “See Similar” icon appear next to product images on hundreds of shopping websites. Superfish Window Shopper may also present deals, coupons and/or other services on relevant product pages. In some cases by clicking on a presented offer, the user will be redirected to the partner’s (aka advertiser’s) site via affiliate cookies.
You should always pay attention when installing software because often, a software installer includes optional installs, such as this Superfish Window Shopper. 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 “Superfish Window Shopper” (Virus Removal Guide)
This page is a comprehensive guide, which will remove “Superfish Window Shopper” virus 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 Superfish Window Shopper from Windows
STEP 2: Remove Superfish Window Shopper adware from Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome with AdwCleaner
STEP 3: Remove “Ads by Superfish Window Shopper” virus with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free
STEP 4: Double-check for the “Superfish Window Shopper” malware with HitmanPro
(Optional) STEP 5: Reset Internet Explorer, Firefox or Google Chrome settings to remove “Superfish Window Shopper” Ads
STEP 1 : Uninstall Superfish Window Shopper from Windows
In this first step, we will try to identify and remove any malicious program that might be installed on your computer.
- To uninstall the Superfish Window Shopper program from Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7, click the “Start” button, then click on the “Control Panel” menu option.
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.
- When the “Control Panel” window opens click on the “Uninstall a program” option under “Programs” category. This option is shown by the arrow in the image below. If you are using the “Classic View” of the Control Panel, then you would double-click on the “Programs and Features” icon instead.
- When the “Programs and Features” or the “Uninstall a Program” screen is displayed, scroll through the list of currently installed programs and uninstall (SuperFish) WindowsShopper.
The malicious program may have a different name on your computer. To view the most recently installed programs, you can click on the “Installed On” column to sort your program by the installation date. Scroll through the list, and uninstall any unwanted or unknown programs.If you are having issues while trying to uninstall the Superfish Window Shopper program, you can use Revo Uninstaller to completely remove this unwanted program from your machine.
If you cannot find any unwanted or unknown programs on your machine, then you can proceed with the next step.
STEP 2: Remove Superfish Window Shopper adware from Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome with AdwCleaner
The AdwCleaner utility will scan your computer and web browser for the “Superfish Window Shopper” malicious files, browser extensions and registry keys, that may have been installed on your computer without your knowledge.
- You can download AdwCleaner utility from the below link.
ADWCLEANER DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will download “AdwCleaner” on your computer) - 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. - When the AdwCleaner program will open, click on the “Scan” button as shown below.
AdwCleaner will now start to search for the “Superfish Window Shopper” malicious files that may be installed on your computer. - To remove the “Superfish Window Shopper” 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 documents, as the program will need to reboot the computer. Please do so and then click on the OK button.
STEP 3: Remove “Superfish Window Shopper” virus with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free uses industry-leading technology to detect and remove all traces of malware, including worms, Trojans, rootkits, rogues, dialers, spyware, and more.
It is important to note that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware works well and should run alongside antivirus software without conflicts.
- You can download download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware from the below link.
MALWAREBYTES ANTI-MALWARE DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will open a new web page from where you can download “Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free”) - Once downloaded, close all programs, then double-click on the icon on your desktop named “mbam-setup-consumer-2.00.xx” to start the installation of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.
You may be presented with a User Account Control dialog asking you if you want to run this file. If this happens, you should click “Yes” to continue with the installation. - When the installation begins, you will see the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Setup Wizard which will guide you through the installation process.
To install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware on your machine, keep following the prompts by clicking the “Next” button.
- Once installed, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will automatically start and you will see a message stating that you should update the program, and that a scan has never been run on your system. To start a system scan you can click on the “Fix Now” button.
Alternatively, you can click on the “Scan” tab and select “Threat Scan“, then click on the “Scan Now” button.
- Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will now check for updates, and if there are any, you will need to click on the “Update Now” button.
- Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will now start scanning your computer for the Superfish Window Shopper virus. When Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is scanning it will look like the image below.
- When the scan has completed, you will now be presented with a screen showing you the malware infections that Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware has detected. To remove the malicious programs that Malwarebytes Anti-malware has found, click on the “Quarantine All” button, and then click on the “Apply Now” button.
Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image. - Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will now quarantine all the malicious files and registry keys that it has found. When removing the files, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware may require a reboot in order to remove some of them. If it displays a message stating that it needs to reboot your computer, please allow it to do so.
After your computer will restart, you should open Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and perform another “Threat Scan” scan to verify that there are no remaining threats
STEP 4: Double-check for the “Superfish Window Shopper” malware 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.). HitmanPro is designed to work alongside existing security programs without any conflicts. It scans the computer quickly (less than 5 minutes) and does not slow down the computer.
- You can download HitmanPro from the below link:
HITMANPRO DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will open a new web page from where you can download “HitmanPro”)
- 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.
- HitmanPro will now begin to scan your computer for Superfish Window Shopper malicious files.
- 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 Superfish Window Shopper virus.
- Click on the “Activate free license” button to begin the free 30 days trial, and remove all the malicious files from your computer.
(Optional) STEP 5: Reset Internet Explorer, Firefox or Google Chrome settings to remove “Superfish Window Shopper” Ads
If you are still experiencing issues with the “Superfish Window Shopper” ads in Internet Explorer, Firefox or Chrome, we will need to reset your browser to its default settings. This step needs to be performed only if your issues have not been solved by the previous steps.
Reset Internet Explorer
- Open Internet Explorer, click on the “gear icon” in the upper right part of your browser, then click again on Internet Options.
- In the “Internet Options” dialog box, click on the “Advanced” tab, then click on the “Reset” button.
- In the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” section, select the “Delete personal settings” check box, then click on “Reset” button.
- When Internet Explorer has completed its task, click on the “Close” button in the confirmation dialogue box. You will now need to close your browser, and then you can open Internet Explorer again.
Reset Mozilla Firefox
- In the upper-right corner of the Firefox window, click the Firefox menu button (), the click on the “Help” () button.
- From the Help menu, choose Troubleshooting Information.
- Click the “Reset Firefox” button in the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page.
- To continue, click on the “Reset Firefox” button in the new confirmation window that opens.
- Firefox will close itself and will revert to its default settings. When it’s done, a window will list the information that was imported. Click on the “Finish“.
Note: Your old Firefox profile will be placed on your desktop in a folder named “Old Firefox Data“. If the reset didn’t fix your problem you can restore some of the information not saved by copying files to the new profile that was created. If you don’t need this folder any longer, you should delete it as it contains sensitive information.
Reset Google Chrome
- Click on the “Chrome menu button” () on the browser toolbar, select “Settings“, and then click on “Extensions“.
- In the “Extensions” tab, remove Superfish Window Shopper and any other unknown extensions, by clicking the trash can icon.
Basically, if you have not installed an extension then you should remove it from Google Chrome.
Thank you!
This is particularly salient right now – Lenovo have been shipping machines with SuperFish *pre-installed* (I sh** you not) – and are currently getting a HUGE amount of heat for it. Superfish is essentially an on-machine proxy which actually poses as a website certificate authority(!!!) so if this is installed and you’re on your internet banking site… all your traffic is going through their adware!
Scary stuff. Uninstall, nuke and generally crap on this appalling spyware.
Thank you
There is a Chrome Extension called “RSS Links Live” that was to blame for my troubles. The funny thing is that I’ve used this extension for years, but it started giving me problems about two days ago. I tried everything, then I used the process of elimination to identify the source of the problem. Then I was able to confirm it from another user on Reddit.
they now call it quickstart in the extensions!
Though I didn’t have the extension you mentioned, you started me on the right track…I started disabling extensions and found MY culprit, an extension called ‘scroll to top’. Disabled it, and bye bye superfish!! TYSM :)
Bloody thing came back today! I’d been using firefox without issue in the morning. After lunch it crashed, I restarted firefox and my extensions were all gone. Restarted firefox again, and noticed MediaPlayerPlus was back, along with Superfish! Guess I should run an Adware removal program too!
Many thanks for writing this useful article.
Thank you so, so much, Rob. Your comment proved to be a major help to me. Many thanks. :)
It was hiding in my Firefox Add-Ons as/in “MediaPlayerPlus”. Didn’t remember having an Add-On by that name, so disabled and uninstalled it. Even if I *did* have that Add-On and need it again, I can always get the media player Add-On again lol. I use Duckduckgo, and it’s now back to its faster self rather than being sluggish and behaving weird. Thanks once again, chap!
Remember to remove also “Web Protect for Windows” if you find it
http://www.shouldiremoveit.com/Web-Protect-for-Windows-77828-program.aspx
I found it was coming from my Pinterest button app in Chrome. I went to tools – extension – pinterest – options – disable
I found a chrome extension also brings this superfish into the browser. One of the video download extensions I had added apparently was the culprit. It’s been deleted; bye bye superfish.
Whilst Awesome Screenshot is a great extension, their claim that this crud is a “a value-add feature and definitely not malware or adware” does them disservice.
I found as part of Awesome Screenshot extension for Firefox; open Awesome screenshot Options menu and un-tick SuperFish; then save.
Thank you, this is a lifesaver!
Thank you!
Thank you!