Remove LookingLink adware (Virus Removal Guide)

LookingLink is an adware program that displays coupons, advertisements and sponsored links via a pop-up box on Ebay, Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy and other websites that you are visiting.
LookingLink pop-up ads 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 LookingLink Deals.

The LookingLink 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.
LookingLink 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.

LookingLink is 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. LookingLink 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 LookingLink as well. Some of the programs that are known to bundle LookingLink include 1ClickDownload, Superfish, Yontoo and FBPhotoZoom. Very often users have no idea where did it come from, so it’s not surprising at all that most of them assume that LookingLink is a virus.

Once installed, whenever you will visit Expedia, Best Buy, Facebook or any other similar websites, LookingLink will display on product images a See Similar button, which when clicked will show you ads by LookingLink.
LookingLink will 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.

You should always pay attention when installing software because often, a software installer includes optional installs, such as this LookingLink 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 LookingLink adware (Virus Removal Guide)

This page is a comprehensive guide, which will remove “LookingLink” 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 LookingLink from Windows
STEP 2: Remove “Ads by LookingLink” adware with AdwCleaner
STEP 3: Remove “Ads by LookingLink” virus with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free
STEP 4: Double-check for the “Ads by LookingLink” malware with HitmanPro
(Optional) STEP 5: Reset Internet Explorer, Firefox or Google Chrome settings to remove “LookingLink” Ads

STEP 1 : Uninstall LookingLink from Windows

In this first step, we will try to identify and remove any malicious program that might be installed on your computer.

1. To uninstall 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 or Windows 8.1, right-click in the screen’s bottom-left corner and choose “Control Panel” from the pop-up menu. Or simply drag your mouse pointer to the right edge of the screen, select Search from the list and search for “control panel”
   
2. When the “Control Panel” window opens click on the “Uninstall a program” option under “Programs” category.
   
3. When the “Programs and Features” or the “Uninstall a Program” screen is displayed, scroll through the list of currently installed programs and uninstall LookingLink.
   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 LookingLink 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 “Ads by LookingLink” adware with AdwCleaner

The AdwCleaner utility will scan your computer and web browser for the “LookingLink” malicious files, browser extensions and registry keys, that may have been installed on your computer without your knowledge.

1. You can download AdwCleaner from the below link.
   ADWCLEANER DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will 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 the “Ads by LookingLink” malicious files that may be installed on your computer.
4. To remove the “Ads by LookingLink” malicious files that were detected in the previous step, please click on the “Clean” button.
   
5. AdwCleaner will 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 “Ads by LookingLink” 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.

1. 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”)
2. Once downloaded, close all programs, then double-click on the icon on your desktop named “mbam-setup” 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.
3. 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.
   
4. 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 “Scan Now” button.
   
5. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will now start scanning your computer for the Ads by LookingLink virus. When Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is scanning it will look like the image below.
   
6. 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 “Remove Seletected” button.
   
   Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image.
7. 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 “Ads by LookingLink” 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.

1. 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”)
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 Ads by LookingLink 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 Ads by LookingLink virus.
   
5. 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 “LookingLink” Ads

If you are still experiencing issues with the LookingLink 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.