Remove “Ads by Shoppy” from Apple Mac OS X and Windows

Shoppy is an adware program, that displays pop-up ads and advertisements on web pages that you visit. These advertisements will be shown as boxes containing various coupons that are available, as underlined keywords, pop-up ads or advertising banners.

What is Shoppy?

Shoppy is advertised as a program that displays coupons for sites you are visiting and competitive prices when you are viewing product pages at sites like Amazon.Though this may sound like a useful service, the Shoppy program can be intrusive and will display ads whether you want them to or not.
When installed, the Shoppy browser extension will display advertising banners, pop-up advertisements and in-text ads, stating that they are brought to you by “Shoppy”. The Shoppy Ads will have different text under the pop-up: “Powered by Shoppy”, “Brought to you by Shoppy”, “You’ve received a premium offer from Shoppy” or “Ads by Shoppy”.

These ads are aimed to promote the installation of additional questionable content including web browser toolbars, optimization utilities and other products, all so the Shoppy publisher can generate pay-per-click revenue.
When infected with Shoppy the common symptoms include:

• Advertising banners are injected with the web pages that you are visiting.
• Random web page text is turned into hyperlinks.
• Browser popups appear which recommend fake updates or other software.
• Other unwanted adware programs might get installed without the user’s knowledge.

How did got Shoppy on my computer?

Shoppy is an adware program that is commonly bundled with other free programs that you download off of the Internet.
Unfortunately, some free downloads do not adequately disclose that other software will also be installed and you may find that you have installed Shoppy without your knowledge. Most commonly Shoppy is bundled within the installers from Cnet, Softonic or other similar custom third-party installers.

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

This page is a comprehensive guide, which will remove “Shoppy” 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.

• Remove “Ads by Shoppy” from Apple Mac OS X
• Remove “Ads by Shoppy” from Windows

Remove “Ads by Shoppy” from MAC OS X

STEP 1: Remove “Ads by Shoppy” virus with AdwareMedic

Adware Medic is a powerful tool which is designed to remove adware and browser hijackers from Apple Mac OS X.

1. You can download AdwareMedic from the below link:
   ADWAREMEDIC DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will open a new web page from where you can download “AdwareMedic”)
2. One you have downloaded AdwareMedic, please perform a scan as see in the below video:
   

(Optional) STEP 2: Remove “Ads by Shoppy” from Safari, Google Chrome and Firefox

If you are still experiencing issues with the “Ads by Shoppy” in Safari, Firefox or Chrome, we will need to manually check for malware. This step needs to be performed only if your issues have not been solved by the previous steps.

Remove “Ads by Shoppy” from Windows

STEP 1 : Uninstall Shoppy 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 the Shoppy 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.
   
2. 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.
   
3. When the “Programs and Features” or the “Uninstall a Program” screen is displayed, scroll through the list of currently installed programs and uninstall Shoppy. 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 Shoppy 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 “Shoppy” 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-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.
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 “Fix Now” button.
   
   Alternatively, you can click on the “Scan” tab and select “Threat Scan“, then click on the “Scan Now” button.
   
5. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will now check for updates, and if there are any, you will need to click on the “Update Now” button.
   
6. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will now start scanning your computer for the Shoppy virus. When Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is scanning it will look like the image below.
   
7. 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.
8. 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 3: Double-check for the “Shoppy” 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 Shoppy 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 Shoppy 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 4: Reset Internet Explorer, Firefox or Google Chrome settings to remove “Shoppy” Ads

If you are still experiencing issues with the “Shoppy” 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.