Remove Visual IM adware (Removal Instructions)

Visual IM is an adware program which promises to enhance your Facebook chat, however once installed it will display advertisements and sponsored links on the websites that you are visiting.

This 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.
Visual IM 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.

Visual IM 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 Visual IM as well. Some of the programs that are known to bundle Visual IM include 1ClickDownload, Superfish, Yontoo and FBPhotoZoom.

Once installed, whenever you will visit Youtube, Google, Facebook or any other websites, Visual IM will display advertising banners and sponsored links. Furthermore, this malicious program will change your browser homepage and default search engine.

You should always pay attention when installing software because often, a software installer includes optional installs, such as this Visual IM 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.

Visual IM  – Virus Removal Guide

This page is a comprehensive guide, which will remove Visual IM from 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 Visual IM programs from your computer
STEP 2: Remove Visual IM extensions from your web browser
STEP 3: Remove Visual IM adware with AdwCleaner and Junkware Removal Tool
STEP 4: Remove Visual IM virus with Malwarebytes and HitmanPro

STEP 1 : Uninstall Visual IM from Windows

1. To uninstall Visual IM 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 Visual IM, Coupon Matcher and any other recently installed or unknown programs from your computer.
   

Depending on what program has installed the Visual IM adware, the above program may have a different name or not be installed on your computer. If you cannot find any unwanted or unknown programs on your machine, then you can proceed with the next step.

Some users have reported that they cannot remove the Visual IM program using Control Panel because it’s not listed there. If this happens, click on My Computer, then navigate to C:\Program Files\VisualIM (for 32-bit Operating System) or C:\Program Files (x86)\VisualIM (for 64-bit Operating System), and click on the Uninstaller.exe file.
Once you have completed the Visual IM uninstall process, you can delete the Visual IM folder from your computer.

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STEP 2 : Remove the Visual IM from your web browser

Remove Visual IM 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 Visual IM 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 Visual IM 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 the Visual IM and any other unknown extensions by clicking the trash can icon
   Basically, if you have not installed an extension, you should remove it from your web browser.
   

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STEP 3: Remove Visual IM adware from your computer

To remove the Visual IM adware from your computer, we will need to run a scan with the AdwCleaner and Junkware Removal Tool utilities.

Remove Visual IM adware with AdwCleaner

The AdwCleaner utility will scan your computer for Visual IM 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.
   
3. When the AdwCleaner program will open, click on the Search button as shown below.
   
   The program will now start to search for Visual IM 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 Visual IM 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 Visual IM 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.

Remove Visual IM popups with Junkware Removal Tool

Junkware Removal Tool is a powerful utility, which will remove Visual IM pop-up ads from Internet Explorer, Firefox or Google Chrome, and will double-check for any other compromised Windows shortcuts.

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 Visual IM 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.
   

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STEP 4: Remove Visual IM virus from your computer

Remove Visual IM virus with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free

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 Visual IM malicious files.
   
4. Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware will now start scanning your computer for Visual IM 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 Visual IM 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 Visual IM 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 Visual IM 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.
   

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Your computer should now be free of the Visual IM 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 Visual IM virus from your machine, please start a new thread in our Malware Removal Assistance forum.