Remove Y2Mate.com virus from Chrome/Firefox/IE/Safari

Find out why Y2Mate.com service can be a source of irritation and security issues and learn how to stop redirects and popups it causes in a web browser.

1. What is the Y2Mate.com virus?
2. Automated removal of Y2Mate.com virus
3. Restore web browser settings to their original defaults

What is the Y2Mate.com virus?

Every computer user has probably run into a situation where they needed to download an audio or video file from a streaming media service. Given the ubiquitous Internet connectivity allowing for watching and listening to such content directly in a web browser, nowadays this isn’t as common as it used to be. However, numerous people are still looking for ways to get and store their favorite soundtracks or videos on their devices. There are services that claim to bridge the gap in this context. Y2Mate.com is one of them. It supposedly enables users to download multimedia materials from YouTube, Facebook, Dailymotion, and other popular platforms. According to its official website, it supports a variety of formats, including MP3, MP4, M4V, FLV, and more. Plus, it purports to provide its features free of charge. What’s the catch? It turns out, Y2Mate.com may abuse its privileges in one’s default web browser to serve ads and forward the web traffic to unwanted sites.

Another concern is that the first time Y2Mate.com page is visited, it displays a popup request to show notifications. If this permission is granted from the get-go, the dialog won’t appear further on. However, the users who feel something isn’t right may click the Block or Deny button, depending on the browser, in which case the alerts will be showing up over and over. Whereas this is a commonplace permission requested by numerous benign web resources, things are shadier when it comes to Y2Mate.com. Instead of keeping the visitor tuned for useful updates, it takes advantage of this privilege to set obnoxious malvertising activity in motion. The user’s online navigation will be randomly rerouted to sites generating affiliate revenue for the operators of the service under scrutiny. These landing pages can range from ecommerce resources and fake search engines to sketchy locations hosting drive-by malware downloads.

The abuse of fraudulently obtained permissions also spans sponsored content appearing on arbitrary websites that normally don’t trigger such items. By adding a virtual layer to the original materials on pages, the app injects in-text links, annoying banners, coupons, and comparison shopping sections labeled “Ads by Y2Mate” or “Brought to you by Y2Mate”. To top it off, it may additionally trigger full-page interstitial advertisements, thereby multiplying the number of browser windows being opened during a single Internet session. The user will have to close each one so that the CPU consumption goes down, but this is still a cold comfort because the same predicament will be occurring shortly.

One more negative facet of the Y2Mate.com virus is that it often ends up on computers without the users’ awareness. The phenomenon behind this furtive infiltration is called bundling. The app may accompany other software under the hood of a single installer. The trick is that the whole structure of the bundle isn’t disclosed as long as the user is okay with the default installation option. Although this is a quick method to get new software, it might conceal potentially unwanted programs such as the Y2Mate.com culprit. An effective way to prevent this surreptitious attack is to select the custom install mode as it reflects the extras that go in the same package. Having made it into a PC, the app adds an extension to all compatible browsers, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari. This add-on is to blame for the interference with one’s web surfing, so it should be disabled and uninstalled without delay. The step-by-step Y2Mate.com virus removal procedure is provided below.

Automated removal of Y2Mate.com virus

Owing to an up-to-date database of malware signatures and intelligent behavioral detection, the recommended software can quickly locate the infection, eradicate it and remediate all harmful changes. So go ahead and do the following:

1. Download and install the antimalware tool. Open the solution and have it check your PC for PUPs and other types of malicious software by clicking the Start Computer Scan button

Download Y2Mate.com virus remover

2. Rest assured the scan report will list all items that may harm your operating system. Select the detected entries and click Fix Threats to get the troubleshooting completed.

Use Control Panel to get rid of the Y2Mate.com virus

• Open up the Control Panel from your Start menu in Windows. Open up the Control Panel from your Start menu in Windows. Depending on the OS build, select Uninstall a program (Windows 10, 7 and Vista) or Add or Remove Programs (Windows 8)
  
• To facilitate the process of locating the threat, sort the programs list by date to get the latest ones displayed at the very top. Find Y2Mate or other unfamiliar, suspicious entry under the Name column, click Uninstall and follow further directions to get the removal done

Restore web browser settings to their original defaults

In the circumstances of a complex browser hijack like this, executing a reset makes the most sense despite a few obvious downsides. Customizations such as saved passwords, bookmarked pages etc. will be gone, but so will all the changes made by the potentially unwanted program. The instructions below address the workflow for the web browsers most targeted the Y2Mate.com popup virus.

Reset Google Chrome

• Open Chrome, click the icon for Chrome menu and choose Settings
  
• Scroll down the settings screen and click Show advanced settings
  
• Click Reset settings
  
• Finally, confirm the restoration by clicking Reset on the warning message
  
• Restart Chrome

Reset Mozilla Firefox

• Open Firefox, type about:support in the URL area and press Enter
  
• On the Troubleshooting Information screen, spot the Refresh Firefox button and click on it
  
• Follow subsequent directions to reset Firefox to its original settings
  
• Restart the browser.

Reset Internet Explorer

• Select Internet options under IE’s Tools (Alt+X)
  
• Proceed by clicking on Advanced tab, then select Reset
  
• To confirm the intended changes, click Reset on the Reset Internet Explorer Settings screen after ascertaining that the Delete personal settings checkbox is enabled
  
• Reboot the machine to fully implement the fix.

Reset Safari

• Go to the Safari menu and select Preferences
  
• When on the Preferences screen, select the Privacy tab and hit the Remove All Website Data button if you are up to erasing all website data stored on your Mac. Otherwise, you can use a site-specific removal option described below
  
• A dialog will appear, asking you to validate your choice. Click the Remove Now button if you are sure. Be advised this will log you out of online services and undo personalized web browser settings such as saved passwords, etc.
  
• Safari also allows deleting data for specific sites rather than all sites in general. To use this option, click the Details button under Privacy tab
  
• Select the websites for which you would like to erase data and click the Remove button
  
• Click the Done button to confirm and exit. You can also select the Remove All option to remove all data stored by the listed websites.

Revise your security status

Post-factum assessment of the accuracy component in malware removal scenarios is a great habit that prevents the comeback of harmful code or replication of its unattended fractions. Make sure you are good to go by running an additional safety checkup.

Download Y2Mate.com virus removal tool