Remove Fres-news popup virus from Chrome/Firefox/IE/Safari

This entry provides an in-depth summary on the fres-news popup virus, including the infection’s goals and methods to remove it from affected web browser.

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

What is the fres-news popup virus?

The phenomenon of browser hijacking is nothing new, but cybercrooks have been recently trying to take it up a notch by perpetrating a very peculiar type of these hoaxes. The novel attack vector is a cocktail of classic redirect activity and a clever trick aimed at elevating the privileges of the infection inside a host. The scam operators are utilizing a fast-flux network of dubious sites to swap the URLs frequently enough to evade traditional domain blacklisting mechanisms. Fres-news.com is the latest web page that constitutes this ever-changing range. Whereas it is disguised as a commonplace “Human Verification” service, this is actually a red herring that veils a potentially dangerous stratagem. Every redirect instance leading to this site is accompanied by a pop-up saying, “Will you allow fres-news.com to send notifications” or “fres-news.com wants to show notifications”. The wording depends on the malware-riddled web browser, the former message being shown in Mozilla Firefox and the latter occurring in Google Chrome. What is the objective of these annoying dialogs?

It turns out that the ostensibly regular pop-up is a way for the cybercriminals to gain extra privileges inside a contaminated computer in general and the browser in particular. In case the victim clicks the “Allow” button, the underlying add-on gets the green light to keep messing around with the original Internet preferences. The pest will also be able to manage website content and thereby replace arbitrary components of any visited page with rogue elements that don’t belong there. To top it off, the PUP (potentially unwanted program) behind the fres-news.com quandary can cause additional redirects and initiate downloads in the virus-tainted browser behind the administrator’s back. All of these adverse effects add up to an erratic aftermath of the attack that prevents the plagued PC user from surfing the web in a hassle-free way. Furthermore, the risks that emanate from failing to fix the problem are quite serious. Not only will the rerouting of the web traffic continue to take place incrementally, but also the follow-up malware that may be promoted by the fres-news virus will make matters worse via an impact that’s hard to foresee. It’s within the realms of possibility that the victim’s private data will be collected and stolen, not to mention a likely scenario of ransomware infiltration.

There are several ways in which users can end up on fres-news.com. One of them involves search engine poisoning, a technique that entails fraudulent manipulation of legit search results. The outcome of this tactic is all about booby-trapped entries being embedded in SERPs (search engine results pages) when a person is looking for random information. By unknowingly clicking one of such toxic links, the would-be victim’s browser is instantly forwarded to the unsafe source. By the way, the URL will always be appended by certain alphanumeric characters so that the resulting string looks like this: fres-news[dot]com/?p=gbtdayrtgm5gi3bpgm3dk. In some cases, there can be a digit preceding the domain name (1.fres-news.com/{random}, 2.fres-news.com/{random}, etc.). Another common situation is when a user’s computer is infected with an adware strain that triggers a redirect loop. If so, the entry point is usually an application bundle that provides no clear indication of complementary items being installed along with the harmless freeware.

Regardless of the method leveraged for forcing hits to fres-news.com, the subsequent chain of events is a matter of allowing or refusing to allow notifications from the site. The pop-up dialogs contain a “Block” or “Never Allow” button, but even if these are clicked the permissions requests will keep reappearing until the core infection is removed from the system. As mentioned above, in the event the victim authorizes the sketchy web page to show notifications, the consequences can be more disconcerting than the hijack proper. The malicious browser extension may surreptitiously download other threats and extend the scope of unwanted landing pages with tech support scams, gambling sites, and fake search engines. All in all, if fres-news.com is being constantly visited without one’s consent, it’s important to get rid of the associated malware before the impact of this incursion is escalated considerably. The right remedy is an effective computer cleanup that will eliminate all traces of the virus.

Automated removal of fres-news 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 fres-news.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 fres-news.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 an 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 fres-news.com pop-up 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 fres-news.com virus removal tool