How to uninstall applications that open topflownews.com and similar sites

topflownews[.]com redirect removal instructions

What is topflownews[.]com?

topflownews[.]com functions like many other rogue websites including, for example, allow-space[.]com, belazyelephant[.]com and alisalis[.]com. These sites load dubious content or redirect visitors to a number of other untrusted web pages. Commonly, people are forced to visit these websites and do not open them intentionally - they are opened by browsers with potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) installed on them. Furthermore, PUAs display intrusive ads and collect details relating to web browsing habits.

Typically, PUAs open topflownews[.]com and similar sites in a new browser window or tab. In any case, when visited, these pages load dubious content or redirect visitors to about two or three untrusted or even malicious sites. The way these pages operate depends on visitors' geoloactions. Note that web pages opened via websites such as topflownews[.]com can be malicious and designed to advertise dubious software. Furthermore, topflownews[.]com uses a 'clickbait' technique to deceive visitors into allowing it to show notifications. It encourages visitors to enable notifications and continue watching a video by clicking the "Allow" button. If clicked, this button allows pages such as topflownews[.]com to show notifications that usually contain dubious advertisements, links to untrusted websites, etc. As mentioned, PUAs often collect information relating to users' browsing habits. Frequently, they target details such as IP addresses, entered search queries, addresses of visited websites, geolocation, etc., however, PUAs also record personal details. Furthermore, the people responsible for these apps either sell the data to third parties (potentially, cyber criminals) or misuse it to generate revenue. PUAs can also feed users with intrusive advertisements such as coupons, banners, surveys, pop-ups, and others. When clicked, these can open dubious websites or download and install various unwanted applications by running certain scripts. People with PUAs installed on their browsers and/or operating systems can experience issues relating to browsing safety, online privacy or even become victims of identity theft. Therefore, never trust, download or install any PUAs.

Threat Summary:

Name	Ads by topflownews.com
Threat Type	Push notifications ads, Unwanted ads, Pop-up ads.
Serving IP Address	78.140.190.85
Symptoms	Seeing advertisements not originating from the sites you are browsing. Intrusive pop-up ads. Decreased internet browsing speed.
Distribution Methods	Deceptive pop-up ads, potentially unwanted applications (adware).
Damage	Decreased computer performance, browser tracking - privacy issues, possible additional malware infections.
Malware Removal (Windows)	To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your computer with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Malwarebytes. ▼ Download Malwarebytes To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Malwarebytes. 14 days free trial available.

Most potentially unwanted applications are advertised as legitimate, useful, etc., however, few operate as advertised. Most are designed only to open dubious pages, collect browsing-related details and display advertisements. They are designed only to help the developers to generate revenue and put users at risk of various problems.

How did adware install on my computer?

Most users download and install PUAs by clicking certain deceptive advertisements or together with other, mostly free, programs. Commonly, PUAs are distributed by including them into various download/installation set-ups. This distribution method is called "bundling". In most cases, information about the inclusion of PUAs into the set-ups can be found in "Custom", "Advanced" and other similar settings. Users who download and install programs without checking and changing these settings often allow PUAs to infiltrate. Unwanted downloads and installations are also caused through deceptive advertisements - when users click them, they execute certain scripts.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications

All software and files should be downloaded from official pages and via direct links. Channels such as Peer-to-Peer networks (e.g., torrent clients, eMule), unofficial websites, third party downloaders, installers, etc., should not be trusted. Commonly, they are used to distribute PUAs or even malicious programs. Check "Custom", "Advanced" and other settings of any download or installation setup. Dismiss any offers to download or install unwanted software. Do not click advertisements that appear on dubious websites, since they can open untrusted websites or download and install unwanted, potentially malicious software. These ads sometimes also appear on legitimate web pages. Remove all unwanted, suspicious extensions, add-ons and plug-ins that are installed on the browser immediately. Also remove software of this kind that is installed on the operating system. If your computer is already infected with rogue applications, we recommend running a scan with Malwarebytes for Windows to automatically eliminate them.

Appearance of topflownews[.]com website (GIF):

IMPORTANT NOTE! This deceptive site asks to enable web browser notifications.

Therefore, before commencing, perform these steps:

Google Chrome (PC):

• Click the Menu button (three dots) on the right upper corner of the screen
• Select "Settings", scroll down to the bottom and click "Advanced"
• Scroll down to the "Privacy and security" section, select "Content settings" and then "Notifications"
• Click three dots on the right hand side of each suspicious URL and click "Block" or "Remove" (if you click "Remove" and visit the malicious site once more, it will ask to enable notifications again)

Google Chrome (Android):

• Click on the Menu button (three dots) on the right upper corner of the screen and click "Settings"
• Scroll down, click on "Site settings" and then "Notifications"
• In the opened window, locate all suspicious URLs and click on them one-by-one
• Select "Notifications" in the "Permissions" section and set the toggle button to "OFF"

Mozilla Firefox:

• Click the Menu button (three bars) on the right upper corner of the screen
• Select "Options" and click on "Privacy & Security" in the toolbar on the left hand side of the screen
• Scroll down to the "Permissions" section and click the "Settings" button next to "Notifications"
• In the opened window, locate all suspicious URLs, click the drop-down menu and select "Block"

Internet Explorer:

• Click the Gear button on the right upper corner of the IE window
• Select "Internet options"
• Select the "Privacy" tab and click "Settings" under "Pop-up Blocker" section
• Select suspicious URLs under and remove them one by one by clicking the "Remove" button

Microsoft Edge:

• Click the menu button (three dots) on the right upper corner of the Edge window and select "Settings"
• Click on "Site permissions" in the toolbar on the left hand side of the screen and select "Notifications"
• Click three dots on the right hand side of each suspicious URL under "Allow" section and click "Block" or "Remove" (if you click "Remove" and visit the malicious site once more, it will ask to enable notifications again)

Safari (Mac):

• Click "Safari" button on the left upper corner of the screen and select "Preferences..."
• Select the "Websites" tab and then select "Notifications" section on the left pane
• Check for suspicious URLs and apply the "Deny" option for each

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Quick menu:

• What is topflownews[.]com?
• STEP 1. Uninstall adware applications using Control Panel.
• STEP 2. Remove adware from Internet Explorer.
• STEP 3. Remove rogue plug-ins from Google Chrome.
• STEP 4. Remove adware-type extensions from Mozilla Firefox.
• STEP 5. Remove malicious extensions from Safari.
• STEP 6. Remove rogue plug-ins from Microsoft Edge.

Adware removal:

Windows 7 users:

Click Start (Windows Logo at the bottom left corner of your desktop), choose Control Panel. Locate Programs and click Uninstall a program.

Windows XP users:

Click Start, choose Settings and click Control Panel. Locate and click Add or Remove Programs.

Windows 10 and Windows 8 users:

Right-click in the lower left corner of the screen, in the Quick Access Menu select Control Panel. In the opened window choose Programs and Features.

Mac OSX users:

Click Finder, in the opened screen select Applications. Drag the app from the Applications folder to the Trash (located in your Dock), then right click the Trash icon and select Empty Trash.

In the uninstall programs window, look for any potentially unwanted applications, select these entries and click "Uninstall" or "Remove".

After uninstalling the potentially unwanted application that causes topflownews[.]com redirects, scan your computer for any remaining unwanted components or possible malware infections. To scan your computer, use recommended malware removal software.

Remove adware from Internet browsers:

Video showing how to remove potentially unwanted browser add-ons:

Remove malicious add-ons from Internet Explorer:

Click the "gear" icon (at the top right corner of Internet Explorer), select "Manage Add-ons". Look for any recently-installed suspicious browser extensions, select these entries and click "Remove".

Optional method:

If you continue to have problems with removal of the ads by topflownews.com, reset your Internet Explorer settings to default.

Windows XP users: Click Start, click Run, in the opened window type inetcpl.cpl In the opened window click the Advanced tab, then click Reset.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 users: Click the Windows logo, in the start search box type inetcpl.cpl and click enter. In the opened window click the Advanced tab, then click Reset.

Windows 8 users: Open Internet Explorer and click the gear icon. Select Internet Options.

In the opened window, select the Advanced tab.

Click the Reset button.

Confirm that you wish to reset Internet Explorer settings to default by clicking the Reset button.

Remove malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

Click the Chrome menu icon  (at the top right corner of Google Chrome), select "More tools" and click "Extensions". Locate all recently-installed suspicious browser add-ons and remove them.

Optional method:

If you continue to have problems with removal of the ads by topflownews.com, reset your Google Chrome browser settings. Click the Chrome menu icon  (at the top right corner of Google Chrome) and select Settings. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen. Click the Advanced… link.

After scrolling to the bottom of the screen, click the Reset (Restore settings to their original defaults) button.

In the opened window, confirm that you wish to reset Google Chrome settings to default by clicking the Reset button.

Remove malicious plug-ins from Mozilla Firefox:

Click the Firefox menu (at the top right corner of the main window), select "Add-ons". Click "Extensions", in the opened window, remove all recently-installed suspicious browser plug-ins.

Optional method:

Computer users who have problems with ads by topflownews.com removal can reset their Mozilla Firefox settings.

Open Mozilla Firefox, at the top right corner of the main window, click the Firefox menu, in the opened menu, click Help.

Select Troubleshooting Information.

In the opened window, click the Refresh Firefox button.

In the opened window, confirm that you wish to reset Mozilla Firefox settings to default by clicking the Refresh Firefox button.

Remove malicious extensions from Safari:

Make sure your Safari browser is active, click Safari menu, and select Preferences....

In the opened window click Extensions, locate any recently installed suspicious extension, select it and click Uninstall.

Optional method:

Make sure your Safari browser is active and click on Safari menu. From the drop down menu select Clear History and Website Data...

In the opened window select all history and click the Clear History button.

Remove malicious extensions from Microsoft Edge:

Click the Edge menu icon  (at the upper-right corner of Microsoft Edge), select "Extensions". Locate all recently-installed suspicious browser add-ons and click "Remove" below their names.

Optional method:

If you continue to have problems with removal of the ads by topflownews.com, reset your Microsoft Edge browser settings. Click the Edge menu icon  (at the top right corner of Microsoft Edge) and select Settings.

In the opened settings menu select Reset settings.

Select Restore settings to their default values. In the opened window, confirm that you wish to reset Microsoft Edge settings to default by clicking the Reset button.

• If this did not help, follow these alternative instructions explaining how to reset the Microsoft Edge browser.

Summary:

Commonly, adware or potentially unwanted applications infiltrate Internet browsers through free software downloads. Note that the safest source for downloading free software is via developers' websites only. To avoid installation of adware, be very attentive when downloading and installing free software. When installing previously-downloaded free programs, choose the custom or advanced installation options – this step will reveal any potentially unwanted applications listed for installation together with your chosen free program.

Removal assistance:
If you are experiencing problems while trying to remove ads by topflownews.com from your computer, please ask for assistance in our malware support forum.

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