Online advertising is one of the best strategies that businesses can use to expand their reach, target their desired audiences, and generate steady revenue. However, it’s a competitive world out there with vast and diverse demographics. If not careful, advertisers may end up wasting marketing and advertising efforts, reaching all the wrong audience.
Still, some advertisers consider the online realm as a sea of opportunities. They take advantage of all the available online revenue streams, even if it means exhausting all the wrong methods that harm users. What we’re referring to is malvertising.
One of the programs that support malvertising is the so-called Tool Tech Connect. What is it and what does Tool Tech Connect do? Find out more about it here.
What is Tool Tech Connect?
Tool Tech Connect is a notorious ad-serving program that is flagged as an adware entity by many antivirus programs. It is known to serve pop-ups and advertisements on an infected computer. It will begin by observing and analyzing the browsing activities of a user, including the searches, browser extensions, history, and other relevant information. With this information, the program can generate advertisements that the it feels the user will most likely click onto. This type of malvertising is known as an aggressive form of targeted advertising.
What is Targeted Advertising?
Targeted Advertising is a known marketing tactic that is used by many legit advertising platforms and websites, such as Twitter, Walmart, Amazon, Google, and Facebook. Once you are targeted by this marketing strategy, your personal information could be at risk and be used for different purposes, such as telemarketing phone calls, email spam, phishing campaigns, and identity theft.
Now, how do you protect yourself against these questionable marketing strategies? There are actually a few things you can do. Here are some tips that we recommend:
- Make it a habit to back up your files to the Cloud or an external drive.
- Create a restore point on your PC, so when the need arises, you can quickly restore your system to its settings prior to the infection.
- Do not download and install apps, programs, and browser extensions you don’t know.
- Avoid visiting websites that advertise and promote adware removal software programs. Some of them might be designed to steal personal information and infect your device with a rogue program.
- Should you wish to download and install freeware, make sure to opt for the custom installation option to know what programs are included in the bundle.
- Avoid P2P clients and torrents.
- Do not open emails from people you don’t know.
- Keep your operating system and apps up to date.
Tool Tech Connect Ads Removal Instructions
Once you suspect that your computer has been infected by the Tool Tech Connect virus, remove it as soon as possible. Not doing so will put your computer at risk for more serious infections. To remove Tool Tech Connect, follow the removal guide below.
Step 1: Remove Tool Tech Connect from your system
- Go to Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features.
- Scroll through the list of all installed programs on your PC. Find Tool Tech Connect.
- Click on it and hit the Uninstall button.
- Check the list for other suspicious programs as well. Uninstall.
- Once you’re done, click OK.
- Restart your PC.
Step 2: Eliminate traces of Tool Tech Connect from your browser
Internet Explorer:
- Open Internet Explorer.
- Click on the tiny gear icon to open its menu. Select Manage Add-ons.
- Find Tool Tech Connect and other plugins you don’t remember installing. Disable them by clicking the Disable button.
- If your browser’s homepage was changed by the virus, click the gear icon again and choose Internet Options.
- Navigate to the General tab.
- Change the URL and enter your preferred domain.
- Hit Apply to save your changes.
Microsoft Edge:
- Open the Microsoft Edge app.
- Hit More.
- Go to Settings > Clear browsing data.
- Hit the Choose what to clear button.
- Check all the items you want to remove and hit Clear.
- Now, right-click on the Windows logo and choose Task Manager.
- Navigate to the Processes tab and find Microsoft Edge.
- Right-click on it and select the Go to details option.
- Find all entries associated with Microsoft Edge. Right-click on each one of them and choose End Task.
Chrome:
- Launch Google Chrome.
- Click on the hamburger menu (represented by three horizontal lines) and go to Tools > Extensions.
- Select Tool Tech Connect and other suspicious plugins on the list.
- Click the Trash icon to delete these items.
- Next, click on the menu icon once again. This time, go to Settings > Search > Manage Search Engines.
- Remove any malicious sites in the list.
- Now, reset Google Chrome by clicking the menu once again. Go to Settings.
- Scroll through the page and click the Reset browser settings button.
- Confirm your acting by clicking the Reset button.
Step 3: Use a reliable antivirus program
Malware entities are becoming stronger and stronger each day. So, you need a reliable antivirus or anti-malware program that can get rid of these entities and keep them from wreaking havoc on your PC.
When downloading an antivirus program, make sure you visit the developer’s official website. The goal is to get rid of malicious entities on your PC. If you download programs from torrent sites, you might only put your PC and personal information at risk.
Once you have an antivirus program installed, run a quick scan. Let the tool find any suspicious entities on your system. After the scan, the program should display a list of threats it detected. You then decide whether or not to have them removed.
Wrapping Up
As the world embraces change, we need to keep up as well. With change comes risks and threats. Although technology is meant to bring convenience to users, if not used properly, it could endanger us. So, think before you click.
The moment you feel your personal data is already at risk because of Tool Tech Connect, have it removed as soon as possible. Follow our Tool Tech Connect removal guide to ensure you stay on the safe side.
Do you know someone who’s been affected by the Tool Tech Connect virus? Share this article!