How to get rid of Content Push News Adware from the system?

Content Push News is a rogue application that installs stealthily in the system. The application lures user to install it by offering a quick access to news and popular sites. However, on installing, it bombards user browser screen with promotional contents and commercials all the time. This has a major impact on system performance as the ads displayed consume system memory and render it sluggish.

The motive behind designing this malicious program is solely monetary. The advertisement banners displayed are sponsored and the discount coupons and offers shown is a trick to lure users to click on it to generate Pay per Click revenue.  However most of these offers are not real.

The malicious program tries to invade system registry in order to achieve persistence. This makes the removal of this nasty infection difficult from the computer system. Hence users are advised to remove this rouge application as soon as possible from the system.

Threats posed by Content Push News Adware

Infestation of this malicious program in the system may make the system susceptible to potential threats. Accidental or deliberate clicks on the suspicious ads displayed by the pernicious system infection may redirect users to virus infested page. This may result in the installation of other malware threats in the system.

Also ads displayed consume internet bandwidth and hence makes internet surfing slow for users.

Infiltration of this noxious OS infection may also result in the installation of other malicious program in the system without user consent.

How does the infection invade the system?       

The cybercriminals use various strategies for malware distribution which include –

1. Software Bundling: Software bundling is the process in which a malicious program is distributed with other free software, to get an unnoticed entry into your computer system. When a user installs a free application, the malicious programs gains a front door entry with the free application, the user has downloaded. Thus, it is a good idea to keep an eye on the installation screens while installing these free applications.
2. Infected Storage Devices: Your system can also get infected by using removable media such as USB hard drives and jump drives without scanning them with an anti-virus.
3. Spam Emails – Spamming is the most economic and common method used for the distribution of such malware. The targeted users get genuine looking emails which contain .doc, .txt, and other similar attachments. These attachments can be named as anything which can grab the user’s attention and triggers him/her to open the attachment. As soon as the user opens this attachment, the malware infects the user’s computer system.
4. Malicious Websites or Malevolent Advertisements: The malicious websites are the ones which are created just for promoting the malware infections. Such websites include but are not limited to porn sites, torrent sites and other free downloading platforms. By visiting such websites, the adware infects the user’s computer without permission. Fake advertisements and updates like Flash player and windows updates which ask the user to update to the latest version are a few examples. When the users click on such links, their computer system gets infected. That is why, it is highly recommended to resist clicking on such links. Also avoid clicking on advertisements offering free stuff such as Win and i Phones, cars or free overseas trips etc.

Threat Summary

Name: Content Push News

Browsers Affected: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox

Targeted Operating System: Windows

Category: PUP (Potential Unwanted Program)

Symptoms: Appearance of sponsored ads and pop-ups

Registry Modification, unnatural network activities and occasional sluggishness of the infected device.

How to remove Content Push News Adware from the system?

Note: Before we begin, try to remember how the extension got downloaded  on your computer system. Generally, these programs come bundled with free applications that we download off the internet. It is a good practice to locate and uninstall such programs while removing the PUP.

Step A – Remove Content Push News Adware from the control panel.

Windows XP

1. Click on the “Start” button on the bottom left corner of your screen. A Start menu will be displayed as shown below. From this menu select the option that reads “Control Panel”.
2. In the window that will be displayed, click the option “Switch to classic view”.
3. This will display all the options/icons available to you. From the displayed icons, click on the icon that reads “Add or Remove Programs”.
4. Select the “Uninstall a program” option from the “Programs” category. A list will populate on the screen displaying all the programs.
5. Select the programs related to Content Push News Adware and click on the Uninstall button.

Windows 7/Vista

1. Right click on the “Start” button located at the lower left corner of the screen. From the Start menu, click on “Control Panel”.
2. The “Control Panel” Window will be displayed on the screen. Click on “Uninstall a Program” option from the “Programs” category.
3. The “Programs and Features” window will be displayed on the screen. A list will populate on the screen displaying all the programs.
4. Scroll though the list of programs and select the programs related to Content Push News Adware and then click on the “Uninstall” button.

Windows 8/10

1. Right click on the “Windows logo” on the lower left side of the computer screen. From the drop down menu, select and click on “Control Panel”.
2. The “Control Panel” window will be displayed. From this window select “Uninstall a program” option form the “Programs” category.
3. A list will populate on the screen displaying all the programs.
4. Select the programs related to Content Push News Adware and click on the “Uninstall” button.
5. In the confirmation box, click on the box that reads “OK” to save changes.

Step B – Delete the suspicious file from the Registry Key

1. Type “Regedit” in search box / Run Box, select it and press Enter.
2. An authorization dialog box will appear, then you just have to click “Yes”. (The dialog box appearance may vary depending on OS used. For Windows 10 the the dialog box looks like the first screenshot and for windows 7 it appears like the second screenshot)
3. In the registry editor, take the backup of the current registry settings before making any changes in case you want to revert to old settings later. For this, Click on File option in the menu and select Export. Save the entry at a known location.
4. From the Menu, Click Edit and Select Find.
5. Enter Content Push News Adware and click OK in the search box.
6. Select and delete suspicious  entries.

Step C – Remove the malicious program form the task manager

1. Launch the Task Manager Window by pressing Ctrl+ Shift+ Escape simultaneously. (The task manager window may vary depending on the OS ) OR bring the mouse cursor on the Task Bar (which is present at the bottom of the computer screen), right click on the empty space  and click on Task Manager.

                              Task Manager window for Windows 10

                                             Task Manager window for Windows 7

2 Right Click on the Suspicious File and select Open file Location.

3 In the File Location Screen that appears, Right click on the File and click on Delete, to delete the File permanently from the location.

OR

1. Open Task Manager window again by following the  steps mentioned above.
2. Click on the Startup tab.
3. Select the suspicious entry and click on the Disable button present at the bottom right corner of the window

OR

1. Open Task Manager window again by following the  steps mentioned above.
2. Click on Services tab.
3. Right click on the suspicious entry and click on Stop.

Step D – Remove the Program from msconfig

1. Type “Msconfig” in search box / Run Box, select it and press Enter.
2. Click on “Services” Tab and click on “Hide all Microsoft services”.
3. Select Content Push News Adware from the list of remaining services and disable it by removing the tick mark from the checkbox and click on Apply button.

Windows 7

1. Click on the next tab – “Startup”.
2. Find any blank or suspicious entry or the entry with Content Push News Adware mentioned and remove the check mark.
3. Click on Apply button and then click on OK.

Windows 10

1. Click on the next tab – “Startup”.
2. Take the mouse cursor to ‘Open task Manager‘ link and click on it.  This opens the Task Manager window.
3. Find any blank or suspicious entry or the entry with Content Push News Adware mentioned and click on it.
4. Then click on Disable button.

Step E – Remove the infection from the Browser Shortcut

The Malware may have hijacked your web browser’s desktop shortcuts. In this case we will need to manually clean them by removing any links within the startup argument.

1. Locate your web browser shortcuts (Desktop, Taskbar or Start Menu), then right-click on it and select Properties. To view the Properties menu for the browser shortcut pinned to your Taskbar, right-click on the browser shortcut from the Taskbar. Right-click again on the browser icon and Select Properties.
2. In the Shortcut tab, in the Target field, remove the url argument for Content Push News Adware which starts with “http”. There should be only the path to the browser’s main file and end with .exe such as iexplore.exe, chrome.exe or firefox.exe These are the default shortcut path that should be there in your Target box, if there is anything else  you should remove it.

Tips to prevent your computer system from getting infected –

1. Keeping the Operating System Updated- In order to remain protected and avoid such infections, it is recommended to keep your Operating System updated by enabling the automatic update on your system. The systems with outdated or older versions of Operating System become an easy target for the attackers.
2. Resist clicking on spam emails – One of the major techniques used for malware distribution is forwarding spam emails to the user. The system gets infected as soon as the user clicks on the attachment. These mails appear to be genuine, so be aware and resist falling for these tricks.
3. Keep an eye on third party installations- It is quite important that you take due care while installing any third party applications for they are major source of such infections. Such malware programs come bundled with the free applications thereby requiring the user to remain cautious.
4. Regular periodical backup- In order to keep your data and files safe, it is recommended to take regular back up of all your data and files either on an external drive or cloud.
5. Use Anti-Virus Protection- We strongly recommend the use of antivirus protection/internet security in your PC like BULL GUARD and Hitman Pro so that it remains safe.
6. Enable the Ad Blocker/Popup Blocker in your browser- Enabling the popup blocker/ ad blocker in your chosen browser will help you to stay protected from annoying adware.