Clicking on the JoinTheDating ad may result in the injection of other malware or unwanted programs. In this article, you will see the manual of JoinTheDating popups removal in several methods, and also examining your system for other malware presence.

What are JoinTheDating pop-ups?

JoinTheDating popups are a result of adware action. Adware is a sort of malware that demonstrates to you the pay-per-view of pay-per-click advertisements, which produces a massive amount of profit for adware suppliers. These promotions might contain sometimes shocking composition, or have a link to malicious content/website, considering that adware maintainers have no reason to check the goodness of the content they are going to show – their solitary target is cash.

JoinTheDating push notification.

Pop-up promotions itself is an excellent, cheap and also very effective advertising solution¹. It makes it possible for the vendor to link the customers’ interest to their website, and the customers to get the dynamic updates on the goods they want to buy. When the person will receive a pop-up alert that the TV set he wishes to purchase is provided at the online store he/she saw previously with a 15% price cut, one will definitely use this possibility and get it. Taking into consideration the incredibly small cost for the popups and their targeting, such a promotion and marketing method is a favorite thing amongst the advertising teams of large online retail stores.

Nonetheless, such a rewarding scheme could not be missed by malware creators. Option to demonstrate the popup advertisements by force to the targets of malware attack is an ideal basis for malicious adjustments with the popup promotions. And Jointhedating.com ads is just one of hundreds that are “employed” in this system.

Site	Jointhedating.com
Hosting	AS39572 DataWeb Global Group B.V. Netherlands, Amsterdam
Infection Type	Adware, Push notifications, Unwanted Ads, Pop-up Ads
IP Address	185.98.53.4
Symptoms	Annoying pop-up ads in the right corner.
Similar behavior	Model, News, Hasdrs
Fix Tool	GridinSoft Anti-MalwareTo remove possible virus infections, try to scan your PC

How have I got the JoinTheDating virus?

There are a number of methods of getting infected by the adware that result in the JoinTheDating popups storm. A lion’s part of this computer virus instances is after the freeware or cracked programs, that are distributed on the peering networks. Freeware may also be downloaded from the official website, and the adware is delivered as a legit bundled program.

There is no need to blame yourself. A number of individuals frequently utilize the uncertain programs from untrusted sources: abandonware, a wide range of tools that are free of cost, or even hacked programs. All of these types of applications are dangerous, because it is very simple to build in a JoinTheDating malware under the cover of part of the license hacking script, or as a component of the self-made algoritm inside of the Windows optimization tool.

JoinTheDating popup malware may likewise be hidden in the promotion somewhere on the unusual web page. Such sites are in most cases full of intense and blinking ads, and their owners generally approve any promotions to be placed on their page. Thus, clicking such banners is a shot in the dark: only the advertisement provider realizes what will happen when you click this ad. Besides some “light” viruses, like adware or undesirable programs, you may also receive something far more unsafe, like ransomware or coin miner; the large share of coin miners distribution is exactly after the malicious ads.

The statistic shows that people dislike popup advertising more than other types of promotions

Potentially unwanted programs, like JoinTheDating pop-up virus can provoke a lot of problems on your personal computer. Distracting is not the single effect – pop-ups can display you the promotions, where you are offered to download another strange program, or “a amazing security tool”. Scareware is usually spread with the use of the last motto. Potentially undesirable applications, in turn, can have spyware functionality. And it is very hard to distinguish the unwanted app from a legit one, if you don’t know the exact names. Besides the PUPs and dubious antiviruses, popup-related advertisements are also used as a distribution method by various trojan viruses, for instance – coin miners. The consequences of activity of such malware is 100% unpleasant, and can cost you hundreds of dollars. And even if you are not tapping these ads, they may be clicked by whoever who also makes use of your computer – parents, children, spouse, etc. So the situation may become much more serious, and it will be much harder to deal with it without data loss. It is recommended to get rid of the viruses with antivirus applications as soon as possible.

How can I get rid of JoinTheDating pop-up advertisements?

The manual of JoinTheDating adware clearing includes 2 sections. Initially, we need to deal with the malware, and after that take care of the effects of its activity. The elimination process is very easy, due to the fact that it may be done even with the use of Microsoft Defender – anti-malware software that is available on all computers with Windows 8/10. Nevertheless, as a result of its significant resources usage, as well as some errors that may be serious for some kinds of users, Defender is often turned off by the users, so its utilization is probably impossible. Additionally, different trojan viruses are capable to disable the embedded antivirus. It is far better to use the separated program that will not have such vulnerabilities.

I would certainly advise you to use Gridinsoft Anti-Malware² – a well-proven anti-malware tool that will surely exterminate the malware from your personal computer and also make an invulnerable shield with a Proactive protection feature. But let’s handle JoinTheDating adware initially.

Download GridinSoft Anti-Malware

Removing JoinTheDating popup virus with GridinSoft Anti-Malware

• Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware. After the installation, you will be offered to perform the Standard Scan. Approve this action.
• Standard scan checks the logical disk where the system files are stored, together with the files of programs you have already installed. The scan lasts up to 6 minutes.
• When the scan is over, you may choose the action for each detected virus. For all files of JoinTheDating malware the default option is “Delete”. Press “Apply” to finish the malware removal.

Now, when the computer is clean of viruses, we can proceed to the browser reset. You can do this step manually, as well as with the use of GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

Reset browser settings to default

Manual method of browser reset

1. Open “Settings and more” tab in upper right corner, then find here “Settings” button. In the appeared menu, choose “Reset settings” option :
2. After picking the Reset Settings option, you will see the following menu, stating about the settings which will be reverted to original :

1. Open Menu tab (three strips in upper right corner) and click the “Help” button. In the appeared menu choose “troubleshooting information” :
2. In the next screen, find the “Refresh Firefox” option :

After choosing this option, you will see the next message :

1. Open Settings tab, find the “Advanced” button. In the extended tab choose the “Reset and clean up” button :
2. In the appeared list, click on the “Restore settings to their original defaults” :
3. Finally, you will see the window, where you can see all the settings which will be reset to default :

1. Open Settings menu by pressing the gear icon in the toolbar (left side of the browser window), then click “Advanced” option, and choose “Browser” button in the drop-down list. Scroll down, to the bottom of the settings menu. Find there “Restore settings to their original defaults” option :


2. After clicking the “Restore settings…” button, you will see the window, where all settings, which will be reset, are shown :

When the web browsers are reset, you need to make sure that your web browser will be connected the appropriate DNS while connecting to the web page you need. Create a text file named “hosts” on your pc’s desktop, after that open it and fill it with the following lines³:

# Copyright (c) 1993-2006 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a ‘#’ symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
# localhost name resolution is handle within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost

Find the hosts.txt file in C:/Windows/System32/drivers/etc directory. Rename this file to “hosts.old.txt” (to distinguish it from the new one), and then move the file you created on the desktop to this folder. Remove the hosts.old from this folder. Now you have your hosts file as good as new.

Nevertheless, there is one problem that makes things a lot more difficult to repair, specifically without the anti-malware software. The majority of adware versions that are used to show you the JoinTheDating pop-up ads are modifying the deep browser configurations, disabling an access to the settings tab. So, if you attempt to fix your browser settings after your PC was penetrated by pop-up-related malware, your browser will certainly crash quickly. Sometimes, you will see no crash, but large lag spike after pressing the “settings” key. Browser will stop reacting for ~ 30 secs, and afterwards it will be back to the typical, till you attempt to open settings again.

Reset your browser settings with GridinSoft Anti-Malware

To reset your browser with GridinSoft Anti-Malware, open the Tools tab, and click the “Reset browser settings” button.

You can see the list of the options for each browser. By default, they are set up in the manner which fits the majority of users. Press the “Reset” button (lower right corner). In a minute your browser will be as good as new.

The browser reset is recommended to perform through the antivirus tool by GridinSoft, because last is also able to reset the HOSTS file without any additional commands.

References

1. More about pop-up advertisements on Wikipedia.
2. GridinSoft Anti-Malware overview and also the reasons why I advise it for malware elimination.
3. Official Microsoft guide for hosts file reset.