How to Remove Crusader Adware

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Crusader is an adware program, unleashed by Advanced PC Care. Adware applications are among the most obnoxious infections out there. They throw you into a whirl of frustration and grievances. How come? Well, every time you so much as touch your browser, you see why. When you go online, you experience an avalanche of pop-up ads. In-text, banner, all kinds of ads come your way. And, the waterfall of advertisements isn’t the only intrusion, it forces on you. The adware also redirects you to suspicious third-party pages. Couple the ads and redirects, and you have quite the unpleasant online experience. Since these disruptions occur every time you browse, they lead to further issues. Your computer slows down to a crawl. And, your system starts to crash more often. But, do you know what? Those are the least of your concerns. These are the minor inconveniences. There are greater ones. The one, which towers over them all, is the privacy threat. Yes, Crusader jeopardizes your private life. It spies on your every online move, and catalogs it. When it deems it has enough data, it sends it to the people behind it. So, unless you want your private information stolen and exposed, act. And, act fast. Protect your personal and financial details. Keep them from falling in the hands of cyber criminals. Delete the Crusader tool as soon as you see that first “Ads by Crusader” pop up.

How did I get infected with?

Crusader turns to the usual antics to invade your system. The old but gold means of infiltration come in quite handy. But they only take the infection so far. Then, it needs YOU to take it the rest of the way. Confused? Let’s explain. The application uses proven methods to slither into your system. Corrupted links, freeware, supposed updates, spam email attachments. The list is extensive. Take freeware, for example. It’s among the top most used invasive means. And, there’s a reason for that. Users tend to throw caution to the wind during its install. They rush, and don’t bother doing their due diligence. Instead of reading the terms and conditions, they say YES, and move on. And, that’s a strategy that almost always gets you into cyber trouble. Infections prey on carelessness. Don’t grant it, and make it easy for them to sneak in undetected. Be thorough. Vigilance goes a long way.

Why is this dangerous?

The Crusader is an ad-supported tool. In other word, its existence relies on its ability to make money for the people behind it. If it fails to generate revenue, it falls into oblivion. So, the program does its best to create web traffic, and pay-per-click profits. It redirects you to various third-party sites. All of which are unreliable. It bombards you with pop-up advertisements. None of which you should trust enough to click on. And, everything you see got chosen for your eyes only. It’s not random. It got picked for you, and you alone. The adware doesn’t waste time throwing random ads your way, and hoping for the best. Instead, it makes sure to display ones, deemed ‘appropriate.’ he infection studies you to make the proper selection. As soon as it invades, it begins to spy on your browsing. It tries to learn what sparks your interests, what entices you, your likes, everything. Then, once it gets to know you better, the bombardment begins. Click nothing it shows you, no matter how appealing it seems! Each pop-up you press, by accident or choice, allows more malware into your system. Yes, the ads conceal various malicious threats. And, your click equals consent on their installment. So, the more ads you trust, or are careless enough to press, the more malware you end up with. Add the security threat to the mix, and you see why, Crusader does NOT belong on your PC. Remove it ASAP. It’s for the best.

How to Remove Crusader virus

The Crusader infection is specifically designed to make money to its creators one way or another. The specialists from various antivirus companies like Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton, Avast, ESET, etc. advise that there is no harmless virus.

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the Crusader infection. Please, follow the procedures in the exact order. Please, consider to print this guide or have another computer at your disposal. You will NOT need any USB sticks or CDs.

WARNING! Stopping the wrong file or deleting the wrong registry key may damage your system irreversibly.
If you are feeling not technical enough just use Spyhunter Professional Malware Removal Tool to deal with the problem!
>>Download SpyHunter – a Professional Remover.

Please, keep in mind that SpyHunter’s scanner tool is free. To remove the Crusader infection, you need to purchase its full version.

STEP 1: Track down Crusader in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Crusader startup location

STEP 3: Delete Crusader traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Crusader in the computer memory

• Open your Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys simultaneously
• Carefully review all processes and stop the suspicious ones.

• Write down the file location for later reference.

Step 2: Locate Crusader startup location

Reveal Hidden Files

• Open any folder
• Click on “Organize” button
  
• Choose “Folder and Search Options”
• Select the “View” tab
• Select “Show hidden files and folders” option
• Uncheck “Hide protected operating system files”
• Click “Apply” and “OK” button

Clean Crusader virus from the windows registry

• Once the operating system loads press simultaneously the Windows Logo Button and the R key.

• A dialog box should open. Type “Regedit”

• WARNING! be very careful when editing the Microsoft Windows Registry as this may render the system broken.

Depending on your OS (x86 or x64) navigate to:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

• and delete the display Name: [RANDOM]

• Then open your explorer and navigate to: %appdata% folder and delete the malicious executable.

Clean your HOSTS file to avoid unwanted browser redirection

Navigate to %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/host

If you are hacked, there will be foreign IPs addresses connected to you at the bottom. Take a look below:

STEP 3 : Clean Crusader traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the Crusader by clicking on the little recycle bin
• Reset Google Chrome by Deleting the current user to make sure nothing is left behind

• Open Mozilla Firefox

• Press simultaneously Ctrl+Shift+A
• Disable the unwanted Extension
• Go to Help
• Then Troubleshoot information
• Click on Reset Firefox

• Open Internet Explorer

• On the Upper Right Corner Click on the Gear Icon
• Click on Internet options
• go to Toolbars and Extensions and disable the unknown extensions
• Select the Advanced tab and click on Reset

• Restart Internet Explorer

Step 4: Undo the damage done by Crusader

This particular Virus may alter your DNS settings.

Attention! this can break your internet connection. Before you change your DNS settings to use Google Public DNS for Crusader, be sure to write down the current server addresses on a piece of paper.

To fix the damage done by the virus you need to do the following.

• Click the Windows Start button to open the Start Menu, type control panel in the search box and select Control Panel in the results displayed above.
• go to Network and Internet
• then Network and Sharing Center
• then Change Adapter Settings
• Right-click on your active internet connection and click properties. Under the Networking tab, find Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). Left click on it and then click on properties. Both options should be automatic! By default it should be set to “Obtain an IP address automatically” and the second one to “Obtain DNS server address automatically!” If they are not just change them, however if you are part of a domain network you should contact your Domain Administrator to set these settings, otherwise the internet connection will break!!!

You must clean all your browser shortcuts as well. To do that you need to

• Right click on the shortcut of your favorite browser and then select properties.

• in the target field remove Crusader argument and then apply the changes.
• Repeat that with the shortcuts of your other browsers.
• Check your scheduled tasks to make sure the virus will not download itself again.

How to Permanently Remove Crusader Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

Please, have in mind that once you are infected with a single virus, it compromises your system and let all doors wide open for many other infections. To make sure manual removal is successful, we recommend to use a free scanner of any professional antimalware program to identify possible registry leftovers or temporary files.