How to Remove FASST Malware

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The FASST parasite is a nasty intruder which floods your web browser with unverified advertisements. Security researchers have categorized it as adware. Following a successful infiltration the adware detects all installed browsers and adds its malicious extension to them. Chrome, Opera, Safari, Firefox, Edge, there is no immune browser. The parasite affects them alike and ruins your browsing experience. The good news is that this intruder is not a real virus. It cannot corrupt your entire system. It limits its influence to your browser only. The parasite is programmed to inject dozens and dozens of ads on every website you open, to redirect your web traffic to sponsored pages and to pause your online videos for commercial breaks. The FASST adware can be extremely intrusive. It can ruin your browsing experience in seconds. The adware tends to get more and more aggressive as time passes. It is bound to get out of control. Soon, there will be so many adverts that your browser won’t be able to display them correctly. It will start to freeze and crash frequently. You won’t be able to get a simple task done. Every time you as much as touch browser, numerous pop-ups will cover your screen. You will hate the experience. Do not wait for this scenario to unfold. Do not let the FASST adware wreak havoc on your computer. Get back in control, remove the intruder as soon as possible.

How did I get infected with?

The FASST adware did not infect your device by itself. No, it received help – your help. Your actions got you in this trouble. You installed the parasite. Unintentionally, of course. The adware knows how to lure its victims into unwanted actions. It usually lurks behind software bundles, torrents and fake updates. The good old spam emails are also a possible cause of the adware infection. The thing is, all these techniques would have failed if you were just a bit more careful. Learn your lesson. Do not let other parasites trick you ever again. Download your software from reputable sources only. When you start an installation process, pay close attention to the fine print. If available, always select the Advanced/Custom option. And don’t even think about skipping the terms and conditions/end user license agreement. If you cannot spare enough time to read the whole document, use an online EULA analyzer to scan it. If you detect anything out of the ordinary, abort the installation immediately. This is your computer. Its security is your responsibility. So, don’t be lazy. Always do your due diligence!

Why is this dangerous?

Do not underestimate your situation, the FASST adware is not an annoyance you can ignore. This parasite is dangerous. It opens your browser to surveillance and targeted ads. You didn’t think that the numerous ads are randomly displayed, did you? No, these are selected for you. The adware monitors your browsing-related data and bases its ads on the collected information. It knows your every online step. Which websites you open, what links you follow, what videos you watch. Even the Incognito mode of your browser cannot hide you. Your every online action is recorded and analyzed. As for the collected information, it is used against you. The adware turns you into an easy target. It sells access to the information. Anyone willing to spend some money can use the adware and its resources to promote. Various crooks do. They prepare customized advertising campaigns and force them on you. The ads look great, yet, when you click, bad things happen. You risk ending up on a scam and potentially infected websites. Hundreds of online schemes are run through the adware. Do not risk falling victim to one. The FASST adware should be removed as soon as possible. Do not hesitate, delete this parasite for good!

How to Remove FASST virus

The FASST 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 FASST 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.

STEP 1: Track down FASST in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate FASST startup location

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

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down FASST 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 FASST 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 FASST 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 FASST traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the FASST 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 FASST

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 FASST, 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 FASST 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 FASST 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.