Remove “Salad Garden” Chrome Extension (Scam)

Can’t Remove Salad Garden ads? This page includes detailed ads by Salad Garden Removal instructions!

The Salad Garden Chrome extension is a questionable app. It is part of an  “Add Extension to Leave” scam. The scheme is quite simple. You get redirected to a suspicious website. There, a pop-up message prevents you from leaving the page. The message states that your browser lacks something and needs an extension in order to display something correctly. Whatever you do, you can’t close the page. When you click on the provided buttons, your browser switches to full-screen mode. The crooks want to disorientate you. This tactic aims to confuse you and further convince you that there’s a problem with your browser. Don’t panic! Don’t interact with the website. And most importantly, don’t install the “Salad Garden” Chrome extension. This app is not trustworthy. Use your Task Manager to close your browser and start a new session. Now, if the page reappears, you might have a problem. Such browser redirections are usually caused by adware. Unfortunately, it is true. Your computer is no longer infection free. You have a nasty ad-generating program on board. This utility is programmed to generate revenue via pay-per-click marketing. Basically, when you click on an advert provided by the adware, its owners will get paid. So, they have programmed their creation to flood its victims with commercials. The adware injects dozens and dozens of advertisements on every website you open. It can also redirect your web traffic to sponsored third-party pages. And of course, it can pause your online videos for commercial breaks. This furtive tool can ruin your browsing experience in seconds. Do yourself a favor and remove this pest before it gets out of control.

How did I get infected with?

The adware behind the Salad Garden pop-ups is not an ingenious virus. It is a simple computer program. Just like any other app, it needs your approval to be installed. Yet, no one would infect their computer on purpose, so the crooks got imaginative. They use software bundles, torrents and spam emails. The adware still asks for your permission, but in the sneakiest way possible. When you install programs, opt for the Advanced installation option in the Setup Wizard. It can be a button or tab. Under it, you will be a given the opportunity to deselect all unwanted programs. Make sure you know what you are giving your approval to. Read the Terms and Conditions/End User License Agreement (EULA). If you spot anything out of the ordinary, abort the installation immediately. Developers often attach “bonus” programs to the payload files of their apps. You can deselect all extras and still install the program you originally planned to set up. This is your computer. You decide what to be installed on it. If a description states otherwise, you might be dealing with a corrupted software copy. Download your software from reliable websites only. Only your caution can prevent programs like Salad Garden extension from succeeding.

Why is this dangerous?

The adware behind the Salad Garden pop-ups is extremely intrusive. This parasite bombards its victims with dozens and dozens of advertisements. If you don’t take action against the parasite, your predicament will worsen rapidly. With every passing day, the adware gets more and more aggressive. You will notice that websites that used to be ad-free are now heavy on coupons and discounts. Your videos will get paused for long commercial breaks. On top of that, your browser will get redirected. Yet, this aggressive marketing has a price. You wouldn’t click on just any adverts, will you? Of course, not! To determine your preferences, the adware spies on you. It monitors your browsing related data. The furtive app knows which websites you visit, what search inquiries you make, what videos you watch. Even the incognito mode of your browser cannot hide you from the adware. Everything you do online is recorded and analyzed. The collected data is stored on a remote server. And this is a big problem. Anyone who uses the adware as an advertising platform can access and use this data. All sorts of crooks can use it to target you with customized marketing campaigns. Do not trust the ads you are provided with. They are far more likely to be misleading than legitimate. The adware doesn’t distinguish between legit and bogus websites either. The crooks can easily use the adware to redirect you to scam websites. The page that promotes the Salad Garden extension is just one of many. This time you were lucky. You did not fall victim of this scam. Yet, there will be a next time. The adware is too dangerous to be kept on board. Remove this pest before it causes damage!

How to Remove Salad Garden virus

The Salad Garden 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 Salad Garden 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 Salad Garden in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Salad Garden startup location

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

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

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

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the Salad Garden 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 Salad Garden

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 Salad Garden, 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 Salad Garden 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 Salad Garden 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.