What is Realtimeleads / Adsentinel?
If you see random third-party ads labeled “Realtimeleads“ or any other popping up while you are browsing the web, Realtimeleads / Adsentinel may have slithered onto your system. In fact, this ad-supported application can remain hidden for a long while so you may not even notice the increased flow of third-party ads in your browsers. Our malware experts at Anti-Spyware-101.com say that this adware program may not even be operating anymore; yet, it used to be a serious threat and this is why we need to share what we have found out about it. This malware threat might harm your system security in a couple of ways, including displaying unsafe third-party ads, spying on you and sharing this information with remote servers as well as redirecting you to questionable websites. Furthermore, this adware may sneak onto your system in a malicious package containing other infections, too. If you want to make sure that you are using a safe computer, we recommend that you remove Realtimeleads / Adsentinel right now along with all related and unrelated infections.
Where does Realtimeleads / Adsentinel come from?
Since this adware may not even be distributed anymore as it has been around since 2014, it is possible that you infected your computer a long time ago with it and you just have not realized its presence somehow. This infection can be, or rather used to be, found in freeware bundles that are promoted on shady file-sharing websites (torrent and shareware). You should never try to download software, updates, and other types of files from questionable sources because chances are you download a full package of unwanted programs as well as malicious software installers traveling with a legitimate free program you may be targeting to have. In fact, it is only safe to download programs from official or reputable vendors’ pages. But even then it is possible that you will have to deal with bundles but at least those could be legitimate ones.
In any case, whenever you are installing bundles, you should make sure that you only allow applications onto your system that are reliable. These packages could be filled with potentially unwanted and useless programs, not to mention ones that can really harm your system, such as Trojans, browser hijackers, adware programs, keyloggers, and so on. The truth is that you can easily infect your system with further malware threats when you keep a malicious program like an adware app on board. So when you find out that this malware infection has managed to penetrate your system, it is imperative that you check your computer for other infections as well after you delete Realtimeleads / Adsentinel. You can use, for example, a free online malware scanner but be certain that you are using one that you can actually trust because the web is filled with rogue and fake security tools in general.
How does Realtimeleads / Adsentinel work?
This adware program is indeed a package that contains “AdSentinel.exe,” “default.action,” and “default.filter.” It operates through a number of Privoxy proxy servers to inject malicious Javascript codes into the websites you are visiting, including the header and footer areas. This way you can be introduced to unreliable third-party advertisements and redirections to questionable websites while you are browsing. In addition to these, this malware infection can also spy on you, collect information about your hardware, software, your online activities, and send this to remote servers. None of these sound any good really. This is one ugly piece of adware to tell you the truth. It has been around quite long, too, even though our research cannot confirm at this point that it is still active.
You should be aware that it is always risky to click on third-party content because you never know which one you can trust and which one could infect you or take you to malicious pages. When your system is infected with adware like Realtimeleads / Adsentinel, this makes even legitimate third-party ads questionable if not corrupt. This is why we emphasize that you need to make sure that there are no such malware infections on your system so that you can use your computer without the fear of being exposed to unsafe third-party content. Of course, in order to be safe from such content you also need to avoid questionable websites altogether. We advise you to remove Realtimeleads / Adsentinel right now so that you can move on to eliminating all other threats.
How can I delete Realtimeleads / Adsentinel?
We have found that you may be able to uninstall this adware program by using its uninstaller that you can find in the list of installed programs in Control Panel. This is quite a straightforward method really but you can also use our step-by-step instructions below if you need help. We hope that it is already clear for you that getting rid of this adware infection is merely the first step. You should not go on using your computer without cleaning it properly of all the other possible threats. You can check your list of installed programs for suspicious and useless programs to uninstall as well as the extension lists in your browsers for questionable extensions. But even this may not be enough to feel entirely secure in your virtual world. This is why we recommend that you employ a malware removal application that can automatically tackle all your malware issues.
Remove Realtimeleads / Adsentinel from Windows
Windows XP
- Press Start and select Control Panel.
- Click Add or Remove Programs.
- Select the application from the list and click Remove.
Windows Vista/Windows 7
- Access the Start menu and go to Control Panel.
- Pick Uninstall a program.
- Select the application from the list and click Uninstall.
Windows 8/Windows 8.1/Windows 10
- Right-click on the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner and select Control Panel.
- Choose Uninstall a program.
- Select the application from the list and click Uninstall.
tested removal of Realtimeleads / Adsentinel*
0 Comments.