How To Remove Congratulations You Won Virus

Introduction

It is a fact that the internet is an excellent way to search for queries and other information, as it not only provides the answers, but also helps you gain knowledge. On the other hand, your laptop, smartphone, PC, or any other gadget can become infected by different viruses; some of them are extremely dangerous and can corrupt your data as well. You need to get rid of the virus in such a situation and, for that, you should follow the necessary steps that will remove that virus.

What is the Congratulations You Won Virus?

The “Congratulations, you won” pop-up is actually a scam; it appears as a pop-up window that asks you to complete a survey and then shows that you have won (it might be a lottery prize or a gadget such as a smartphone or a laptop). The pop-up will ask you to provide your personal information at the end of the survey, such as your contact number, home address, credit card details, etc. The purpose behind these types of viruses is to use the personal information provided by the user for different illegal activities and fraud.

The “Congratulations, you won” virus can also monitor, track, and collect information such as your device’s location, most viewed sites, browsing history, and searched items. You need to be careful whenever such a pop-up window appears, as scammers put in a lot of effort to make these types of viruses seem convincing.

How does it Affect Your Computer?

This virus not only harms your system, but also has other consequences; sometimes, it redirects you to certain web pages from where you can download software for free. Such a virus can often start downloading software without asking for your permission. As this is a browser virus, your browser’s settings and default homepage might also get changed without any warning.

Here are a few signs that your computer is infected by the “Congratulations, you won” virus:

• New browser windows open unexpectedly
• Different advertisement windows pop up
• Links redirect you to websites that are different from what you expected
• Other unwanted software might get installed without any warning
• Tons of pop-ups and banners show up, which promote suspicious software or fake updates
• Random web pages are turned into hyperlinks

All these issues result in your browser suddenly freezing, and decreased computer performance.

How To Remove the Congratulations You Won Virus – 5 Steps

If you want to remove the virus, the removal instructions should be carefully followed because they have been specifically created for this purpose. The five steps that will help you remove the “Congratulations, you won” virus are mentioned below:

Step 1: Uninstall any Malicious Program

Start with finding and deleting any malicious program that may be running on your system. To do this:

• Go to the Control Panel by typing ‘Control Panel’ in the search box on the Start menu,
• After it opens, go to Programs and then click on the Uninstall a program option,
• Go through the list of programs installed on your system,
• Find the malicious program,
• Select the program and then click the Uninstall button,
• Follow the on-screen instructions to uninstall the program,
• When you click the uninstall button, a message box will appear. Click on Yes to delete the program.

Step 2: Make Use of Malwarebytes Free to Remove Adware

Malwarebytes is one of the most used and most popular anti-malware software out there. The best thing about this software is that you can install it for free. To make use of this software, follow the instructions given below:

• Download Malwarebytes Free from any browser
• Once the download is completed, double-click on the MBSetup file
• If it asks you to run this file, click Yes to continue
• Follow the on-screen instructions to install the software
• Use the free version of the Malwarebytes
• Open the application
• Click on the Scan button
• It will start scanning your system for adware and other malicious programs – this can take a few minutes
• Once the scan is finished, a screen will show that Malwarebytes has found the malicious program
• To remove the program, click on the Quarantine button
• The software will now permanently delete all the malicious files and their registries
• Once the process is completed, you can close the application and continue with the rest of the instructions.

Step 3: Use HitmanPro for More Protection

The HitmanPro software makes use of the cloud-based approach in order to scan systems. It scans the behaviour of active files and, if it finds any suspicious files, it sends them to their clouds to be scanned. Although HitmanPro is not free of cost, you can utilize the one time 30-days trial.

• Download HitmanPro from any browser
• Double-click on the ‘hitmanpro­_64.exe’ setup file for the 64-bit Windows version and ‘hitmanpro.exe’ setup file for the 32-bit Windows version
• If it asks you to run this file, click Yes to continue
• Follow the on-screen instructions to install the software
• Open the application, click on the Next button
• It will start scanning your system for adware and other malicious programs – it can take a few minutes
• When the scan is completed, a window will appear displaying all the malwares found
• To remove them, click on the Next button
• Once the process is completed, you can close the application and continue with the rest of the instructions.

Step 4: Use AdwCleaner to Double-check for Malicious Programs

We recommend using AdwCleaner to make sure your system is completely clean and safe, as it is a free, on-demand, and popular scanner that is used to detect malware programs and remove them.

• Download AdwCleaner from Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, or Mozilla Firefox
• Double-click on the ‘adwcleaner_7.x.x.exe’ setup file
• If it asks you to run this file, click Yes to continue with the installation
• Once the installation is finished, open the application
• Start scanning the system
• Click on the Scan Now button
• It will start scanning your system for adware and other malicious programs
• After that, it will display the malware. To remove it, click on the Clean & Repair button
• Once the process is completed, you can close the application and continue with the rest of the instructions.

Step 5: Reset and Clean the Browser’s Settings

You should reset your browser settings to remove any pop-up ads after deleting all the malware programs from the system. Doing this, you will be able to reset the unwanted changes that have been made by the installation of other programs. However, your passwords and saved bookmarks will not be changed or cleared. Follow the instructions below to reset Google Chrome and remove any ‘Congratulations, you won’ pop-up windows:

• Open Google Chrome and click on Chrome’s main menu button at the top right corner, represented by 3 vertical dots. By doing so, a drop-down menu will appear
• Click on Settings
• Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Advanced option
• Scroll down and find Reset and clean up option. When you find it, click on Reset setting to their original defaults
• A dialog box will appear displaying the components that will be restored. Click on the Reset Settings button to complete the restoration process.

Once you are finished with removing a virus, we recommend you restart your computer. Although it is not necessary if you can restart it to make sure your system is 100% safe and clean.

Tips to Prevent Reoccurrence

Just remember that fishy websites infect your device with viruses and can hack your system. We recommend you not to open up such kind of links and not to click on any ads on such sites. Also, be careful and do not download any software or programs from these sites. In this way, you can protect your system from any future hassles.

However, if you have unfortunately already done so, perform the above-mentioned steps to remove the virus from your system. Once you have removed it, avoid getting the ‘Congratulations, you won’ virus again on your system by paying attention to the links you open, as well as the apps or files you download, and never return to these websites. Find more information about extensions before installation and be sure to get it from a credible source.

Always keep your anti-virus software up to date. Perform regular malware checks to keep your computer safe. Additionally, scan your computer at least once a week and eliminate any newfound threat as soon as possible.

Final Thoughts

The ‘Congratulations, you won’ virus can be very dangerous because third parties can access your system through it and can harm your data security and privacy. We have provided the above-mentioned steps to help you get rid of this virus if your system ever falls prey to it; we are confident that your computer will be free of the virus. However, if it does not work, then it is obvious that it has badly affected your system. You need to format your system in such a situation. Otherwise, if the virus has not caused too much harm to your system, then this guide will be enough for you to completely remove it.