Have you tried to open a well-known web page and found that your browser is redirected to a previously unseen web-page called sophang8.com? If you answered ‘Yes’ then your need to know that your machine is infected with an ‘ad-supported’ software (also known as adware). The adware is a type of dangerous software that alters your personal computer’s internet browser settings so that you will be randomly rerouted to an annoying ads. Complete the guide below ASAP It will clean your machine from the ad-supported software and thereby delete unwanted sophang8.com ads. Moreover, the step-by-step instructions will help you to stop the ability to penetrate of more dangerous viruses and trojans on your system.
Most often, the adware affects the most common browsers like the Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, MS Edge and Internet Explorer. But such the dangerous software as well may infect another internet browsers by changing its shortcuts (adding an argument like ‘http://site.address’ into Target field of a web-browser’s shortcut). So every time you open the browser, it’ll redirect to the annoying sophang8.com web page. Even if you setup a new startpage, an annoying web site will be the first thing you see when you start the Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Edge.
What is more, the adware may open ads depend on a site that you are visiting. That is, it’s clear that this ad-supported software, without your permission, steals your private information such as: your ip address, what is a web page you are viewing now, what you are looking for on the Internet, which links you are clicking, and much, much more. The adware may monetize its functionality by collecting data from your browsing sessions and selling it to third party companies. This puts your personal information at a security risk.
We recommend to remove the ‘ad-supported’ software, which redirects your web-browser on the sophang8.com unwanted page, as soon as you found this problem, as it can direct you to web-resources which may load other malicious software on your PC system.
How does sophang8.com ads get installed onto computer
The adware actively distributed with free programs, as a part of the installer of the software. Therefore, it’s very important, when installing an unknown software even downloaded from known or big hosting site, read the Terms of use and the Software license, as well as to select the Manual, Advanced or Custom install mode. In this mode, you can disable the installation of unneeded modules and applications and protect your machine from the ad supported software infection. Unfortunately, most users when installing unknown programs, simply click Next button, and don’t read any information that the freeware displays them during its install. This leads to the fact that the web browser starts to open a huge number of the sophang8.com advertisements.
How to manually remove sophang8.com pop-ups
This guide will help you delete sophang8.com pop-ups. These sophang8.com removal steps work for the Google Chrome, IE, Firefox and Microsoft Edge, as well as every version of Windows operating system. Some of the steps may require you to close the web-browser or reboot your PC system. So, bookmark or print it for later reference.
- Delete suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel
- Remove sophang8.com ads from FF
- Remove sophang8.com pop-ups from Chrome
- Remove sophang8.com advertisements from IE
- Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove sophang8.com redirect
- Remove unwanted Scheduled Tasks
Delete suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel
First, you should try to identify and remove the program that causes the appearance of unwanted ads and web-browser redirect to unwanted web-sites, using the ‘Uninstall a program’ which is located in the ‘Control panel’.
Windows 8, 8.1, 10
Windows XP, Vista, 7
Remove sophang8.com ads from FF
If the Mozilla Firefox settings have been replaced by the ‘ad-supported’ software, then resetting it to the default state can help you to remove the redirect onto sophang8.com site.
First, start the Mozilla Firefox and click button. It will display the drop-down menu on the right-part of the internet browser. Next, click the Help button () as shown on the image below.
In the Help menu, select the “Troubleshooting Information” option. Another way to open the “Troubleshooting Information” screen – type “about:support” in the web-browser address bar and press Enter. It will show the “Troubleshooting Information” page as shown below. In the upper-right corner of this screen, click the “Refresh Firefox” button.
It will show the confirmation dialog box, press the “Refresh Firefox” button. The FF will start a procedure to fix your problems that caused by the ad-supported software. Once it is finished, click the “Finish” button
Remove sophang8.com pop-ups from Chrome
Reset Google Chrome settings is a simple way to delete the malware and adware, as well as to restore the web browser’s settings that have been modified by adware.
- Now run the Google Chrome and click Menu button (small button in the form of three horizontal stripes).
- It will open the Chrome main menu. Select “Settings” option.
- You will see the Google Chrome’s settings page. Scroll down and click “Show advanced settings” link.
- Scroll down again and press the “Reset settings” button.
- The Chrome will open the reset profile settings page as on the image above.
- Next, click the “Reset” button.
- Once this task is finished, your web-browser’s settings will be restored to their original defaults. This will reset your home page, newtab page and search provider by default.
- To learn more, read the post How to reset Chrome settings to default.
Remove sophang8.com advertisements from IE
To get rid of the sophang8.com ads you need to reset the Internet Explorer to the state, which was when the Windows was installed on your machine.
First, launch the Internet Explorer, then click ‘gear’ icon . It will show the drop-down menu on the right part of the internet browser, then click the “Internet Options” as shown in the figure below.
In the “Internet Options” screen, you need to select the “Advanced” tab and press the “Reset” button. The Internet Explorer will open the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” prompt as shown on the screen below. Next, click the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. After that, click the “Reset” button.
When the task is done, click “Close” button. Close the Internet Explorer and reboot your PC for the changes to take effect. This step will help you to restore your browser’s settings to default state and disable ‘ad-supported’ extensions.
Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove sophang8.com redirect
Click the right mouse button to a desktop shortcut which you use to open your web-browser. Next, select the “Properties” option. Important: necessary to click on the desktop shortcut for the web browser which is redirected to the sophang8.com or other unwanted page.
Further, necessary to look at the text which is written in the “Target” field. The ad-supported software can modify the contents of this field, which describes the file to be launch when you run your web browser. Depending on the web-browser you are using, there should be: Google Chrome: chrome.exe, Opera: opera.exe, Firefox: firefox.exe, Internet Explorer: iexplore.exe. If you are seeing an unknown text like “http://site.address” that has been added here, then you should delete it, as shown on the image below.
Next, click the “OK” button to save the changes. Now, when you open the browser from this desktop shortcut, it does not occur automatically redirect on the sophang8.com page or any other unwanted web pages that is advertised by the adware. Once the step is finished, we recommend to go to the next step.
Remove unwanted Scheduled Tasks
Once installed, the adware can add a task in to the Windows Task Scheduler Library. Due to this, every time when you launch your system, it will open sophang8.com annoying web-site. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and delete all tasks that have been created by ‘ad-supported’ programs.
Press Windows and R keys on your keyboard together. It will show a prompt which titled with Run. In the text field, type “taskschd.msc” (without the quotes) and click OK. Task Scheduler window opens. In the left-hand side, click “Task Scheduler Library”, as shown in the figure below.
In the middle part you will see a list of installed tasks. Select the first task, its properties will be show just below automatically. Next, click the Actions tab. Necessary to look at the text which is written under Details. Found something such as “explorer.exe http://site.address” or “chrome.exe http://site.address” or “firefox.exe http://site.address”, then you need get rid of this task. If you are not sure that executes the task, then google it. If it’s a component of the ‘ad-supported’ applications, then this task also should be removed.
Further press on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as shown in the following image.
Repeat this step, if you have found a few tasks that have been created by adware. Once is complete, close the Task Scheduler window.
How to get rid of sophang8.com with free malware removal program
Manual removal sophang8.com redirect requires some computer skills. Some files and registry entries that created by the adware may be not completely removed. We suggest that use the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your PC system. Moreover, the freeware will help you to get rid of malware, web-browser hijackers and toolbars that your PC system may be infected too.
- Please download Malwarebytes to your desktop by clicking on the following link. Malwarebytes Anti-malware
326461 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
- At the download page, click the Download button. Your web-browser will show the “Save as” prompt. Please save it onto your desktop.
- When the download process is finished, please close all applications and open windows on your system. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
- This will start the Setup wizard of Malwarebytes onto your PC system. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
- Once the Setup wizard has finished installing, the malware remover will start and show the main window.
- Further, click the “Scan Now” button to start checking your personal computer for the ad-supported software that redirects your web-browser to the sophang8.com unwanted web site. This process can take quite a while, so please be patient.
- When it has finished scanning, it will show a screen that contains a list of malicious programs that has been found.
- When you are ready, click on “Quarantine Selected” button to begin cleaning your computer. When the task is finished, you may be prompted to reboot your PC system.
- Close the Anti-Malware and continue with the next step.
Video instruction, which reveals in detail the steps above.
How to block sophang8.com advertisements
To increase your security and protect your PC system against new annoying ads and malicious pages, you need to use an application that blocks access to malicious ads and web-pages. Moreover, the application can block the open of intrusive advertising, which also leads to faster loading of web pages and reduce the consumption of web traffic.
- Download AdGuard program from the following link.
Adguard download
26657 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- Once the download is complete, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” window. Follow the prompts.
- Once the installation is finished, press “Skip” to close it and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see a quick tutorial that will assist you get to know AdGuard better.
- In most cases, the default settings are enough and you do not need to change anything. Each time, when you run your computer, AdGuard will launch automatically and block pop-up ads, sophang8.com redirects, as well as other dangerous or misleading pages. For an overview of all the features of the program, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the AdGuard icon, that is located on your Windows desktop.
Scan your computer and delete sophang8.com pop-ups with AdwCleaner.
This removal program is free and easy to use. It can scan and delete ad-supported software, browser hijackers, malware and unwanted toolbars in Google Chrome, Firefox, MS Edge and IE browsers and thereby restore back their default settings (startpage, new tab page and default search engine). AdwCleaner is powerful enough to find and delete malicious registry entries and files that are hidden on the PC system.
Download AdwCleaner utility from the link below. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.
225298 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024
Once downloading is done, open the file location and double-click the AdwCleaner icon. It will launch the AdwCleaner utility and you will see a screen like below. If the User Account Control dialog box will ask you want to open the application, click Yes button to continue.
Now, click the “Scan” for scanning your personal computer for the ad supported software that cause a redirect to sophang8.com advertisements.
When the system scan is complete, it will display a list of all items detected by this tool as on the image below.
You need to press “Clean” button. It will open a dialog box, click “OK” to start the cleaning process. When the cleaning process is finished, the AdwCleaner may ask you to restart your PC. After reboot, the AdwCleaner will display the log file.
All the above steps are shown in detail in the following video guide.
Finish words
Now your computer should be clean of the sophang8.com . Remove AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you block unwanted advertisements and annoying dangerous web-sites) and Malwarebytes (to periodically scan your computer for new malware and adware). Probably you are running an older version of Java or Adobe Flash Player. This can be a security risk, so download and install the latest version right now.
If you are still having problems while trying to remove sophang8.com pop-ups from your PC, then ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.