Ads by 4anime.to – Why is it not safe to use 4anime.to

What is 4anime.to

4anime.to is a website that is advertised as an anime streaming service. It allows users to watch anime online in high 1080p quality with english subtitles for free. But the security researchers warn that using 4anime.to and similar websites is quite dangerous. There are several reasons for this. First of all, the use of such websites is illegal, as it violates the rights of content owners. Second, 4anime.to and others like it use rogue ad networks.

The security experts determined that 4anime.to and similar websites redirect users to web pages that are not trustworthy, as they are designed to deceive users. Moreover, some websites to which visitors can be redirected are used to advertise potentially unnecessary programs (PUPs), force users to install malicious browser extensions or subscribe to spam notifications. During the research, 4anime.to redirected users to pushails.com, other unwanted and suspicious sites. Pushails.com is a website that deceives unsuspecting users into signing up for its push notifications that go directly to the desktop or the browser. It will deliver the message stating that you should click ‘Allow’ in order to connect to the Internet, watch a video, access the content of the webpage, download a file, enable Flash Player, and so on.

Of course, in addition to these websites, 4anime.to can redirect users to other dangerous sites, among which there may be sites offering to install PUPs, browser hijackers and adware. Browser hijacker is a malware that changes browser settings such as homepage and search engine. Adware can change computer settings, redirect the browser to unwanted web-pages, display pop-up ads from various third-party ad networks and these unwanted ads is difficult to shut down.

If you are receiving any spam notifications, you can remove this subscription by going into your internet browser’s settings and completing the removal steps below. Once you remove the notifications subscription, the unwanted pop-ups advertisements will no longer appear on your desktop.

Threat Summary

Name	Ads by 4anime.to
Type	spam notifications ads, pop-ups, pop up advertisements, pop up virus
Distribution	potentially unwanted apps, misleading pop-up advertisements, social engineering attack, adwares
Symptoms	you experience a huge number of of unexpected advertisements unexpected changes in your web browser slow browsing Internet
Removal	How to stop 4anime.to ads

Where the unwanted ads comes from

Adware is form of malicious software, which presents unwanted advertisements on a computer, redirects search requests to advertising web-sites and collects user data for marketing purposes. Adware software can display banner ads, full-screen ads, pop ups, videos, or other varieties of online advertising. Adware software can attack your computer’s web-browsers such as the Chrome, Internet Explorer, Edge and Mozilla Firefox. Maybe you approve the idea that the advertisements or popups is just a small problem. But these unwanted ads eat device resources and slow down your computer performance.

Adware actively distributed with free applications, along with the installer of these programs. Therefore, it’s very important, when installing an unknown application even downloaded from well-known or big hosting site, read the Terms of use and the Software license, as well as to select the Manual, Advanced or Custom installation type. In this mode, you can disable the installation of unnecessary browser extensions and programs and protect your PC system from adware software.

How to remove Adware and Unwanted ads

According to experienced security specialists, unwanted ads and push notifications can be removed complete manually and/or automatically. These utilities that are listed below will help you delete adware, harmful browser plugins, malware and potentially unwanted apps . However, if you are not willing to install other applications to remove unwanted ads, then use instructions listed below to restore your PC settings to their previous states.

Uninstall potentially unwanted apps

The main cause of unwanted advertisements is potentially unwanted programs, adware software or other unwanted programs that you may have unintentionally installed on the computer. You need to identify and uninstall all suspicious software.

Windows 7	Windows 8
Click ‘Start’. In the Start menu select ‘Control Panel’. Find and select ‘Programs and Features’ or ‘Uninstall a program’. Select the program. Click ‘Uninstall’.	Press and hold Windows key and hit X key. Select ‘Programs and Features’ from the menu. Select the program. Click ‘Uninstall’.
Windows 10	Mac OS
Press and hold Windows key and hit X key. Select ‘Programs and Features’ from the menu. Select the program. Click ‘Uninstall’.	On the top menu select ‘Go’, then ‘Applications’. Drag an unwanted application to the Trash bin. Right-click on the ‘Trash’ and select ‘Empty Trash’.

See more details in the video guidance below.

Remove spam notifications from web browsers

If you’re getting push notifications from unwanted websites, then you will have previously pressed the ‘Allow’ button. Below we’ll teach you how to turn them off.

Google Chrome	Android
Just copy and paste the following text into the address bar of Chrome. chrome://settings/content/notifications Press Enter. Delete rogue notifications by clicking three vertical dots button next to each and selecting ‘Remove’.	Tap ‘Settings’. Tap ‘Notifications’. Find and tap the internet browser that displays push notifications ads. Locate any unwanted websites in the list and disable it.
Mozilla Firefox	Edge
In the top right hand corner, click the Firefox menu (three bars). In the drop-down menu select ‘Options’. In the left side select ‘Privacy & Security’. Scroll down to ‘Permissions’ and then to ‘Settings’ next to ‘Notifications’. Locate sites you down’t want to see notifications, click on drop-down menu next to each and select ‘Block’. Click ‘Save Changes’ button.	In the top right corner, click on the three dots to expand the Edge menu. Click ‘Settings’. Click ‘Advanced’ on the left side of the window. Click ‘Manage permissions’ button, located beneath ‘Website permissions’. Click the switch under a suspicious website so that it turns off.
Internet Explorer	Safari
In the top right corner of the browser, click on the menu button (gear icon). When the drop-down menu appears, click on ‘Internet Options’. Select the ‘Privacy’ tab and click ‘Settings below ‘Pop-up Blocker’ section. Find a susupicious URL and click the ‘Remove’ button to remove the domain.	On the top menu select ‘Safari’, then ‘Preferences’. Open ‘Websites’ tab, then in the left menu click on ‘Notifications’. Locate a susupicious website and select it, click the ‘Deny’ button.

Reset Google Chrome

Another way to remove unwanted ads from Chrome is Reset Chrome settings. This will disable malicious addons and reset Chrome settings to original settings. However, your saved bookmarks and passwords will not be lost. This will not affect your history, passwords, bookmarks, and other saved data.

First launch the Chrome. Next, press the button in the form of three horizontal dots ().

It will show the Google Chrome menu. Choose More Tools, then click Extensions. Carefully browse through the list of installed add-ons. If the list has the extension signed with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guidance: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.

Open the Chrome menu once again. Further, press the option called “Settings”.

The web browser will open the settings screen. Another solution to display the Google Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the browser adress bar and press Enter

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the “Reset” section is visible, as displayed in the following example and click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.

The Google Chrome will display the confirmation dialog box as displayed below.

You need to confirm your action, click the “Reset” button. The internet browser will run the task of cleaning. After it’s finished, the browser’s settings including start page, search engine by default and new tab page back to the values that have been when the Google Chrome was first installed on your device.

Reset Mozilla Firefox

Resetting Mozilla Firefox web browser will reset all the settings to their original state and will remove unwanted pop up ads, malicious add-ons and extensions. However, your saved passwords and bookmarks will not be changed, deleted or cleared.

Start the Firefox and click the menu button (it looks like three stacked lines) at the top right of the web-browser screen. Next, click the question-mark icon at the bottom of the drop-down menu. It will display the slide-out menu.

Select the “Troubleshooting information”. If you are unable to access the Help menu, then type “about:support” in your address bar and press Enter. It bring up the “Troubleshooting Information” page similar to the one below.

Click the “Refresh Firefox” button at the top right of the Troubleshooting Information page. Select “Refresh Firefox” in the confirmation prompt. The Firefox will start a task to fix your problems that caused by the adware. After, it’s complete, click the “Finish” button.

Automatic Removal of Adware

Adware and unwanted ads can be removed from the web-browser and computer by running full system scan with an antimalware utility. For example, you can run a full system scan with Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM). It will help you get rid of components of adware from Windows registry and harmful files from harddisks.

Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) is a tool that performs a scan of your computer and displays if there are existing adware, browser hijackers, viruses, worms, spyware, trojans and other malicious software residing on your system. If malicious software is detected, Zemana Anti Malware can automatically remove it. ZAM doesn’t conflict with other antimalware and antivirus software installed on your personal computer.

Visit the page linked below to download the latest version of Zemana for Microsoft Windows. Save it on your Windows desktop or in any other place.

When the downloading process is finished, close all windows on your personal computer. Further, open the set up file named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up as shown on the screen below, click the “Yes” button.

It will open the “Setup wizard” which will help you install Zemana on the PC system. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.

Once setup is finished successfully, Zemana Free will automatically start and you can see its main window such as the one below.

Next, click the “Scan” button . Zemana AntiMalware tool will start scanning the whole computer to find out adware software. This procedure can take some time, so please be patient. When a malware, adware software or potentially unwanted apps are detected, the count of the security threats will change accordingly. Wait until the the scanning is finished.

After finished, Zemana Anti Malware will display a scan report. All found threats will be marked. You can delete them all by simply press “Next” button.

The Zemana Anti Malware will start to remove adware software which causes unwanted pop up ads. Once the clean-up is complete, you can be prompted to reboot your personal computer.

How to stop 4anime.to ads

It’s important to run ad blocker programs such as AdGuard to protect your PC system from malicious web sites and stop unwanted ads. Most security experts says that it is okay to block unwanted ads. You should do so just to stay safe! And, of course, AdGuard can to stop 4anime.to ads and block misleading web-pages.

Please go to the following link to download the latest version of AdGuard for Windows. Save it on your Desktop.

After downloading is done, double-click the downloaded file to run it. The “Setup Wizard” window will show up on the computer screen such as the one below.

Follow the prompts. AdGuard will then be installed and an icon will be placed on your desktop. A window will show up asking you to confirm that you want to see a quick guidance as displayed on the screen below.

Press “Skip” button to close the window and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will allow you get to know AdGuard better.

Each time, when you start your device, AdGuard will start automatically and stop unwanted ads, block 4anime.to ads, as well as other malicious or misleading web-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, which is located on your desktop.

To sum up

Now your PC system should be clean of the adware software that causes multiple unwanted pop up ads. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted ads and unwanted malicious web pages) and Zemana (to periodically scan your computer for new adwares and other malware). 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 delete unwanted ads from the Chrome, Edge, Internet Explorer and Firefox, then ask for help here here.