EPedia Adware - How to remove

EPedia, promoted online as a Wikipedia reader, is actually a potentially unwanted program. It ought to be avoided because it can cause problems such as unwanted ads and redirects in your browser. It’s best to remove ePedia as quickly as possible. You might also want to check your computer for other adware.

About ePedia:

Type of threat	Adware, browser hijacker.
Problems caused by ePedia	Unexpected sites open in your browser, more and lower quality ads show up.
How adware gets installed	Advertised on the internet, bundled with other programs.
How to remove ePedia	Uninstall it manually, use anti-malware apps (Spyhunter, Malwarebytes, etc.) to remove it and other threats.

About ePedia

EPedia is adware

EPedia (not related to Expedia or any other similarly-named website, company, or product) is a Windows program that offers to let users access Wikipedia from their desktop. However, it can be harmful in some cases. It can inject ads into the browser and open unwanted websites.

Even though ePedia is advertised as a tool to read Wikipedia on your desktop, it is not related to the Internet Encyclopedia. Rather, it’s an adware app very similar to the WikiNow program (not related to the WikiNow website). While it promises to let users read Wikipedia on their desktop, its main purpose is to display ads. Most likely, ePedia does this to make money. This is in contrast with Wikipedia, which subsists on donations.

As ePedia doesn’t need to be accountable to anyone, the quality of its ads may be low, which is common for adware viruses. This means that ePedia may advertise dangerous content:

• phishing and tech support scams,
• misleading spoofed articles,
• ads for browser hijackers and other adware.

Such ads can cause real problems because they deliberately try to trick and mislead people.

It’s worth noting that web browsers work fine when it comes to browsing Wikipedia. It’s a website, it was made to work with web browsers, it does not show ads. If anything, ePedia provides an inferior experience to its users.

If you are looking for a way to read Wikipedia offline, then check its article Wikipedia:Database download. It mentions a few reputable offline readers, including PC, Mac, Linux apps, and mobile apps.

It’s downloaded from the internet

EPedia can be downloaded from the internet, though certainly not from Wikipedia.

The adware virus is advertised online as a tool for viewing “Wiki” from your PC, although it doesn’t really provide much information on what to expect from the program.

I would compare ePedia’s ads with the ads for Ultra Movies Search and Ultra Sports Search: they vaguely look like installation prompts, but with no obvious way to cancel or quit the installation. This could cause people to feel pressured to install ePedia, even when they might not want to.

It’s worth noting that adware viruses can spread in freeware bundles, where an installer for one program also tries to install a few additional items. They may also use malicious ads, such as fake software updates, to infect computers. Luckily, ePedia does not appear to use such methods.

How to remove ePedia

You can uninstall ePedia manually. Below are instructions for how to remove a program from the Control Panel. You can also open the Settings app, go into Apps and features, and remove ePedia from there.

After uninstalling ePedia, check your folders, such as AppData, and remove any files that may have been left over. Often shady applications fail to delete all of their program files (even executables!).

You can also find and delete ePedia, as well as other malware and junkware, with the help of anti-malware apps, such as Spyhunter or Malwarebytes. Anti-malware apps can find malware that you might have missed.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to remove EPedia Adware using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like EPedia Adware install some of their components as regular Windows programs as well as additional software. This part of malware can be uninstalled from the Control Panel. To access it, do the following.

• Start→Control Panel (older Windows) or press Windows Key→Search and enter Control Panel and then press Enter (Windows 8, Windows 10).
• Choose Uninstall Program (if you don't see it, click in the upper right next to "View by" and select Category).
• Go through the list of programs and select entries related to EPedia Adware . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make EPedia Adware easier to find.
• Click the Uninstall button. If you're asked if you really want to remove the program, click Yes.
• In many cases anti-malware programs are better at detecting related parasites, thus I recommend installing Spyhunter to identify other programs that might be a part of this infection.