Fake "Activate Norton Protection" Ads - How to remove

Fake “Activate Norton Protection” ads are designed to look like they come from Norton, but they’re not associated with the antivirus company. The ads are just abusing people’s trust in Norton in order to get them to click on more advertisements.

These “Activate Norton Protection” ads tend to show up on pirating, torrenting sites, free movie sites, and file hosting sites. They tend to lead to scam sites and other potentially dangerous webpages. It’s best to avoid clicking the “Activate Norton Protection” ads and to block malicious sites.

It’s important to note that the existence of the “Activate Norton Protection” ads does not reflect negatively on Norton. It’s not the company’s fault that their name and image are being abused by malicious actors.

About the fake “Activate Norton Protection” ads:

Classification	Adware.
What causes the “Activate Norton Protection” pop-ups	Ads on pirating sites and other sites that show aggressive advertisements.
Problems and dangers of the ads	They lead to dangerous sites, including scams and malware.
How to avoid “Activate Norton Protection” ads	Avoid sites that show aggressive and deceptive ads, block ads and malicious sites, protect your computer with antivirus programs (Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PC, others).

Fake ads abusing Norton’s name and logo

These “Activate Norton Protection” ads are nothing new. This is not the first time that Norton’s name is being misused by malicious ads – ads that trick people by masquerading as messages from a trusted source (in this case, the Norton antivirus). These “Turn On Your Antivirus” ads use the logo of Norton antivirus, a reputable antivirus vendor. And Norton is aware of these fraudulent ads and warns its users to not fall for these scams.

Such ads could be considered Scareware.

The “Activate Norton Protection” ads are not warnings about made-up viruses, but simple ads. They’re designed to look like they come from Norton because that should make you want to click on them.

Once you do click on these ads, they lead to all sorts of random websites:

• Gambling and betting sites.
• Iffy crypto trading platforms.
• Fake articles (that is, articles using completely made-up celebrity interviews) promoting suspicious crypto trading schemes and promising to help you get rich effortlessly – celebrity Bitcoin scams.
• Browser hijackers and search redirects (TheVideoSearch, NetGameSearch, etc.).

There’s no limit to what sorts of pages these fake “Activate Norton Protection” ads might open. Some of the promoted pages are safe, some are a little deceptive. Some, like the get-rich-quick stories, want to scam you. Others, like the fake download links, want you to install malicious browser add-ons to take over your search engine and collect data on your browsing habits.

When I first saw the “Activate Norton Protection” ads, I thought they looked a lot like the fake browser update prompts: “You are not protected”. These ads used the Google colors and invoked the idea of the Google Chrome browser, even though these random ads are not affiliated with Google in any way.

How to avoid the “Activate Norton Protection” ads

Certainly, not all sites show such deliberately misleading advertisements as the “Activate Norton Protection” pop-ups. The types of sites that do are those that can be considered controversial because of their possible ties with piracy or adult content:

• File hosting sites – sites that allow you to upload files and download them. Many of these sites give uploaders a share of the advertising money made from the people who used the specific link.
• The situation is similar with monetized URL shorteners. They ask you to wait and watch ads for a time until you’re allowed to access the file that you were trying to download.
• Free movie streaming sites and torrenting sites also show plenty of aggressive and deceptive ads.
• Some online video converters also show aggressive pop-ups and redirects.

In my experience, most sites that are primarily used for piracy also show obnoxious and unsafe ads. This is why security experts advise that you use ad blockers when visiting them. If you visit them at all.

Some anti-malware programs can block malicious and suspicious websites by checking if they’re on a backlist and by scanning them for malicious code. meanwhile, ad blockers block ad elements and content from advertising websites. Good ad blockers have features that allow you to customize your experience and only block ads on some websites, only block some types of ads, and add new blocklists.

It’s also important to protect your computer from malware with a good antivirus program, such as Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows. Especially if you watch “free” movies online or download “free” programs and games. Scan the files that you download before opening them and take antivirus warnings seriously.

That said, seeing an “Activate Norton Protection” ad doesn’t mean that your computer is in danger, so there’s no need to worry. Most malicious ads need you to interact with them by downloading a file or filling out a form with your personal info to actually cause any harm. As long as you don’t do that, fake ads shouldn’t harm you.

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