LookThisUp - How to remove

LookThisUp is another adware and a PUP (potentially unwanted program) that is hidden behind the image of a useful and free tool which should help users to browse the Internet more efficiently. This is how the developers of it describe their service:

“LookThisUp is a free tool that allows you to immediately learn more about anything that interests you. Fewer searches. Fewer tabs. Fewer browser sessions. Information is only one click away.”

It sounds nice but the reality is a little bit different from the description. Once installed, this application will display tons of ads on your web browser. Those ads look like coupons, deals and other commercial offers – you will be offered to purchase some particular goods or services. Don’t fall for that – most of those ads are fake and you will get no benefits either from this application or from those advertises.

LookThisUp works as a browser add-on that can be added to all most popular web browsers, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer. It is like a middleman between you (user) and third parties that pay LookThisUp for the opportunity to advertise through their advertising network. The biggest problem is that LookThisUp does not manage or administrate their sponsors in any way, i.e. that everyone on earth who wants to promote itself for users on their web browsers on a daily basis are free to go by using LookThisUp to achieve that. That means various cyber criminals, hackers and scammers are able to reach you. It is not a secret that a lot of cyber criminals use LookThisUp and other similar adware add-ons to promote their products or/and services. That’s why you should not click on those ads. However, if you do so, you will be immediately redirected to third parties websites that may by infected by cyber criminals and cause a lot of damage to your operating system or private files.

If you dare to pay a visit to LookThisUp official website at www.lookthisup.net, you can notice that there is no valid contact information. That means no one will hold responsibility for what worst could happen due to activities of this adware. Also, if you take a look at their privacy policy, you can spot an interesting fact: in connection with the Services, the application collects the following types of information from you:

“Personally Identifiable Information (user-provided information)

Personally identifiable information (“personal information”) is any information that may be used to identify or contact you personally, such as your name, email address, gender, phone number, postal or other physical address. When contacting us for issues related to the Services, users have the option to submit personal information, which enables us to respond to issues and communicate effectively. The submission of personal information is not required but may be necessary to communicate with you regarding the Services. There may also be other circumstances in which personal information is collected in connection with your use of the Services.

Non-Personal Information (automatically collected information which doesn’t identify the user).

Non-personally identifiable information, such as IP Address, unique identifier number, operating system, browser, search queries, and browsing history, is collected during normal use of the Services. We use browser cookies, storage data, JavaScript, web beacons, pixels, flash cookies, and other tracking technologies to collect non-personally identifiable information from users of the Services. The tracking technologies collect and pass the collected information with an anonymous unique identifier.”

Basically, this means that your personal information, such as browsing history, search queries, Top visited sites or even IP address can be collected and transferred to third parties. They adjust their ads according to given data and make them more attractive and relevant to your browsing habits this way. The main goal of LookThisUp is to make you click on those ads because they gain revenue for every click on the popups. The owners of this tool get paid for generating web traffic and collecting sales leads. They also try to attract as much people as possible to install their add-on because eventually a bigger audience means a bigger revenue. Even though it is not officially a dangerous virus that can cause a lot of damage itself, it can lead you to some more dangerous infections, therefore it needs to be removed as soon as possible.

As you can see there is a download button at LookThisUp official website, but this malicious application is mostly distributed not from its’ website but bundled with other free software that can be found online. I.e. when you download and install some software for free, there is a chance that LookThisUp is installed alongside, without you even being aware of it. For that reason, you should be very careful during the installation of software that was downloaded from a suspicious looking website. Do not skip any steps (don’t just click “next” and “agree” buttons before reading the whole thing first) and opt out for a custom or advanced install mode if possible. This way you will be able to see all available options. In case it is too late and your computer is already infected, you should wait no more and take needed actions to get rid of it. There are several ways to accomplish this. First one (and probably the easiest one) is to download a trustworthy anti-malware program, such as Spyhunter, malwarebytes or Stopzilla. It will detect and remove the virus automatically. If you are not into downloading and using some additional software to accomplish this, you can complete this manually as well. Just follow our step-by-step LookThisUp removal guide given below.

How to get rid of LookThisUp

How to remove LookThisUp using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like LookThisUp virus 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 LookThisUp . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make LookThisUp virus 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.

TopRemoving LookThisUp from Firefox

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything LookThisUp virus related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to LookThisUp, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• Choose Troubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

TopRemove malicious extensions from Internet Explorer

• Press on the Gear icon→Manage Add-ons.
  
• Go through Toolbars and extensions. Remove everything related to LookThisUp virus and items you do not know that are made not by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Oracle or Adobe.
  
• Close the Options.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to LookThisUp, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Press on the Gear icon->Internet Options.
  
• Choose the Advanced tab and click on the Reset button.
  
• Select a “Delete personal settings” checkbox and click on the Reset button.
  
• Click on the Close button on the confirmation box, then close your browser.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

TopRemoving LookThisUp virus from Chrome

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Google Chrome window. Select “Settings”.
  
• Click “Extensions” on the left menu bar.
• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to LookThisUp. Click on the trash bin icon next to LookThisUp virus or other add-ons you want to remove.
  
• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.
  
• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.
  
• Restart Chrome.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to LookThisUp, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
  
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on the Reset settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

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