URL:Mal Virus Pop-up - How to remove

URL:Mal is the name used by some antivirus programs for malicious websites. Whether it’s you or a program that attempts to connect to a website that’s suspected to be harmful, a pop-up saying “We’ve safely aborted connection on […] because it was infected with URL:Mal.”

The name URL:Mal is mostly used by Avast and its subsidiary AVG – two antivirus companies that are used by hundreds of millions of people to secure their computers.

A few explanations exist for why websites might be declared malicious and why your computer tries to connect to them. Sometimes, you just stumble on a dangerous website and your antivirus program protects you – that’s when the URL:Mal pop-up is a welcome sight. Other times, a malicious program on your device might be trying to download something, and that’s a symptom of a deeper problem.

URL:Mal is an alert that means that your computer was protected, however, it is worth investigating its causes:

URL:Mal threat types	Phishing sites. Malware. Spam. Fraud.
Possible consequences of visiting sites marked as URL:Mal	Money could be lost to scams and fraud. Passwords to online accounts, payment methods could be stolen. Malware (such as ransomware) could be downloaded. Spam ads may interfere with normal browsing.
Possible causes	Adware, trojan infection. Hijacked browser. Infected websites with dangerous ads and redirects.
Removing causes of URL:Mal	Scan for and delete malware (combo Cleaner for MacOS, SpyHunter for Windows). Check browser settings for hijackers. Install the newest security updates.

What does URL:Mal refer to?

Websites that are considered dangerous are included in a blacklist and then, when you try to visit them, the URL:Mal alert pops up. This detection refers to something outside your computer and it informs you that a connection was stopped before it could happen. You can’t really remove or uninstall URL:Mal, though you might be able to get rid of the cause.

Types of URL:Mal sites

Avast categorizes dangerous sites into phishing, malware, spam, or fraud – types of sites that really are capable of causing a lot of harm.

Phishing

Phishing can be incredibly dangerous. Criminals could direct a victim to a fake login page and capture the victim’s email, password, phone number, and other information. The URL:Mal pop-up appearing ahead of such pages is a clear warning that the link you just clicked on was sent by malicious actors.

Phishing links could be shared in spam emails (for example, fake warnings about you needing to change your password), in social media posts and comments and ad redirects. The URL:Mal alert might appear after clicking on one such malicious link. Such emails are often disguised as safe links – as Avast says in this blog post, you can hover over a link to see its real destination.

The consequences of falling for a phishing attempt include your online accounts being hijacked, payment methods being stolen, malware being spread to your contacts.

Malware

Malware is a type of URL:Mal that is the most dangerous directly. Sites that distribute malicious files can infect your device without you knowing. For example, they might use exploit kits to select and deliver specific malware right to your computer or phone. This malware might be spyware that steals your passwords, ransomware that corrupts your files and holds them for ransom, or a rogue application that starts displaying fake virus pop-ups.

Innocent websites might be infected with code that redirects users to the URL:Mal, so the URL:Mal warning might show up unexpectedly.

Spam

Spam-type URL:Mals are sites that aren’t immediately dangerous but are incredibly annoying. These websites might try to hijack your browser settings with the help of social engineering – in other words, by lying.

There is a big abundance of sites that fit the URL:Mal mold because they take over the victim’s notifications and send an endless stream of misleading ads full of all kinds of malicious and harmful content. These spam sites aren’t concerned with ethics, so they’ll push just about anything.

Fraud

Fraud, as well as scam sites, don’t threaten you with malware. Instead, they might try to sell you counterfeit or nonexistent products, get you to invest in a pyramid scheme, join a betting site that never pays out, etc. Then there are sweepstake scams, fake giveaways, tech support scams that end up costing hundreds of dollars to some victims. These scams can be very well crafted, so the URL:Mal pop-ups might just save you a lot of time and money.

Possible causes and solutions

There are so incredibly many dangerous sites that it’s impossible for them all to be caught and blacklisted and labeled as URL:Mal, so just because a site doesn’t give you a warning does not mean that it’s safe. At the same time, some sites might be caught in a blocklist undeservedly and it’s not always clear if this happened. In general, though, there’s no doubt that web protection is a net positive and the URL:Mal alert should be taken seriously.

How URL:Mal sites spread and how to stop them

Computer malware

While the danger is a website and your antivirus program stops you from contacting it, it might be caused by a virus on your computer. The main symptom is the URL:Mal alerts popping up regularly, like every time you start your browser. If the warnings are rare, then that’s probably just you encountering suspicious sites during normal browsing – nothing to worry about.

URL:Mal pop-ups might appear regularly if malware on your computer is trying to download something, or an adware virus might be trying to redirect your browser. This can keep happening even if your antivirus program doesn’t detect the issue – all security applications have blindspots. It might be beneficial to scan your computer with a malware remover like SpyHunter for Windows or Combo Cleaner for MacOS. Even if a scanner isn’t as good at protecting you from threats, a tool like that is great at removing malware that’s already infected your system.

Browser extensions

Another possibility is that your browser is infected, in which case, only one browser might be affected. If the URL:Mal pop-up shows up when clicking on ads or when the browser tries to open certain websites, look for malicious browser extensions, hijacked settings, notification permissions from malicious sites.

Malicious ads and redirects

Finally, an explanation for regular URL:Mal alerts could be that a site that you use regularly has simply taken a wrong turn somewhere. For example, it could have made a deal with a shady ad-network. This could end up exposing you to malware if you were to continue using that site, so it might be worth it to shop around for another site.

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