ViewMyPDF virus - How to remove

Pdf is a popular file format that has been used in many other malware names for more attention, for example,   FreePDFCombiner,   Pdf2DocPro,   PdfConverter.pro,   Convertpdfsearch.com   or many others, and ViewMyPDF virus is not an exception. The deceitful self-advertising and tricky infection methods hide an adware threat, which openly admits to implant those who end up installing ViewMyPDF extension with additional unwanted advertisements, as well as making other changes in users’ browsers. In this post, we’ll analyze what makes ViewMyPDF virus dangerous, how it spreads and how to remove it.

How malicious is ViewMyPDF adware

Truthfully speaking, ViewMyPDF adware is not the most notorious type of malware. It does not lock your files like ransomware, give hackers a remote access to your PC nor mine cryptocurrency, but that does not mean that this app is safe and good to use. While ViewMyPDF extension really provides a page with conversion links to and from PDF file format, yet it is not any much more comfortable, easy or quick than simply searching for online converter yourself in your regular default search engine. Actually, when you press on the tiny icon at the end of the URL bar, it doesn’t take you to ViewMyPDF converter, but displays flash online games, that you can play instead, which is unnecessary and not mentioned before the setup.

Another strange thing that you notice will be an increased amount of online promotions and Affiliate links during your regular browsing sessions. Whenever you’ll look up something in Chrome the top results will be ads and links to the products/companies, because of the marketing techniques that ViewMyPDF adware participates in. This virus will make changes in your browser so that it could also inject advertising hyperlinks in the text as well, redirecting you whenever clicked on.

Yet, ViewMyPDF virus creators cannot be blamed for being unuseful and malicious, because as they state in their Privacy Policy, the user agrees to everything the company provides, including malevolent behavior, automatically by installing and continuing to use the ViewMyPDF extension. Take a look for yourself:

While using our Extension, we may collect certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify you (“Personal Data”). Personally identifiable information we collect includes: IP Address, Cookies, Usage Data and other similar information. Device ID, Operating System, Browser Type, Network Type and other similar information.

We may also collect information how the Extension is accessed and used (“Usage Data”). This Usage Data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Extension that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data. We may use third-party Service Providers to monitor and analyze the use of our Extension.

Company may use the collected data for various purposes: To provide and maintain our Extension, To serve tailored advertisements to you, To notify you about changes to our Extension, To allow you to participate in interactive features of our Extension when you choose to do so, To gather analysis or valuable information so that we can improve our Extension, To monitor the usage of our Extension, To detect and prevent fraud, To detect, prevent and address technical issues.

In their EULA, ViewMyPDF virus developers are also admitting to working with Third-parties like Google Analytics and Google AdWords, AppNexus remarketing service. This is enough information to realize that ViewMyPDF adware is indeed going to bring you unwanted and sometimes Malvertising ads, at the same time gathering personal data about you and sharing it with third-parties. This is why reading Privacy Policy is imperative before any new install. If you do want to stop ViewMyPDF virus from misusing your data and stuffing promotions into your browser, then you should look at the removal options we provided below.   

How did ViewMyPDF virus infect your PC

The main ViewMyPDF virus infection spreading vector is a website, which redirects users to Chrome’s Web store to get the extension. The design of the page makes it looks inviting, reliable and tempting to use. It promises a quick, easy and free file conversion to PDF file format straight in your browser with no additional software required for your PC. When the user clicks on the big green ‘Continue’ button it gets taken to the extension store and tries to get the victim select on the ‘Add to Chrome’ option. If that is done, crooks now have another browser compromised which will end up Generating online marketing revenue.

So how does this ViewMYPDF extension website reach the victims? There are many methods, which are used to disseminate the virus. Usually, you will end up seeing viewmypdf.com, after visiting a site, which has ads that redirect to the official installation web page. However, in addition to that, the same extension can be Bundled in a Setup Assistant of another program, that you downloaded either from a third-party software distributing site or P2P network. Both of these sources are risky and not reputable, because of the tendency to Spread malware. ViewMyPDF adware will be premarked as an app to install together with the main program but can be opted-out if you select Custom installation mode during the setup. But no matter what way ViewMyPDF virus got in, it needs to be removed immediately.

How to get rid of ViewMyPDF adware

There are two ways you can stop ViewMyPDF adware from bothering you – either do it yourself manually or trust the issue for the malware removal tool. Both methods work just fine and it’s up to you which one you’d prefer, however, an automatic anti-spyware program gives you a few more advantages.

As you know now, ViewMyPDF virus is an advertising threat that works closely with third-parties, which are not regulated, therefore having an already vulnerable system and an application which enables malvertising greatly increases the risk of other malware infections. Other viruses can possibly be installed without your knowledge, therefore even after the ViewMyPDF adware complete removal, your PC will still be not safe to use. That is the reason why having a special security software is much more reliable than just uninstalling the Malicious extension on your own.