While using your PC, you must have come across a threat from your Windows Defender saying, “Your system has detected Zeus virus”. The Zeus virus is a social engineering threat that mainly attacks your web browser.
In case the Zeus virus enters your web browser then you might encounter some abnormalities. Like the browser may switch to full-screen mode or several pop-up messages that won’t go away easily.
So if you have also been a victim of the Zeus virus pop up threat, then follow this article till the end. As today we will discuss some steps that will help you to remove the Zeus virus alert from your system.
But at first, let us take a look at a brief note on what a Zeus Virus is and how it works.
Zeus Virus- A Brief Note
The first thing everyone should know about a Zeus virus detected threat is that this is a complete fake message very cleverly developed by the cyber hackers to trick you. Some previous research shows that users generally visit these websites unknowingly.
This happens when you click on some pop-up and they redirected by some potentially unwanted programs or generally known as PUPs. Now it is very much evident that all these PUPs have the capacity to infiltrate your system without your permission, you might encounter some intrusive ads.
Apart from all these harms, PUPs can also steal your personal data and can harm your system in many other ways. So just as mentioned earlier, the Zeus virus is an online threat that generally pop-ups on your web browser.
But depending on the browser that you are using, the format of the pop-up message will change. Generally, the pop-up shows: “Zeus virus detected”. It is highly recommended that whenever you see this message on your screen, you should immediately remove the malware from your system.
One thing you have to keep in mind that this “Zeus virus” is not a real threat and has nothing to do with Microsoft. All of this is a scam, generally developed a group of cyber hackers to generate some revenue.
But you may ask how can they earn through this?
Yes, they can! The moment you acknowledge the “Zeus virus detected” pop up, you will receive a message that will tell you that you can remove the virus if you call at some number. This is a very common trick applied by many cyber hackers to breach your system and acquire your personal data.
Hence it is always recommended that whenever you receive the Zeus virus pop up, just ignore the message and never ever call the displayed number. The pop up can be easily neglected by closing your web browser. But in some cases, this solution does not work the same for every user.
That is why in the below section we will provide you with a complete guide by which you can easily remove the Zeus virus from your system.
“Your System has detected Zeus Virus” Pop-Ups- Removal Guide
Now that you are in this section of the topic, here you will find all the possible solutions to the Zeus virus detection problem. We are going to discuss some steps that will help you to solve the Zeus virus threat.
Step 1: Removal of all kind of potentially unwanted programs
The first step you need to carry out in order to remove the Zeus virus from your system removes all sorts of PUPs from your system. So, to do that all you need to do is…
[Note: these steps are applicable to any operating system version from Microsoft]
- Open your system and go to the start logo. Click on it.
- Now from the “start”, go to the “control panel” of your system.
- Once you are inside the control panel section, choose the option saying, “programs and features”. Click on that option.
- In the newly opened window, you will be able to see a list consisted of the programs and applications installed on your system.
- From here you can easily select the suspicious and malicious programs and remove or uninstall them permanently from your computer.
Once you are done with uninstalling all the PUPs, go through the list once again to check any programs are left out. You can easily scan your PC by using any anti-virus software.
Step 2: Remove Rogue Extensions from Internet Browsers
Sometimes the Zeus Virus gets into your system from the extra add ons or extensions of your web browser. Therefore in order to remove all the rogue extensions from your internet browser, just follow the below steps.
Remove malicious add-ons from Internet Explorer
- Open the internet explorer and click on the “gear” icon(placed at the top right corner).
- From here select the option saying, “Manage Add-ons”.
- Once you are inside the “add ons” section, you will find a list of your browser add-ons.
- Go through this list and look for any kind of malicious or suspicious extensions.
- If you find any, then select those extensions and click remove.
In another way, you can just avoid the Zeus virus threat by restarting your web browser or resetting your internet explorer settings.
Remove Malicious Extensions from Google Chrome
Just like internet explorer, you Google Chrome can also contain some malicious extensions that lead to the display of Zeus virus pop up window. That is why it is always recommended that you should keep your chrome clean.
Hence, in order to remove all the malicious extensions from your Google Chrome just follow the below steps.
- Open your chrome browser and navigate to the top right corner of the home page.
- There you will find a logo with three dots. Click on that button.
- A list of options will open on your screen. From here, select the More tools option and then select extensions.
- In the extensions window, you will find a list of all the downloaded extensions on your chrome.
- Go through the list carefully and check for any kind of malicious or suspicious extensions. Check the extensions you have added recently.
- If you find any, then select that extension and remove that from your chrome right away.
Now in case, you cannot solve the Zeus virus problem by removing the extensions, then you always have the option to reset your google chrome web browser hence to do that just follow the below steps.
- Click on the same three dots on the home page of google placed on the top right corner.
- Now from the list of options select settings.
- In the settings, section scrolls down to the very end of the page to find the advanced option.
- Once you are in the Advanced settings page again scroll down to the very end of the page and you will find the option saying, “reset”.
- Now click on the reset button to reset your system settings.
That’s it, buy the following step you can easily reset your chrome browser settings. Hence you can also ignore the Zeus virus like this way.
Remove Malicious Plugins from Mozilla Firefox
If you prefer the Mozilla firefox over any other web browser, then the Zeus virus might have entered in your system via your firefox.
So in order to remove all the malicious extensions from your Mozilla Firefox browser, just follow the below steps.
- At first, open your Mozilla Firefox browser.
- On the home page of the browser, you will find a logo of three bars placed on the top right corner of the window. Click on that logo.
- In the opened window select the option saying “Add ons” and then click on “extensions”.
- Once you are inside the extension section, here you will find a list of all your installed extensions. From here, search for any kind of recently added malicious extensions and remove them.
In case this solution does not solve your problem, then you can always ignore the Zeus virus by resetting your firefox browser. Follow the steps in order to reset your firefox browser.
- Open Mozilla Firefox and click on the Firefox menu option( the three bars on the top right corner).
- Now from the list of options select help and then select help.
- Then after help choose the option saying, troubleshooting information.
- Now a window will open on your screen. In this window click on the refresh Firefox button.
After you click on the refresh button, Mozilla will automatically reset itself and will restore the browser settings to default.
Remove Malicious Extensions from Safari
No many people know about the fact that the Zeus virus can enter your MacOS, from your Safari web browser. Therefore, it is always recommended that whether you are using a macOS or any other operating system, always keep your extensions list clean.
Follow the below steps if you think you have mistakenly downloaded some malicious extensions and now want to remove them from your safari browser.
- Open the Safari web browser in your Mac device.
- From the home page, go the safari menu option and then click on preferences.
- Now in the preference window select the option saying “extensions”.
- Here, go through the extension list and look for any kind of malicious extensions.
- Remove all the malicious and suspicious extensions from your safari browser.
Now if you see that after doing all of these steps you are still having the Zeus virus pop up then all you can do is reset your safari browser or you can delete all of yours. Hence in order to clear the browsing history from your Safari browser
- Open your safari browser and go to the safari menu.
- In the opened menu select the “Clear History and Website Data…” option.
Now in the opened dialog box, choose the option to clear all history.
Remove Malicious Extensions from Microsoft Edge
In order to remove all the malicious and suspicious extensions from your Microsoft Edge, take a look at the below-mentioned steps.
- Open the Edge browser on your device.
- Navigate to the top right corner of the home page and there you will find three dots. Click on that logo.
- In the open window select “extensions”.
- From this section, select all the malicious extensions that were been added recently. Delete all of them.
But in case you see that you are still getting the Zeus virus threat pop up, then you try to remove it bu resetting your Edge browser. Hence, if you take a look at the below steps you can easily reset your Edge.
- Open the Edge browser and click on the three dots from the top right corner.
- Now from the opened window select settings.
In the settings window, you will find the reset setting option Click on that option and Mozilla will automatically restore all the default settings. But remember that if you reset your web browser then all your saved lists and bookmarks will be removed.
Final Words
Hence, here, in the end, we can finally conclude that no matter how many times you get the Zeus virus pop up message never call for help in the displayed number. There is no need for that. But if you observe that you are receiving the Zeus virus threat for too many times, then you can easily remove them from your system.
