Stack Player Removal (What is Stack Player)

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In this article we are going to try and help you remove Stack Player. Our instructions cover all Windows versions as well as most browsers – Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer etc.

If you’ve been affected by Stack Player, you probably came to that realization the day it became integrated with your browser. The huge amount of ads visible regardless of the websites you visit, the most probably changed homepage and default search engines – all symptoms, which are difficult to miss.

What is Stack Player?

The above mentioned are all well-known effects of adware. This type of software has been specifically created for the purpose of bombarding you with the never-ending and notoriously difficult to avoid banners, popups, box messages, page redirects and other forms of online advertisement. The point of it all is to get you to click on these many ads, because each time you do so – the developers make some money. This is possible thanks to the popular and widely used online business model called the Pay per click scheme or PPC. However, there are some important points to make before you proceed to our removal guide and its detailed instructions on removing the annoying adware.

So, Stack Player earns money for its developers through all the adverts it distributes. But how does this happen? This is where things get a little trickier and a little controversial. Adware is known to be able to track your browsing activity, including the terms you search for online, the websites you visit, the pages you favorite and even certain details you may type in here and there. This data is then analyzed and processed to produce adverts that answer to the user’s estimated preferences and interests. To make things worse, this information is often sold to third parties, who are naturally not disclosed to the user. This kind of activity is considered by many to be a privacy breach and frequently puts adware in the virus category of software.

Those statements are rushed and inaccurate. Stack Player and the other numerous programs of this class are not malicious or dangerous and they most certainly do not have the qualities of actual viruses. At most, adware is usually deemed potentially unwanted, because of its unsettling behavior. But that doesn’t mean that it’s completely harmless either. As stated above, there’s the possibility that your data could end up in the wrong hands, which opens up many possibilities for data misuse. On the other hand, there’s also the probability of falling victim to malvertisements. These are ads that have been injected with harmful scripts and/or can redirect you to malicious websites. Some of the most feared viruses are actually commonly distributed with the help of these fake ads, such as ransomware and Trojans. It’s fairly rare that you would actually end up face to face with an ad like that from among the ones distributed by Stack Player, but the possibility exists nonetheless. We highly recommend avoiding all online ads in general, as no fake ad can be told apart from a legit one simply by looking at it. You wouldn’t want to risk the safety of your system and the information stored on it just for the sake of checking out some hot deal, trust us on this one.

Distribution

For the main part, adware is usually downloaded and installed by users without them even realizing it. The main distribution method for programs of this type is program bundling, which is the act of distributing two or more pieces of software as a whole. In this case, it’s usually some freeware or shareware that has adware included in it, which you won’t know unless you either read the EULA or opt for the custom / advanced installation option. That way you will be able to see all the constituents of the bundle and will be able to decide which parts you want installed, and which you’d rather leave out. The way you probably had Stack Player installed on your PC was by going for the simpler default option, which does not disclose this information, because the developers want you to install their adware. And of course they will count on a user’s laziness to make that happen. Therefore, if you have recently downloaded some new program and noticed the appearance of the rage-inducing ads soon afterwards, there’s the answer to your question as to where Stack Player came from. To avoid this from happening in the future, simply mind your online sources and make sure to always customize the setup of any newly downloaded software.

Stack Player Removal (What is Stack Player)

Many types of malware will restrict your access to their core files. It is highly recommended that you reboot your PC in safe mode before attempting to use this guide.

  • To enable Safe Mode reboot you PC, then hit F8 repeatedly. When the corresponding menu opens please select Safe Mode with Networking.

WARNING! If you are using Windows 8,0 or later and/or your operating system is installed on a fast SSD drive this may fail to work. In this case click here to see how to start your PC in Safe Mode.

#1: Uninstall the malicious program from your control panel

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Enter control panel to look for any suspicious programs, which may have installed on your PC. To do that:

  1. Navigate to your Desktop
  2. Press simultaneously the Win button together with the R button (Win+R)
  3. In the Run window that just opened type appwiz.cpl

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  1. Go through the list of programs and find Stack Player or anything else that may seem suspicious. Right-click on it and choose the uninstallation option

WARNING! Carefully read any confirmation messages that may be created in the process. Sometimes you may get offers to download more Adware applications and this can be linked to either the Yes or the No answer depending on the wording!

  • Optional:

Go through the list of programs again and check online for any potentially unwanted programs. We have an article that covers this awesome free software that makes sure that your computer is free from bloatware and programs that you don’t need.

#2: Remove Stack Player From Chrome

Now we’ll remove the extensions that the malware has attached to your browser.

  1. Open your Google Chrome browser.
  2. Type chrome://extensions/  in the URL address bar and press Enter.
  3. Click on “Developer Mode” on the top right and look for the extension installed by Stack Player and anything that might be related to it. Copy their IDs (the string of letters), then remove them by clicking on the trash bin icon.

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  1. Type Regedit in the Windows Start Menu and press Enter. Go in : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\Chrome\Extensions and delete the entries corresponding to the suspicious IDs you recorded.

#3: Remove Stack Player From Firefox

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser.
  2. Type “about:support” in the URL address bar and press Enter.
  3. Click on the “Refresh Firefox” button on the right and confirm.

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#4 Remove Stack Player From Internet Explorer

  1. Open your Internet Explorer internet browser.
  2. Click on the Gear icon on the up right, then on manage add-ons.
  3. Go through the list disable any suspicious extensions.

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#5 Remove any leftover parasitic processes

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From the task manager:

  1. Use Ctrl + Shift + Esc and open the Task manager, then click on the Processes
  2. Go through the list of processes and look for unknown or otherwise suspicious entries.
  3. If you see anything suspicious right click on the process and shoes Open File Location, then terminate the process and delete any files you find in the directory.

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WARNING! If the directory you open from this menu has no files inside of it it’s probably because the malware has hidden them. You need to reveal hidden files and folders in order to be able to see them. Click here if you don’t know how to do that.


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From the start menu:

  1. Press simultaneously the Win button together with the R button (Win+R)
  2. In the Run window that just opened type msconfig
  3. Click on the Startup tab.

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This menu controls which programs are loaded when windows starts after a reboot. Disable anything that seems suspicious. Optionally you can also disable any program that you don’t need and also has a high impact on your startup time.

Feel free to write to us in the comment section with any questions that you may have. Also if we have been helpful to you please share this article to help us reach more people like you.  

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