Cobalten.com redirect - How to remove

Cobalten.com is a redirect virus that will silently get into your PC when visiting malicious websites or together with untrustworthy software package installations and will disrupt your browsing by redirecting you to various promotional websites and Rogue pages. You most likely won’t even notice the Cobalten virus itself, because it will be only visible for a couple seconds while transferring you to an ad or pop-up, but if you look closely to the URL box on the bottom left you will see words like: Waiting for the cobalten.com, Transferring from cobalten.com and etc. which will indicate that your browser is infected with the redirect virus.

While the Cobalten virus is not the most dangerous threat on its own, it can result in pretty scary consequences because it displays third party advertisements that may be infected with other serious malware like Trojans, browser hijackers or even ransomware. Furthermore, once Cobalten.com adware will get an access to your PC it will start displaying adult content promotions, which are very inappropriate if you have children using the same computer. It acts very similar to other redirects like Sashoff.com, Linkonclick.com or Adserv.site.

Therefore, if you start noticing the strange and slow behavior of your browser, constant redirects and obscene online offers then, please, continue reading this article to learn how to get rid of such issues because most likely your system has been infected by the Cobalten.com redirect virus.

What does cobalten.com actually do

Released in May 2018 the rogue Cobalten.com redirect has already gotten more than 290 million visits globally, and just in two months reached 167 place amongst top visited sites. These numbers are very impressive and clearly show that no page could get such rank so fast by playing fair. But honorable behavior is not what Cobalten virus is known for.

This adware demonstrates sly techniques from the beginning of intrusion and throughout the rest of stay in your system. Cobalten.com is also dangerous because it has the ability to camouflage itself so most antivirus programs will not consider it malicious. As you can see from the VirusTotal only 3 out of 67 AV programs consider it malicious. However, when it comes to related files and sites that get redirected from or to Cobalten.com, AVs were more accurate at detecting malware.

Majority of the people infected get displayed ads that are full mostly of adult content, but also torrents, download sites, promotions of products that you’ve searched before and etc. People who get infected are as well constantly redirected to onlinevideocoverter.com, onclicksuper.com, us.baylnk.com, adexchangecloud.com, rotumal.com and many other sites for promotions. According to our researchers, ads that you will see once you are compromised by cobalten.com are being delivered from Sh.ST, PopAds, Propeller Ads Media, and Adcash advertisement generators.

Although ads and redirects can seem more annoying than malicious, yet they come from sponsoring third parties which get the whole control of the content they post as long as the cobalten.com developers are getting their share. Statistically, every few ads are malicious and can lead you to another virus infection.

Another feature that people don’t know about cobalten.com adware is that it tracks your activity online and records the data that you share through your browser. That does not only include search queries but also credentials, credit card info, visited pages, contacts and etc. You can read more on how spyware works here.

How did you end up with cobalten.com redirect

Usually such redirecting viruses and adware travel via bundling. You go on some software distributing sites with an intention to download some freeware and shareware but do not notice that during the installation there is a Custom/Advanced setup function which allows you to uncheck the additional programs that came bundled with the main one and are set to install by the default if you do not select otherwise. And once you skip this step you not only end up with the program that you originally downloaded but also virus like cobalten.com.

On the other hand, after the thorough analysis, we found out that Cobalten adware compromises computers mainly by collaborating with other websites which lead to cobalten.com. The main ones are ilgeniodellostreaming.org, yeheey.biz, prosoftwarepc.com, informereng.com, bet365.com, newsprofin.com, Short.pe, userscloud.com.

Once the victim enters these sites and clicks anywhere cobalten.com redirect virus setup is initiated, but it happens so fast that you don’t even notice that something was installed into your system. Most affected people were from Brazil (7% infection rate), India (6.3% infection rate) and the US (6% infection rate). And as it is obvious the main traffic source is redirect and referrals.

For this reason, it is always good to have some sort of antivirus or anti-malware which would prevent you from malicious pop-ups, redirects and could block the infected sources. Moreover, if you don’t feel like using any software safe can be all you need to prevent you from infections from the World Wide Web.

How to protect yourself from cobalten.com virus

Cobalten virus most likely got into your system together with some PUPs or by clicking on malicious ads. That is why the removal should be done by manually removing recently installed applications and suspicious extensions on your Mozilla, Chrome or any other default browser. Yet depending on the variant of the cobalten.com adware, it can be slightly more persistent and you will have to trust the removal to an automatic tool because you simply won’t be able to find the hidden redirect-causing threat.

Tools like Spyhunter and Malwarebytes are the best option if you have cobalten.com redirect virus because they will identify easily where does the malware reside, no matter if it will be camouflaged under a different name or use the hiding features. Of course, feel free to try other products as well, just make sure that they are professional and not just other PUPs that the virus is offering you.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Although if the adware has affected your browser you might have issues downloading the anti-spyware software, therefore the manual removal will be necessary to start cleansing your PC. Below we have made the detailed steps on how to remove the cobalten.com malware from every browser and Control Panel. Afterward, when you can browse the internet without the pop-ups it would still be a good idea to scan the system with some antimalware or antivirus program just to make sure that the system is clean and you can use your PC as save as before.

How to stop cobalten.com redirects manually

How to remove Cobalten.com redirect using Windows Control Panel

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

How to remove Cobalten using Windows Control Panel

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

How to remove Cobalten from macOS

Delete Cobalten.com redirect from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the Cobalten app.
5. Select it and right-click it (or hold the Ctrl and click the left mouse button).
6. In the dropdown, click Move to Bin/Trash. You might be asked to provide your login password.

TopRemove malicious extensions from Internet Explorer

• Press on the Gear icon→Manage Add-ons.
  
• Go through Toolbars and extensions. Remove everything related to Cobalten.com redirect 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 Cobalten, 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 Cobalten.com redirect 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 Cobalten. Click on the trash bin icon next to Cobalten.com redirect 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 Cobalten, 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.

TopRemoving Cobalten.com redirect 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 Cobalten 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 Cobalten.com redirect, 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.

How to remove Cobalten.com redirect from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to Cobalten. Click on the "Remove" icon next to Cobalten.com redirect 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 Microsoft Edge.

TopRemoving Cobalten from Safari (Mac OS X)

• Click on the Safari menu.
• Choose Preferences.
  
• Click on the Extensions Tab.
• Click on the Uninstall button near the Cobalten.com redirect. Remove all other unknown or suspicious entries too. If you are not sure whether you need the extension or not, you can simply uncheck the Enable check-box to disable the extension temporarily.
  
• Restart Safari.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

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

• Click on the Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Reset Safari.
  
• Select which options you want to reset (usually all of them come preselected) and click on the Reset button.
  

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