How to remove VLC Addon ads

What is VLC Addon

VLC Addon tries to exploit users’ familiarity with the legitimate VLC Media Player. In fact, it is fake and has nothing to do with the original program. Upon successful installation into a browser, the rogue extension triggers excessive generation of intrusive and suspicious ads across various pages. Since VLC Addon has access to essential browser features, it may also be able to surveil personal data (e.g. passwords, IP-addresses, geolocations, etc.) and collect it for monetary incentives. Having such an unwanted add-on installed might bear potential privacy and security risks causing malware proliferations, for instance. VLC Addon generates advertisements (banners, pop-ups, underlined texts) in browsers labeled as: “Ad by VLC Addon”, “Powered by VLC Addon”. It is thus important to make everything sure no such activity continues its functioning inside the system. Follow our guide below to perform complete removal and leave no traces behind it.

How VLC Addon infected your computer

While exploring information provided by victims, it was found that VLC Addon is offered for installation on the suspicious hxxp://www.coolestmovie.info page. The website is set up to display a fake pop-up message asking to “Enable required media player”. This way, it attempts to fool users into downloading a rogue piece of software in their browser. In addition to this, it was also reported that the page was engaged in promoting adware called “Browsebeyond” along with Bitcoin-mining malware as well. As a rule, such pages are visited by users inadvertently – through unreliable advertising networks embedded with third-party websites. This means users can end up on such pages when clicking on banners, links, buttons, and other ad-related content. In order to stay protected against threats like these in the future, it is important to avoid browsing dubious domains as well as meeting their demands. We recommend you read our guide below to explore practical options on how browsers and PCs can be strongly protected.

1. Download VLC Addon Removal Tool
2. Remove/Uninstall VLC Addon from Control Panel and Applications
3. Remove VLC Addon extensions from browsers
4. Reset browser search and homepage settings
5. Block VLC Addon search redirects
6. How to protect from threats like VLC Addon

Remove VLC Addon manually for free

Here is the manual step-by-step tutorial for full VLC Addon removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of the VLC Addon installer on operating systems with the latest updates and browser versions.

Remove VLC Addon from Control Panel or Applications

To start removing VLC Addon you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “VLC Addon”. It should uninstall correctly, however, we recommend you to use IObit Uninstaller to clean leftover items after uninstalling. Here are instructions for Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, and Mac.

Remove VLC Addon from Mac:

1. In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
2. VLC Addon might have an Uninstaller.
3. Otherwise, drag VLC Addon from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
4. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.

Remove VLC Addon from Windows XP:

1. Click on Start button.
2. Choose Control Panel.
3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find VLC Addon or other recently installed suspicious program.
5. Click Uninstall.

Remove VLC Addon from Windows 7:

1. Click Start button.
2. Then go to Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find VLC Addon or other recently installed suspicious program and click Uninstall.

Remove VLC Addon from Windows 8:

1. Hover mouse pointer to the bottom-right corner to see Menu.
2. Click Search.
3. After that click Apps.
4. Then Control Panel.
5. Click Uninstall a Program under Programs.
6. Find VLC Addon or other recently installed suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove VLC Addon from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall VLC Addon from Windows 10

Way one

1. Click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Settings.
3. Click on the System tile.
4. Click Apps & features and locate VLC Addon or other recently installed suspicious program in the list.
5. Click on it and then click Uninstall button near it.

Way two (classic)

1. Right-click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Programs and Features.
3. Locate VLC Addon or other recently installed suspicious program in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Cannot uninstall VLC Addon

In some cases, VLC Addon won’t uninstall and gives you a message that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall VLC Addon. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing the VLC Addon folder and files. This happens because the process or service does not allow you to do it. In this case, I will recommend you to use SpyHunter 5 or Malwarebytes AntiMalware or uninstall VLC Addon in Safe Mode. To boot in Safe Mode do the following:

1. Reboot your computer.
2. While it starts booting press F8 button.
3. This will open Advanced Boot Options menu.
4. Choose Safe Mode and wait until Windows loads.
5. Go to Control Panel > Uninstall a program and remove VLC Addon or other recently installed suspicious program

>> See detailed instructions and video tutorial on how to boot in Safe Mode

and for Mac:

If you can’t uninstall VLC Addon using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of VLC Addon. Follow instructions below:

1. Download free AppCleaner.
2. Drag VLC Addon from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
3. Choose files and folders you want to remove along with VLC Addon.
4. Click Delete button.

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling VLC Addon from Control Panel often does not bring the desired effect. It sometimes has browser extension and it may still be active in Safari, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove VLC Addon related extensions from your browsers manually.

Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Click Extensions tab.
3. Find VLC Addon extension.
4. Click Uninstall button to remove it.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions.
3. Find VLC Addon extension.
4. Click the trash can icon to remove them.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:addons.
3. Choose VLC Addon extension.
4. Click Disable or Remove button.
5. Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

Note: There is no feature to remove browser extensions from browser in latest version of Internet Explorer. To remove VLC Addon from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable VLC Addon, please, do the following:

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu Manage Add-ons.
4. Select Toolbars and Extensions.
5. Click Disable or VLC Addon extension.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, VLC Addon does not install in Opera browser however you can always double check. Do the following:

1. Start Opera browser.
2. Go to Tools > Extensions > Manage Extensions.
3. Find VLC Addon extension.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Remove following files, folders and registry keys

Files and folders:


C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\VLC Addon\
C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\VLC Addon
VLC Addon.exe


Registry keys


HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VLC Addon


How to block ads and pop-ups from VLC Addon

VLC Addon push notifications, in most cases, are caused by a program installed on your PC or add-on installed in browsers. However, sometimes it can appear on a clean computer when visiting a malicious website, using an advertising script. Also, apps that generate “VLC Addon” ads and banners are themselves installed from pop-ups. To protect your PC and browsers from phishing websites, pop-up ads, banners, malicious scripts it is recommended to use AdGuard. Download free trial here:

Final tips

Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs, like VLC Addon, may become a real headache as they are hard to remove and break your privacy. To keep safe from such threats we recommend you always use antivirus and one of the anti-malware programs available on the market. One of the best anti-spyware and anti-malware programs is SpyHunter 5. It can protect your PC from threats, like VLC Addon.