What is hwopt?
Hwopt adware is a plugin that may one day appear in your browser. The threat is compatible with all popular browsers like Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, and others. Once it made its way to the browser, it starts to collect information on user’s preferences and web history. Created user’s profile is later on used as the basis for generated ads content. The ads can be of different kinds, but they have one thing in common – they all are fake. Hwopt is designed to show these ads and with their help lure users on visiting promoted sites. Since these sites can be malicious, it is vital to remove Hwopt as soon as possible.
How hwopt gets on your PC?
The majority of users who had Hwopt on their computers said that they hadn’t installed the plugin willingly. It is true that the adware is spread stealthily – its creators do everything to prevent users from getting rid of Hwopt. However, it is possible to avoid its installation at the initial stage. Malware is often distributed bundled with safe software. The problem is that it is frequently hidden in the steps of Advanced installation. So, everything you need is just to be cautious to the setup options and to decline the installation of additional components.
How to remove hwopt from your computer?
To uninstall hwopt remove it from Control Panel, then delete all files and regkeys.
In our view, there are 3 products that potentially have hwopt in their database. You can try to use them for removing hwopt.
Recommended Solution:
Norton is a powerful removal tool. It can remove all instances of newest viruses, similar to hwopt – files, folders, registry keys.
*Trial version of Norton provides detection of computer viruses for FREE. To remove malware, you have to purchase the full version of Norton.
Alternative Solution:
Norton Antivirus – detects files, registry values and folders of viruses that show the same behavior as hwopt.
You can try both of these products to remove hwopt
Or uninstall hwopt manually.
Step 1: Remove hwopt from Control Panel
Windows XP:
- Click Start.
- Control Panel.
- Then click Add or Remove Programs.
- Find hwopt.
- Click Uninstall.
Learn more about uninstallation of programs in Windows XP.
Windows 7/Windows Vista:
- Click Start.
- Then Control Panel.
- Click Uninstall a Program.
- Find hwopt and click Uninstall.
Learn more about uninstallation of programs in Windows 7.
Windows 8/Windows 8.1:
- Open the Menu.
- Click Search.
- After that click Apps.
- Then Control Panel.
- Then as in Windows 7, click Uninstall a Program under Programs.
- Find hwopt, select it and click Uninstall.
Learn more about uninstallation of programs in Windows 8 (8.1).
Windows 10:
- Click on the Start button (or press the Windows key) to open the Start menu, click on the Settings at the top.
- Click on App & features on the left menu.
- On the right side, locate hwopt and click it, then click on the Uninstall button.
- Click on Uninstall to confirm.
Learn more about uninstallation of programs in Windows 10
Note: If you can’t find required program, sort programs by date in Control panel and search for last installed programs.
After that remove hwopt from your browser.
Step 2: Remove hwopt from browsers
Google Chrome:
- Open Google Chrome
- Push Alt + F.
- Click Tools.
- Choose Extensions.
- Find hwopt.
- Click the trash can icon to remove it.
Learn more about removing extensions from Chrome.
Mozilla Firefox:
- Open Firefox.
- Push Shift + Ctrl + A.
- Choose hwopt.
- Click Disable or Remove button.
Learn more about removing extensions from Firefox.
Internet Explorer:
- Open IE.
- Push Alt + T.
- Click Manage Add-ons.
- Select Toolbars and Extensions.
- Click Disable hwopt.
- Click More information link in the left-bottom corner.
- Click Remove button.
- If this button is grayed out – perform alternative steps.
Learn more about removing extensions from IE.
Step 3: Remove following files and folders of hwopt:
Remove following registry entries:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{29007E8C-251B-4F61-A70E-635906271727478077}_is1
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\data
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\hwopt16022016082249
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\hwopt16022016082249_updater_service
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\WinDivert1.1
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\WinDivert1.1\Enum
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\WinDivert1.1\Parameters\Wdf
HKLM\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\TRACING\hwopt16022016082249_RASAPI32
HKLM\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\TRACING\hwopt16022016082249_RASMANCS
HKLM\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\TRACING\hwopt16022016082249_updater_service_RASAPI32
HKLM\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\TRACING\hwopt16022016082249_updater_service_RASMANCS
HKLM\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\UNINSTALL\{29007E8C-251B-4F61-A70E-635906271727478077}_is1
HKLM\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\SERVICES\EVENTLOG\APPLICATION\hwopt16022016082249
Remove following files:
AppSettings.config
hwopt16022016082249.exe
hwopt16022016082249.InstallLog
hwopt16022016082249.InstallState
hwopt16022016082249_updater_service.exe
hwopt16022016082249_updater_service.InstallLog
hwopt16022016082249_updater_service.InstallState
InstallationStatsUploder_16022016082249.exe
InstallUtil.exe
InstallUtil.InstallLog
msvcp110.dll
msvcr110.dll
NetworkUtil.dll
Newtonsoft.Json.dll
unins000.dat
unins000.exe
Utils.dll
WinDivert.dll
WinDivert64.sys
atl110.dll
defcert.pem
defcertkey.pem
dhparam2048.pem
mitmCA.pem
mitmCAder.crt
mitmCAprivkey.pem
msvcr110.dll
msvcr120.dll
msvcr120d.dll
netman.exe
WinDivert.dll
WinDivert64.sys
certutil.exe
freebl3.dll
libnspr4.dll
libplc4.dll
libplds4.dll
msvcr100.dll
msvcr110.dll
nss3.dll
nssckbi.dll
nssdbm3.dll
nssutil3.dll
smime3.dll
softokn3.dll
sqlite3.dll
ssl3.dll
Remove following folders
\Windows\hwopt_16022016082249