-1

I've been trying to get rid of this adware for the past week or so with no results.

Here is what it looks like on my browser (chrome):

enter image description here

Basically it just adds a bunch of ads above my search results--a minor annoyance, but I suspect that the adware is only a gateway for more malicious programs (and some research on Rockettab does seem to corroborate this).

Some more details:

  • The appearance of the ads are very sporadic, if I close them by clicking on the little "x" on the bottom right, they will sometimes go away for a time but always return later.

  • The ads appear in both incognito and normal browser modes

  • The ads do not appear in the IE or MS Edge browsers

  • The ads do not appear in other search engines (e.g Bing)

I've checked out several guides for removing this thing, but none of them seem to apply to my case. Here's what I've tried so far (none of which has worked):

  • Attempted to uninstall through the Control Panel (there isn't any program by that name or any program that even seems suspicious to uninstall)
  • Cleaned cache, history, cookies, even uninstalled Chrome and reinstalled
  • Ran Malwarebytes, MSE, MalwarebyesAdaware, HitmanPro
  • Searched through all folders using "Everything" for files with "Rocket", "addonjet" etc.
  • Checked the registry for entries with "Rocket", "addonjet" in their name

I really don't know what else to try at this point, any help would be much appreciated.

Dider
  • 99

1 Answers1

1

I have been stuck in a similar situation myself with RocketTab ad/malware and it is particularly bothersome, because it is often bundled with other malware that is much more intrusive or dangerous (keyloggers, rootkits, etc.)

I tried everything you mentioned, too, and couldn't find anything that appeared to be an offending process. More recently, I had a friend with a similar adware. We checked it out in Process Explorer (Sysinternals) and there happened to be a process that injected itself into the browser via a DLL. Look for suspicious processes, and then delete the files that are connected to them. This cleared up the issue with my friend.

Looking at the fact that it mentions "Addonjet", you might also benefit from a quick search of your Chrome extensions, plugins, and other related features. I'm not a Chrome user, but because it doesn't affect other browsers, you might want to look into that.

Most importantly, if the issue doesn't go away, nuke it from orbit. Wipe the affected computer completely and start fresh. In Settings (the new one, not Control Panel), you can search for Reset, and then follow the promts to perform the process. Make sure your data is backed up and that you know which programs to install on your newly wiped device.

If you reset the computer, then there is (almost) no chance of the problem reappearing unless you download something bad or something bundled with adware and aren't careful.

I wish you luck with getting rid of the pesky RocketTab junk.

Malware Destroyer
  • 11