Qoolaid : What it is and how to remove it

Oscar Sodani is a founder of Help2Go and owner of Help2Go Networks, an IT consulting firm in the Washington D.C. area. Oscar holds the CISSP certification as well as industry certifications from Microsoft, Cisco and Novell.

Qoolaid is an adware program that pop-ups windows with annoying advertisements. Unfortunately, there are many different versions (or variants) of the Qoolaid malware, and it is a stubborn piece of software that uses every trick in the book to hide itself from Windows.

We'll show you how to remove it once and for all. Just follow the steps below, and your PC will be clean. All of the programs we will use to remove Qoolaid are completely free.

You should bookmark or print this page before proceeding. 

Thanks to Basementgeek, Oddjob, and steamwiz for their input in creating this tutorial. 

Step 1: Run Qoofix

The first step is to download Qoofix here. It's a ZIP file, so once it has downloaded, you will need to extract (unzip) it. We suggest extracting it to C:\Qoofix - so you know where it is in the future. (Click here if you're not sure how to unzip files).

Once it has extracted, go into the Qoofix folder and run the qoofix.exe program. Then select the Begin Removal option to start the removal process.

You may have to restart your computer after Qoofix has done its job. Either way, you should reboot just to be safe. A log file is saved in the Qoofix folder telling you exactly what has been done to your PC. (If you are working with our experts in the Spyware Help forum, they may ask you to post that log file)

Qoofix does an excellent job of removing most of the Qoolaid infection, however there is still more work to be done. Once it has finished, return to this tutorial and go through the next two steps.

Step 2: Run Ewido Scanner 

The free Ewido scanner effectively removes any residue left over by Qoolaid - follow the steps in our Ewido tutorial to download and run this tool.

When it is complete, reboot your computer again.

Step 3: Run Online Virus Scanners 

Now run the Panda ActiveScan virus scanner and the Housecall virus scanner as detailed in Step 1 of our guide to Get Rid of Spyware, Adware, and Web Browser Hijackers. Only then can you be completely sure than your computer is clean from infection.

You should now be free of Qoolaid - however, you may have additional spyware on your PC. These things tend to travel in packs ;) Go through the rest of the instructions in the Get Rid of Spyware guide to remove any other infections, and to protect your PC from future spyware.

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