1.loadblanks.ru

1.loadblanks.ru is a Web page associated with advertisements and browser redirects that may associate themselves with unwanted software such as adware extensions and toolbars. These applications may cause various security risks, and malware researchers advise particularly against letting third-party apps redirect your browser to other Web pages automatically. You should resolve any problems with redirects to 1.loadblanks.ru by scanning your PC with standard anti-malware and anti-adware products that can fully identify and remove the source of the redirects.

When Your Homepage Starts Shooting Blanks

Although Russia-oriented Web domains have held long associations with business activities ranging from the suspicious to the outright illicit, not all of these sites are necessarily any more harmful than typical advertisement servers. 1.loadblanks.ru is one such site, with no purpose beyond redirecting all traffic to advertising affiliates. However, the last month of 2015 also saw the rising of a campaign of browser hijackings that forced Web traffic to the 1.loadblanks.ru site automatically.

1.loadblanks.ru redirects are believed to originate from PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs), which may range from 'search protector' toolbars to Web privacy applications. Malware researchers only have seen 1.loadblanks.ru redirects triggering in the Chrome browser (a perennial favorite for browser hijackers). Despite that restriction, 1.loadblanks.ru aren't associated with Chrome-specific extensions or browser add-ons. The identity of the relevant browser hijacking software still is being investigated.

Currently, 1.loadblanks.ru redirects limit themselves to hijacking the Chrome browser's homepage. Upon loading 1.loadblanks.ru, the browser then is redirected to a second site: one of various advertising affiliates. For now, no evidence has been found that would link 1.loadblanks.ru's advertising content to threatening software, Web tactics or other, harmful activities. This fact leads malware researchers to believe that 1.loadblanks.ru hijackers are conducting traffic-redirecting campaigns for the sole purpose of creating revenue, without any attempt at causing further harm to the compromised PCs.

Unloading 1.loadblanks.ru from Chrome

Although being redirected to 1.loadblanks.ru is far from being a bullet to your browser's safety, unsafe advertisement networks may be associated with a wide-spanning range of attacks and security issues that could endanger any PC subject to the above redirects. Resetting Chrome settings, while recommended as a standard protocol against browser-hijacking issues, has been notably ineffective at removing 1.loadblanks.ru hijackings or their associated programs. After deleting the software responsible for 1.loadblanks.ru hijackings, ideally with an anti-malware or anti-adware product, you should revert all Web-browsing settings and wipe all browser caches.

Every analysis of 1.loadblanks.ru has resulted in no evidence of its hosting harmful content. However, Web surfers interested in avoiding the security problems common with browser hijackings should continue to guard their PCs by blocking 'advanced' Web content, including pop-ups, advertisements, Flash and JavaScript. Such precautions are equally applicable to non-Chrome users, who are just as susceptible to having their browsers redirected to sites like 1.loadblanks.ru whenever unwanted software installs itself through a bundle or e-mail attachment.