How to stop Orkhovdi.xyz redirects

Orkhovdi.xyz is one of many highly questionable websites that push a social engineering scam to trick users into allowing advertisements on the desktop. In order to do that, the site is misusing a legitimate browser feature that allows sites with permission to show push notifications that appear on the desktop. Only instead of useful content, sites like Orkhovdi.xyz start spamming users with advertisements. Fortunately, even if you were to give Orkhovdi.xyz permission to show notifications, you can easily revoke it.

 

 

The “show push notifications” feature is legitimate, it can even be useful in some cases. However, it’s misused by sites such as Orderstartir.com. But provided a site is safe, you can allow it to show you notifications. What the notifications that appear on your desktop show depend on what kind of content the site posts. For example, if you allow a news website to show notifications, you will be shown news alerts directly on the desktop. If you allow a travel site to show notifications, you would get alerts with new travel destinations or available discounts. Clicking on those notifications would take you directly to the content. When you no longer want to see the notifications, you can revoke the permission via your browser’s settings. Directions will be provided in the very last section of this report.

The feature is often misused by questionable websites like Orkhovdi.xyz. There are thousands of essentially identical-looking sites that all claim to be sites for sports, entertainment, news, etc. But they don’t have any content. Orkhovdi.xyz only displays an image and a message saying you should allow it to show notifications. Immediately upon entering the site, the browser will show an alert saying “Orkhovdi.xyz wants to show notifications”. If you click “Allow”, you will essentially permit the site to show ads on the desktop. It’s not a good idea to interact with any of those ads because you could be exposed to all kinds of unreliable content, including malware and scams. Fortunately, you can easily revoke this permission. The sooner you do that, the better. We highly doubt you enjoy seeing ads on your desktop.

If you are being randomly redirected to questionable websites, your computer may be infected with adware. The easiest way to find out is by using anti-spyware software like WiperSoft. Removing the adware would also be easiest using an anti-virus program. Once the infection is gone from your computer, the redirects will stop. However, redirects can also be triggered when you visit questionable websites. If that is the case, an adblocker would help.

What is triggering redirects to Orkhovdi.xyz?

There are two likely reasons why you are redirected, either your computer has adware installed or you browse high-risk websites without an adblocker. The latter is the most likely reason. There are many websites that are considered to be high risk (e.g. sites with pirated or pornographic content) because of the ads they host. Visting those sites without an adblocker program is not a good idea because you could be exposed to all kinds of malicious content.

But if the redirects occur regularly, even when you’re browsing safe sites, your computer may have an adware infection. These unwanted programs are not considered to be malware because they do not directly harm the computer. However, they are very annoying to deal with. Not to mention they can cause loads of issues, such as random redirects. These infections use the software bundling method to install on users’ computers without being noticed. The way this method works is infections like adware, browser hijackers, and potentially unwanted programs come attached to free software as extra offers. These offers are permitted to install alongside the program automatically, without requiring any additional permission. As you can see, it’s a rather sneaky installation method, which is why it’s quite frowned upon.

The added offers are optional so you can prevent their installation if you pay attention when installing free programs. During installation, make sure to opt for Advanced (Custom) settings. The installation window will recommend using Default settings but by following this advice, you will allow all added offers to install without even being informed about them. However, Advanced settings will make all added offers visible. You will also be given the option to deselect all of them. If Advanced settings show that something has been added, simply uncheck the boxes. We always recommend deselecting all offers even if they appear useful at first sight.

Orkhovdi.xyz removal

Keep in mind that only legitimate websites should have permission to show you push notifications. Sites like Orkhovdi.xyz that push potentially malicious content certainly should not have permission. If you have given it permission, you can easily revoke it via your browser’s settings. If you don’t know what to do, use the directions provided right below. In addition to Orkhovdi.xyz, you should also remove all other questionable sites.

• For Mozilla Firefox: Open menu (the three bars top-right corner) -> Options -> Privacy & Security. Scroll down to Permissions, press on Settings next to Notifications, and remove Orkhovdi.xyz and any other questionable website. You can permanently turn off these notification requests by checking the “Block new requests asking to allow notifications” box in the same Notifications settings.
• For Google Chrome: Open menu (the three dots top-right corner) -> Settings -> Privacy and security -> Site Settings. Click on Notifications under Permissions, and remove Orkhovdi.xyz and any other questionable website. You can stop these notification requests permanently by toggling off “Sites can ask to send notifications”.
• For Microsoft Edge: Open menu (the three dots top-right corner) -> Settings -> Cookies and site permissions -> Notifications. Review which sites have permission and remove Orkhovdi.xyz and any other questionable website. You can permanently turn off these notification requests by toggling off “Ask before sending”.

To find out whether the redirects to Orkhovdi.xyz are caused by an adware infection, it’s a good idea to scan the computer with anti-virus software like WiperSoft. The program would get rid of the adware, thus stopping the redirect. But because it’s also possible that you visiting questionable sites is triggering the redirects, it’s also a good idea to install an adblocker program.