Sam Boyd
Updated on: January 3, 2024
Short on time? Here’s how to secure your system after visiting Y2mate:
- 1. Scan Device. Run a full system scan with an antivirus (Norton is a trusted antivirus).
- 2. Remove Any Viruses. After the scan is complete, let the antivirus remove all instances of viruses, malware, or adware you may have accidentally downloaded from Y2mate.
- 3. Stay Protected. Protect yourself from other online threats using a trusted internet security program (Norton offers great online protections).
Y2mate is a website that allows users to download video and audio from YouTube. However, Y2mate also contains a lot of malware downloads, ads, links, and pop-ups, all of which can redirect users to unsafe sites. These unsafe websites will often prompt users to install PUPs (potentially unwanted programs) or contain drive-by download attacks (malware that downloads automatically).
If possible, you should avoid downloading videos from Y2mate. However, there are some precautions you can take on Y2mate if you can’t find any alternative video downloading sites (most are just as dangerous):
- Use an ad blocker (Avira’s browser extension includes an excellent ad blocker).
- Don’t allow Y2mate to display any notifications.
- Don’t click on any ads (they usually appear on the right side of the screen).
- If a window opens in a new tab, check the URL (if it’s not Y2mate.com, close it).
- Have a secure antivirus suite with decent real-time protection running in the background (Norton is the best).
- Check the Y2mate file names before downloading: A lot of download buttons will pop up, trying to trick you into downloading PUPs and malware instead of your video. Check the file name of the download matches that of the video you want to download before clicking Save.
If your system is running poorly, you see pop-ups on your desktop, have new toolbars in your browser, or aren’t sure what you downloaded from Y2mate — your device is probably infected with malware.
Luckily, if you accidentally download any viruses or PUPsfrom Y2mate, you can easily remove them and protect your system from future threats.
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Step 1. Run a Full System Scan With Your Antivirus
REMEMBER: Never connect any of your other devices or external drives to your computer if you think it’s infected. If you do, you run the risk of the malware replicating onto your other devices as well.
Once you’ve downloaded a secure antivirus program, run a full disk scan on your computer. This scan will find and quarantine viruses (and PUPs) on your computer, so you can safely remove them. It will also pick up on rootkits, spyware, and worms that can often run on your device undetected.
A full disk scan will detect, quarantine, and remove every virus (and PUP) it finds on your system, including spyware, rootkits, or worms that can often run undetected.
Remember: Run the full system scan until it’s finished. DO NOT cancel the scan when you see a virus appear on the infected file list. There’s no way of knowing how many other copies of it exist in your system.
The full scan can take anywhere from 1–4 hours because your antivirus needs to analyze every single file and process on your computer. Once it’s complete, the antivirus will let you know. Now every instance of malware on your system has been identified and quarantined, it’s time for step 2.
Step 2. Delete Any Infected Files
After the full disk scan, your antivirus gives you the option to delete all the compromised files it has placed into quarantine. If you’re a technical user, you could take a look at all the quarantined files to check for any false positives. However, non-technical users can just trust their antivirus to do its job. When a reliable antivirus like Norton flags a file as malware, it’s probably best to get rid of it.
After you’ve removed any compromised files from your system, it’s a good idea to restart your computer.
After you restart your device, run a second full disk scan to ensure your antivirus has removed all traces of malware. The second scan usually won’t take as long — top antiviruses like Norton can remember which files have already been scanned, meaning the analysis process is much quicker in subsequent scans.
Once again, it’s important to let the scan run to completion. When the scan is finished and you’ve reviewed and deleted any compromised files in your quarantine, you can be satisfied that your device is 100% malware-free! But you need to keep it that way.
While you’ve now successfully removed the malware you accidentally downloaded from Y2mate, there are heaps of other online threats out there which can infect your device, compromise your accounts, and infiltrate your Wi-Fi network. Step 3 will take you through some simple measures to stay protected.
Step 3. Keep Your Device Protected Against Future Infections
New malware is released every day, making it easy to accidentally install infected applications. There’s also the risk of online data harvesting, identity theft, and public Wi-Fi hackers.
How can you keep your devices and data safe? There are several things you can do:
Keep Your Software, OS, and Drivers Up-To-Date
If you’re running outdated software, your chances of getting hacked are really high. This is because hackers can easily exploit vulnerabilities in outdated software to gain access to your device. Software updates work by patching up identified vulnerabilities, so keeping your software, OS, and drivers up-to-date is vital to your online security.
Many comprehensive antivirus suites (such as Avira) will include a vulnerability scanner that can check your programs and operating system, and automatically update them as needed.
What’s more, most operating systems and programs offer an auto-update option. Make sure you enable this option where possible so that you can be confident your devices and system drivers are being kept up-to-date.
Don’t Download Suspicious Files
If you’re not totally sure what a file is or where it came from, don’t download it. Often malware gets onto your computer through emails and websites that are cleverly designed to look legitimate, but are really anything but.
A good antivirus will keep you and your device safe by scanning your emails and downloads, and alerting you to anything suspicious before it can do any damage. Nonetheless, don’t stop using your common sense to avoid scams and suspect files too.
Secure Your Wireless Network and IoT Devices
Make sure your wireless network is secure before you go online. You can do this by using a firewall, but you should also ensure your home Wi-Fi connection and internet of things (IoT) devices are password-protected too.
To check your connection is password-protected, take a look at your network list — if your network hasn’t got a password set it will have a warning sign next to it.
Unsecured networks and devices are far more vulnerable since anyone can connect to them, but hackers can even infiltrate a secured device that is password-protected.
Most users don’t think to change the default passwords for networked devices like routers, thermostats, and lighting systems. Hackers break into “password-protected” networks all the time using tools like Shodan and Mirai to enter default passwords into millions of devices a day.
Any networked device should come with instructions for how to change its password. If not, try typing the device’s model number into Google.
For a password to be secure, it should have a minimum of 15 characters and use a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols. Password managers such as Dashlane store all of your passwords, so you won’t have to worry about remembering your router’s password.
Download a Secure Antivirus Program
There are a ton of antivirus packages on the market. However, only a few provide all of the security protections you need to stay safe online. You can check out 2024’s best antivirus packages here.
My favorite is Norton 360. It’s an excellent antivirus suite featuring a top-notch anti-malware engine and plenty of valuable security measures. Using artificial intelligence, advanced heuristics, and a huge malware database, it effectively blocks malware from your device.
Norton also includes:
- Anti-phishing protection — Protects you from online scams and dodgy websites.
- Firewall — Stops hackers from accessing your network.
- Password manager — Secures your logins so hackers can’t get hold of them.
- Parental controls — Filters content, limits app and screen time, monitors YouTube, and tracks your child’s location.
- Cloud backup — Up to 500 GB of cloud storage (PC only).
- Virtual private network (VPN) — Protects your online privacy by hiding your IP address and encrypting your data.
- Identity theft protection (US only) — Scans the dark web and breach databases for your data, alerts you to threats, and includes reimbursement up to $1 million if you do fall victim to identity theft.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I trust Y2mate?
No, you shouldn’t trust Y2mate. Many pop-ups and sponsored links on the site lead to dangerous downloads, adult content, and traps to steal your personally identifiable information (PII).
If you do visit Y2mate, make sure you have a comprehensive antivirus installed on your system (Norton is best), don’t allow Y2mate’snotifications, and don’t click on any links or pop-ups.
Is Y2mate illegal?
Most video and audio downloads from Y2mate are considered a breach of copyright. The only videos and audio you can legally download from the internet are those in the public domain or under creative commons licensing.
However, most music and videos on video-streaming platforms such as YouTube are licensed to their owners (the original creators of the video, not the uploader). Therefore, downloading any of these copyrighted videos is a breach of YouTube’s Terms of Service.
If you want to download videos and music, it’s better to use a legal and trusted website that has paid for the proper licensing — allowing it to legally distribute its videos via download.
How to block Y2mate ads?
There’s no way to remove Y2mate’s ads and pop-ups when you’re on the site. An ad blocker can reduce their number quite substantially, but you won’t be able to stop them entirely.
Norton and Avira both have excellent ad blockers. I recommend you have one installed while using Y2mate to lower the risk of getting a virus infection.
How to remove Y2mate ads and notifications on Chrome?
If you’re receiving ads and push notifications when you’re not on Y2mate’s website, then you probably clicked Allow Notifications when you previously visited the site. Here’s how you can fix this on Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers, like Edge and Brave:
- Click on the padlock symbol to the left of the site URL.
- In the “Notifications” drop-down list, change the setting to “Block.” This will stop Y2mate from displaying push notifications.
How to remove Y2mate ads and notifications on Firefox?
If you’re receiving ads and push notifications when you’re not on Y2mate’s website, then you probably clicked Allow Notifications when you previously visited the site. Here’s how you can fix this on Firefox:
- Click the padlock icon to the left of the URL, and click the arrow that reads “Show Connection Details” when you highlight it.
- Click “More Information.” Then in the window that displays, click the “Permissions” tab.
- Check that all permissions on Y2mate are set to “Block.”
