CastVPN

CastVPN works as a virtual private network (VPN). However, in reality, your browsing might not be as private as you might have hoped it would be. Our researchers say the application could gather a user’s private or sensitive information, which is why it was decided to classify it as a potentially unwanted program. This category does not mean the tool is malicious, but it says it might be untrustworthy or have unwanted qualities like recording personal data. We will explain more about the information, the software in question could collect, while you surf the Internet further in the text, so if you wish to know all about it, we encourage you to read our full article. At the end of the article, we will also add instructions showing how to get rid of CastVPN manually, so if you decide to remove it and you need any help with this task, feel free to check our provided steps.

CastVPN might be bundled with similar potentially unwanted programs. Often they are downloaded after clicking with suspicious advertisements or visiting untrustworthy file-sharing web pages. Therefore, users who would like to avoid dubious tools should pay more attention to the content they interact with while browsing. Before installing any software, it would be wiser to check who developed it and whether it has any good reviews from experts or users, although keep in mind some user reviews might be fake, which is why it is essential to check quite a few of them before forming an impression. Besides, our researchers recommend avoiding torrent and similar file-sharing websites since they could offer questionable tools, installers infected with malware, and so on.

What happens if CastVPN enters the system? As said earlier, it works as a VPN software, which is usually used to create a private network or in other words make the user’s browsing more private. Thus, it was surprising to find out the application could record user’s personal information. According to the tool’s Privacy Policy documents, it can collect “Log data may include the following information- browser type, web pages you visit, time spent on those pages, access times and dates. Personal Information.” Next, there is a statement explaining what personal information is: “information that may be of a private or sensitive nature, and which identifies or may identify you.” The given examples say it could be the user’s IP address, name, email address, identifying documents, such as ID card or driver license, etc. Given the program is supposed to ensure such data is kept safe and private, it is extremely strange to find it can collect it.

What’s more, our researchers also found it suspicious CastVPN has no window, which means it may work in the background, but the user might not see it unless he checks all running processes. It appears, the potentially unwanted program is compatible with Google Chrome and its extension adds an icon on the browser, which makes the tool more visible. Moreover, our researchers say the application can automatically restart with the operating system, so even if you close it, the VPN tool should load again when you restart or turn on the computer. Naturally, if you do not like the idea a potentially unwanted program could gather sensitive information about you, we would recommend erasing CastVPN as fast as possible.

The application can be removed manually, although it could take some time as the software creates a lot of data once installed. Still, if you think you can complete this task on your own, you could slide below the article and get rid of CastVPN while following the provided instructions. The other way to erase it is to employ a reliable antimalware tool and then perform a system scan with it. Right after the scan, you should get a list of content that might be dangerous. To remove the detections, you should press the given deletion button.

Eliminate CastVPN

1. Press Win+E.
2. Navigate to these paths:
   %PROGRAMFILES%
   %PROGRAMFILES(x86)%
3. Look for folders named CastVPN.
4. Right-click these directories and press Delete.
5. Find these locations:
   %WINDIR%\Tasks
   %WINDIR%\System32\Tasks
6. Look for tasks named CastVPN or CastVPN.job.
7. Right-click the potentially unwanted program’s created tasks and select Delete.
8. Close File Explorer.
9. Press Win+R.
10. Type Regedit and select OK.
11. Then go to these locations:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache\Tree
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node
12. Search for keys called CastVPN_is1 or CastVPN in the listed paths.
13. Right-click the described keys and choose Delete.
14. Close Registry Editor.
15. Empty Recycle bin.
16. Reboot the computer.

Erase the potentially unwanted program’s extension from Chrome

1. Press Win+E.
2. Go to the provided paths:
   %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions
   %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions
   %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Profile*\Extensions
   %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Profile*\Extensions
3. Search for folders named gcnfpjoimnmmdiokmpaebcacnnpdifbn.
4. Right-click these directories and select Delete.
5. Close File Explorer.
6. Relaunch Registry Editor (Win+R, type regedit and click OK).
7. Go to this location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Google\Chrome\Extensions
8. Find a key named gcnfpjoimnmmdiokmpaebcacnnpdifbn, right click it and select Delete.
9. Close Registry Editor.
10. Empty Recycle bin.