Gstatic | What Is It, Is It Dangerous? Errors and Solutions

If you have seen a Gstatic domain appear in your browser when you try to load a page and you don't know what it is or if it is dangerous for your browsing, here you will learn everything you need to know about this domain.

What is Gstatic and what does it do?

Gstatic.com is a web domain owned by Google and used by Google to access the server of the same name: a server where Google hosts its static content such as CSS, JavaScript code, and images. The reason Google hosts its content on that specific server is to reduce bandwidth usage and deliver the content faster.

Subdomains Domains

This server also has some subdomains and each one is used for a specific purpose, below we have mentioned the list of all the subdomains.

• accounts.gstatic.com.
• connectivity.gstatic.com.
• csi.gstatic.com.
• fonts.gstatic.com.
• metric.gstatic.com.
• mail.gstatic.com.
• maps.gstatic.com.
• ssl.gstatic.com.

Is Gstatic a virus/malware?

As mentioned above, this is a server owned and used by Google, its domain and subdomains are completely safe and have nothing to do with viruses or malware.

However, since cybercriminals are quite smart, There may be a domain similar to this one that is acting as a virus on your PC. This is why it is important that you know the domains of this server. If what you see on your PC is not one of the domains we have mentioned, you may have a virus that is masking itself as this server.

Is Gstatic a tracker?

According to Whotracks.me, Gstatic tracks around 39,6% of Internet trafficAs we all know, Google is a tech giant and billions of people use its products. Although the tracking ratio of Gstatic is increasing every month, there is no need to worry as it is only used to deliver content and does not track your personal activity.

Can you remove Gstatic?

Many people want to get rid of Gstatic because they think it is a malware that causes various problems such as annoying pop-ups and errors, but the original server cannot be removed as mentioned above; it is used by various Google products for faster content delivery.

Some of the most common errors that this server may present are the following:

www.gstatic.com/generate_204

Sometimes the URL: http://www.gstatic.com/generate_204 automatically starts opening in a new browser tab – usually just a blank page with “Untitled” as the title.

A misconfigured network and unstable connection can trigger this error; the browser thinks that the user needs to log in to the captive portal – a web page where newly connected Wi-Fi users must enter their login information for security purposes.

Connectivity.gstatic.com

Connectivity.gstatic.com is one of the subdomains of gstatic.com; Chrome devices and Android They use it to check if a user has Internet access to the network they are connected to, otherwise the browser will load the captive portal login web page or otherwise allow users to access the Internet.

Should I block connectivity.gstatic.com?

No, blocking the Gstatic domain or any of its subdomains is not recommended – it won’t cause any major issues, but as mentioned above, this subdomain is responsible for checking internet access, so we recommend you don’t mess with it.

csi.gstatic.com is still loading

Sometimes when users open a website in Chrome browser, they see Waiting for csi.gstatic.com… in the bottom left corner. The page fails to load and the browser keeps displaying csi.gtsatic.com URL. If you are facing this issue, you can fix it by following one of the methods mentioned below:

1. Allow and delete cookies for the page

By clicking the little lock next to the URL, you should be able to allow cookies if any of the important ones are being blocked.

You can also try deleting the cookies for that specific domain, then refresh the page and check if it loads or not.

2. Change the DNS settings on your device

Changing your Domain Name System (DNS) settings may also fix the loading issue.

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What to do if we have a virus masked in Gstatic?

Although the operation of this Google server could sometimes behave like a virus, this is usually because there is some error. However, we cannot fail to mention the possibility that a virus has taken the name of this server to go unnoticed in your browser and is infecting your system.

As we have already told you before, it is important to keep an eye on the Gstatic domain that appears, but if what you see is not one of their legal domains, it is time to take action and remove the threat.

What we recommend doing is following the following solutions:

Restart your computer in safe mode

Keep your computer on safe mode will restrict most of the functions of any virus present. If you do not know how to start Windows In safe mode, here's what you should do:

For Windows XP and 7:

• Restart your computer.
• Press F8 as soon as the first screen appears.
• Choose Safe Mode with Networking from the options.

For Windows 8:

• See the control panel.
• Then go to System and Security >> Administration Tool and select System Configuration.
• Finally, go to the boot tab and set it to safe mode.

For Windows 10:

• Press the Windows button.
• Press Restart while holding the Shift key on your keyboard.

Remove unnecessary extension from your browser

Most of the Gstatic virus comes from unnecessary extensions in your browser. They are always present in it and sometimes they redirect you to another site in the background that you don't even know about.

So, simply go to your browser and remove all the suspicious and unnecessary extensions that you don't use much. If you don't know how to remove extensions, here's what you need to do.

Chrome:

• Click on the Chrome menu icon present in the top right corner.
• Tap More tools and choose Extensions.
• Now look for any suspicious unwanted extensions and click on the trash can icon to remove them.

Internet Explorer:

• Click on the Internet Explorer gear icon in the top right corner of the screen.
• Press Manage add-ons.
• Again, look for any suspicious and unnecessary extensions and remove them by disabling them.

By performing all the steps given above, you have now secured your browser completely. But it is not enough. To remove the core virus, you need to remove it from the system. It is quite simple, so there is nothing to worry about. Here is what you need to do.

Control panel

• Go to Control Panel
• Press Win + R.
• A box will open in the lower left corner of the screen. Type "Appwiz.cpl" in the box and press Enter.
• You will now be in the Control Panel under Programs and Features.
• Uninstall all suspicious applications from an unknown publisher.

Removing programs from an unknown publisher makes the probability of viruses being present even lower. They do nothing but create the virus and slow down your computer. So it is always better to get rid of them.

Task Manager

The goal of looking at the Task Manager is if there are still any viruses or corrupted files on your computer. If your PC is still having problems, you should see what is causing it.

Since Task Manager allows you to see all the programs that are currently running on your computer, it will also display the file that is causing the problem. You can fix it with a few simple steps. Here's what you need to do:

• Open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc
• Once it is opened, go to the Details tab and check the details of the programs that are currently running on your computer.
• If you see any suspicious files that you haven't seen before, click on them and press End Task.
• Once the task is complete, right-click on it and choose Location.
• Find the file and delete it from the system.

Please remember that the Gstatic you are viewing is not a virus, so before following these steps, always verify that the version you are viewing is not the original Google server.

Final words

The truth is that it is unlikely that Gstatic pose a problem for your system or browsing. This is a legitimate Google server so it usually won't pose any kind of threat. However, it may display some annoying errors that you will need to fix.

In case the domains you are seeing do not belong to the legal ones we have mentioned, a similar domain may be being used to deliver dangerous viruses to your system, in which case we recommend you follow the steps to remove it.