How to remove ext.searchassist.net pop-up ads [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

If you’re reading this blog post, it means that you are seeing the ext.searchassist.net unknown web-site and your web-browser began opening a huge number of of pop-up ads. All of these problems with your PC caused by adware (also known as ‘ad-supported’ software), which is often installs on the PC with the free programs. You probably want to know how to remove this adware as well as remove ext.searchassist.net advertisements. In the step-by-step instructions below we will tell you about how to solve your problems.

The malicious software from the ad-supported software family that changes the settings of web-browsers usually affects only the Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge. However, possible situations, when any other web-browsers will be affected too. The adware may change the Target property of a web-browser’s shortcut, so every time you open the internet browser, instead of your home page, you will see the unwanted ext.searchassist.net advertisements.

While your system is infected with the adware, the Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge may be redirected to ext.searchassist.net unwanted web-site. Of course, the adware may not cause damages to your files or Windows system, but it may show lots of unwanted advertisements. These ads will be injected within the content of web-pages that are you opening in your web-browser and can be varied: pop-up ads, in-text ads, different sized banners, offers to install an questionable software. The advertisements will appear on all web pages, including web-pages where previously you have never seen any ads. In this case, when you open any site, you may see in your web-browser’s status bar the following messages: ‘Waiting for ext.searchassist.net’, ‘Transferring data from ext.searchassist.net’, ‘Looking up ext.searchassist.net’, ‘Read ext.searchassist.net’, ‘Connected to ext.searchassist.net’.

We recommend to uninstall the ad supported software, which redirects your internet browser on the ext.searchassist.net annoying web-site, as soon as you found this problem, as it can direct you to web-resources which may load other malicious software on your PC system.

How does ext.searchassist.net ads get installed onto system

The adware spreads along with various free programs, as a supplement, which is installed automatically. This is certainly not an honest way to get installed onto your PC. To avoid infecting of your PC system and side effects in the form of the ext.searchassist.net unwanted advertisements, you should always carefully read the ‘Terms of Use’ and the ‘Software license’. Additionally, always select Manual, Custom or Advanced installation mode. This allows you to disable the install of unnecessary and often harmful software.

How to manually remove ext.searchassist.net redirect

This useful removal guide for the ext.searchassist.net advertisements. The detailed procedure can be followed by anyone as it really does take you step-by-step. If you follow this process to delete ext.searchassist.net popup ads let us know how you managed by sending us your comments please.

1. Remove suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel
2. Remove ext.searchassist.net from Firefox
3. Get rid of ext.searchassist.net ads in Google Chrome
4. Delete ext.searchassist.net ads from Internet Explorer
5. Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove ext.searchassist.net redirect
6. Uninstall unwanted Scheduled Tasks

Remove suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel

Press Windows key , then click Search . Type “Control panel”and press Enter. If you using Windows XP or Windows 7, then press “Start” and select “Control Panel”. It will show the Windows Control Panel as shown on the image below.

Next, press “Uninstall a program” It will open a list of all applications. Scroll through the all list, and uninstall any suspicious and unknown software.

Remove ext.searchassist.net from Firefox

If the FF settings have been changed by the adware, then resetting it to the default state can help you to remove the redirect onto ext.searchassist.net ads.

First, start the Firefox and click button. It will display the drop-down menu on the right-part of the internet browser. Next, click the Help button () as shown on the image below.

In the Help menu, select the “Troubleshooting Information” option. Another way to open the “Troubleshooting Information” screen – type “about:support” in the browser adress bar and press Enter. It will display the “Troubleshooting Information” page as shown on the screen below. In the upper-right corner of this screen, click the “Refresh Firefox” button.

It will show the confirmation prompt, press the “Refresh Firefox” button. The Firefox will start a process to fix your problems that caused by the adware. Once it’s complete, click the “Finish” button

Get rid of ext.searchassist.net ads in Google Chrome

Reset Google Chrome settings is a simple way to remove the malware and ad-supported software, as well as to restore the web-browser’s settings that have been replaced by ‘ad-supported’ software.

1. Now launch the Google Chrome and press Menu button (small button in the form of three horizontal stripes).
2. It will open the Chrome main menu. Select “Settings” option.
3. You will see the Chrome’s settings page. Scroll down and click “Show advanced settings” link.
4. Scroll down again and click the “Reset settings” button.
5. The Chrome will show the reset profile settings page as shown on the screen above.
6. Next, click the “Reset” button.
7. Once this task is done, your web-browser’s settings will be restored to their original defaults. This will reset your homepage, new tab page and search engine by default.
8. To learn more, read the post How to reset Chrome settings to default.

Delete ext.searchassist.net ads from Internet Explorer

First, start the Internet Explorer, then click button. Next, press “Internet Options” as shown on the screen below.

In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, press the “Reset” button. The IE will display the “Reset Internet Explorer” settings prompt. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and press Reset button.

You will now need to restart your PC for the changes to take effect. It will restore the Internet Explorer’s settings like start page and search provider by default to default state, disable ad-supported internet browser’s extensions and thereby uninstall the redirect to ext.searchassist.net unwanted site.

Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove ext.searchassist.net redirect

Once the ‘ad-supported’ software is started, it can also modify the browser’s shortcuts, adding an argument like “http://site.address” into the Target field. Due to this, every time you open the browser, it will be redirected to an unwanted ads.

To clear the browser shortcut, right-click to it and select Properties. On the Shortcut tab, locate the Target field. Click inside, you will see a vertical line – arrow pointer, move it (using -> arrow key on your keyboard) to the right as possible. You will see a text that begins with “http://” which has been added here. You need to remove it.

When the argument is removed, click the OK button. You need to clean all shortcuts of all your web-browsers, as they may be infected too.

Uninstall unwanted Scheduled Tasks

Once installed, the adware can add a task in to the Windows Task Scheduler Library. Due to this, every time when you open your PC system, it will show ext.searchassist.net annoying web-page. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and remove all tasks that have been created by adware.

Press Windows and R keys on your keyboard simultaneously. It will display a prompt which called Run. In the text field, type “taskschd.msc” (without the quotes) and click OK. Task Scheduler window opens. In the left-hand side, press “Task Scheduler Library”, as shown in the figure below.

In the middle part you will see a list of installed tasks. Select the first task, its properties will be display just below automatically. Next, click the Actions tab. Necessary to look at the text which is written under Details. Found something like “explorer.exe http://site.address” or “chrome.exe http://site.address” or “firefox.exe http://site.address”, then you need remove this task. If you are not sure that executes the task, then google it. If it is a component of the adware, then this task also should be removed.

Further click on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as shown in the following image.

Repeat this step, if you have found a few tasks that have been created by adware. Once is finished, close the Task Scheduler window.

Remove ext.searchassist.net popup ads with Malwarebytes

Remove ext.searchassist.net ads manually is difficult and often the ad supported software is not completely removed. Therefore, we recommend you to use the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your computer. The Malwarebytes is a reputable malware removal application. It can automatically detect and delete the ‘ad-supported’ software (also known as adware) of the your personal computer. Moreover, this free program will help you to remove browser hijackers, malware and toolbars that your personal computer may be infected too. You can follow the step-by-step guide below to uninstall the ext.searchassist.net annoying ads completely.

Download Malwarebytes Free by clicking on the link below.

Once downloaded, close all applications and windows on your PC system. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup like below.

When the setup begins, you will see the “Setup wizard” which will help you install Malwarebytes on your PC system.

Once install is finished, you will see window as shown on the screen below.

Now press on the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan for the ad supported software which causes the redirect to ext.searchassist.net site. This process can take some time, so please be patient.

When it has finished scanning, make sure all entries have “checkmark” and click “Quarantine Selected” button. The Malwarebytes will start removing the ad-supported software related files, folders, registry keys. When the disinfection is finished, you may be prompted to restart the personal computer.

The following video explains the step-by-step instructions above on how to delete adware with Malwarebytes Anti-malware.

Stop ext.searchassist.net advertisements and other annoying web sites

To increase your security and protect your PC system against new annoying advertisements and malicious web sites, you need to use application that stops access to malicious ads and sites. Moreover, the program can block the open of intrusive advertising, that also leads to faster loading of web-pages and reduce the consumption of web traffic.

Download AdGuard program from the following link.

When the download is finished, run the file named adguardInstaller. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as shown in the figure below.

Follow the prompts. Once the installation is finished, you will see a window like below.

You can press “Skip” to close the install program and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial that will allow you get to know AdGuard better.

In most cases, the default settings are enough and you do not need to change anything. Each time, when you start your PC system, AdGuard will start automatically and block advertisements, pages such as ext.searchassist.net, as well as other malicious or misleading web-sites. For an overview of all the features of the application, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the AdGuard icon, that is located on your Windows desktop.

Get rid of ext.searchassist.net redirect and malicious extensions with AdwCleaner.

If MalwareBytes Anti-malware cannot remove the annoying ext.searchassist.net advertisements from the Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, then we suggests to use the AdwCleaner. AdwCleaner is a free removal tool for adware, browser hijackers, PUPs and toolbars.

Download AdwCleaner using the link below.

When downloading is done, open the file location. Double click the AdwCleaner icon. Once this tool is launched, you will see a screen like below.

Now, click the “Scan” button for checking your PC system for the malicious extensions and adware that opens advertisements from ext.searchassist.net web-page. Once the scanning is done, it will show a scan report as shown below.

Review the report and then click “Clean” button. It will open a prompt. Click “OK”. Once the clean-up is finished, AdwCleaner may ask you to reboot your computer.

Look at the following video, which completely explains the procedure of using the AdwCleaner to remove adware, browser hijackers and other dangerous programs.

Finish words

Now your personal computer should be free of the ext.searchassist.net ads. Remove AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you block unwanted pop-ups and unwanted malicious web pages) and Malwarebytes (to periodically scan your PC system for new malware and ‘ad-supported’ software). Probably you are running an older version of Java or Adobe Flash Player. This can be a security risk, so download and install the latest version right now.

If you are still having problems while trying to remove ext.searchassist.net popup ads from your PC, then ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.