Are you seeing “Ads by Alex” ads in the Google Chrome, Firefox, MS Edge and IE every time you use the internet browser to surf the Internet? This means that your personal computer is infected with an adware (also known as ‘ad-supported’ software) which looks the entire traffic generated by you and on this basis, it displays lots of annoying advertisements. Currently, this ad-supported software are widely spread, due to the fact that most people are trying to find freeware, download and install them on the machine without proper attention to the fact that the ‘ad-supported’ software can penetrate into the system along with them.
Most often, the adware affects the most common web browsers like the Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Internet Explorer. But such the dangerous software as well may infect another web-browsers by changing its shortcuts (adding an argument like ‘http://site.address’ into Target field of a web-browser’s shortcut). So every time you open the browser, it will redirect to the annoying “Ads by Alex” ads. Even if you setup a new homepage, an unwanted web page will be the first thing you see when you start the Google Chrome, Firefox, IE and Edge.
Technically, the adware is not a virus, but it does bad things, it generates a large number of advertisements, hindering or completely blocking the work in the browser. It may install other unknown and unwanted software without your permission, force you to visit dangerous sites. Moreover, a browser hijacker can be additionally installed on to your personal computer with the adware. Once installed, it will rewrite your start page with an unwanted site.
Instructions, which is shown below, will allow you to clean your computer from the ad-supported software as well as get rid of “Ads by Alex” annoying advertisements from the FF, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and MS Edge and other web browsers.
How does “Ads by Alex” advertisements get installed onto PC
Most commonly, the adware is bundled within the installation packages from a free hosting and file sharing web sites. So, install a free programs is a a good chance that you will find some bundled ad supported software. If you don’t know how to avoid it, then use a simple trick. During installation, choose the Custom or Advanced installation option. Next, click ‘Decline’ button and clear all checkboxes on offers that ask you to install an unknown applications. Moreover, please carefully read Term of use and User agreement before installing any software or otherwise you can end up with another unwanted program on your system like this adware that redirect the Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Edge onto the unwanted “Ads by Alex” ads.
How to manually remove “Ads by Alex” advertisements
The following instructions is a step-by-step guide, which will help you manually delete “Ads by Alex” from the Google Chrome, Firefox, MS Edge and Internet Explorer.
- Delete suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel
- Remove “Ads by Alex” from Mozilla Firefox
- Remove “Ads by Alex” ads from Chrome
- Get rid of “Ads by Alex” ads from Internet Explorer
- Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to get rid of “Ads by Alex” redirect
- Remove unwanted Scheduled Tasks
Remove suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel
First, you should try to identify and uninstall the program that causes the appearance of annoying ads and web-browser redirect to unwanted web-sites, using the ‘Uninstall a program’ which is located in the ‘Control panel’.
Windows 8, 8.1, 10
, then click Search 
. Type ‘Control panel’and press Enter as shown on the screen below. 
When the ‘Control Panel’ opens, press the ‘Uninstall a program’ under Programs category as shown in the following image. 
You will see the ‘Uninstall a program’ panel as on the image below. 
Very carefully look around the entire list of installed software. Most likely, one or more of them are responsible for the web-browser redirect to unwanted “Ads by Alex” advertisements. If you have many programs installed, you can help simplify the search of malicious programs by sort the list by date of installation. Once you have found a suspicious, unwanted or unused program, right click to it and press ‘Uninstall’.
Windows XP, Vista, 7
When the Windows ‘Control Panel’ opens, you need to click ‘Uninstall a program’ under ‘Programs’ as on the image below. 
You will see a list of programs installed on your PC system. We recommend to sort the list by date of installation to quickly find the software that were installed last. Most likely they responsibility for the appearance of unwanted advertisements and web-browser redirect. If you are in doubt, you can always check the program by doing a search for her name in Google, Yahoo or Bing. When the program, you need to uninstall, is found, simply press on its name, and then click ‘Uninstall’ as shown on the image below. 
Remove “Ads by Alex” from Mozilla Firefox
If the Mozilla Firefox settings have been changed by the adware, then resetting it to the default state can help you to remove the unwanted “Ads by Alex” ads.
First, launch the Firefox and click 
button. It will display the drop-down menu on the right-part of the internet browser. Next, press the Help button (
) like below.
In the Help menu, select the “Troubleshooting Information” option. Another way to open the “Troubleshooting Information” screen – type “about:support” in the web-browser address bar and press Enter. It will open the “Troubleshooting Information” page as shown below. In the upper-right corner of this screen, click the “Refresh Firefox” button.
It will open the confirmation prompt, click the “Refresh Firefox” button. The Mozilla Firefox will begin a process to fix your problems that caused by the adware. When it is done, click the “Finish” button
Remove “Ads by Alex” ads from Chrome
Like other modern web browsers, the Chrome has the ability to reset the settings to their default values and thereby remove the redirect to “Ads by Alex” annoying ads that is caused by the adware.
At first, start the Chrome. Next, press the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It will appear the main menu. Click on the option named “Settings”. Another way to show the Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the web-browser adress bar and press Enter.
The web-browser will open the settings screen. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Show advanced settings” link. Now scroll down until the “Reset settings” section is visible, as shown in the following image and click the “Reset settings” button.
The Chrome will open the confirmation prompt. You need to confirm your action, click the “Reset” button. The program will start the process of cleaning. Once it’s finished, the internet browser settings including the ‘block pop-ups’ option back to the values that have been when the Chrome was first installed on your system.
Get rid of “Ads by Alex” ads from Internet Explorer
First, launch the IE, then press the button in the form of gear (
). It will display the Tools drop-down menu as shown below. Next, click the “Internet Options”.
In the Internet Options window click on the Advanced tab, then click the Reset button. The IE will show the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” window as shown on the image below. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box, then click on “Reset” button.
You will now need to restart your PC for the changes to take effect.
Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to get rid of “Ads by Alex” redirect
Once the ad supported software is started, it can also modify the web browser’s shortcuts, adding an argument such as “http://site.address” into the Target field. Due to this, every time you launch the web-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 starts with “http://” that 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 browsers, as they may be infected too.
Remove unwanted Scheduled Tasks
Once installed, the ad-supported software can add a task in to the Windows Task Scheduler Library. Due to this, every time when you open your PC system, it will display “Ads by Alex” unwanted ads. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and delete all tasks that have been created by ‘ad-supported’ program.
Press Windows and R keys on your keyboard together. It will display a prompt which titled as Run. In the text field, type “taskschd.msc” (without the quotes) and click OK. Task Scheduler window opens. In the left-hand side, click “Task Scheduler Library”, as shown on the screen below.
Task scheduler, list of tasks
In the middle part you will see a list of installed tasks. Select the first task, its properties will be open just below automatically. Next, click the Actions tab. Necessary to look at the text which is written under Details. Found something such as “explorer.exe http://site.address” or “chrome.exe http://site.address” or “firefox.exe http://site.address”, then you need delete this task. If you are not sure that executes the task, then google it. If it’s a component of the ‘ad-supported’ application, then this task also should be removed.
Further press on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as shown on the screen below.
Task scheduler, delete a task
Repeat this step, if you have found a few tasks that have been created by ‘ad-supported’ program. Once is finished, close the Task Scheduler window.
How to remove “Ads by Alex” with free malware removal program
Manual removal “Ads by Alex” requires some computer skills. Some files and registry entries that created by the adware may be not completely removed. We suggest that use the Malwarebytes Free which are completely clean your machine. Moreover, the free programs will help you to remove malware, web browser hijackers and toolbars that your PC may be infected too.
- Please download Malwarebytes to your desktop using the following link.
Malwarebytes Anti-malware
327223 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
- At the download page, click the Download button. Your web-browser will display the “Save as” prompt. Please save it onto your desktop.
- Once the download process is complete, please close all programs and open windows on your computer. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
- This will start the Setup wizard of Malwarebytes onto your system. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
- Once the Setup wizard has finished installing, the malware remover will start and show the main window.
- Further, click the “Scan Now” button . This will begin scanning the whole computer to find out adware that displays the “Ads by Alex” unwanted ads. This process can take quite a while, so please be patient.
- When it has finished scanning, it will open a screen that contains a list of malicious software that has been found.
- When you are ready, click on “Quarantine Selected” button to begin cleaning your personal computer. When the process is finished, you may be prompted to reboot your computer.
- Close the Anti-Malware and continue with the next step.
Video instruction, which reveals in detail the steps above.
How to block “Ads by Alex” ads
To increase your security and protect your PC system against new annoying ads and malicious web pages, you need to use an application that blocks access to dangerous ads and pages. Moreover, the program can block the display of intrusive advertising, which also leads to faster loading of web pages and reduce the consumption of web traffic.
- Download AdGuard program from the following link.
Adguard download
26883 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- After the download is done, run the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” window. Follow the prompts.
- When the installation is complete, click “Skip” to close it and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see a 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 run your machine, AdGuard will launch automatically and block ads, “Ads by Alex” ads, as well as other malicious or misleading web-pages. For an overview of all the features of the program, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the AdGuard icon, that is located on your Windows desktop.
Scan your computer and delete “Ads by Alex” with AdwCleaner.
This removal program is free and easy to use. It can scan and remove adware, browser hijackers, malware and unwanted toolbars in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Edge and Internet Explorer web browsers and thereby restore back their default settings (homepage and search engine by default). AdwCleaner is powerful enough to find and remove malicious registry entries and files that are hidden on the computer.
Download AdwCleaner tool from the link below. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.
225610 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024
Once downloading is complete, open the directory in which you saved it and double-click the AdwCleaner icon. It will start the AdwCleaner tool and you will see a screen as on the image below. If the User Account Control prompt will ask you want to open the program, press Yes button to continue.
Now, click the “Scan” . This will begin scanning the whole personal computer to find out adware that opens “Ads by Alex” advertisements.
Once the system scan is done, it will show a list of all items detected by this utility as shown in the following image.
You need to click “Clean” button. It will show a prompt, click “OK” to start the cleaning procedure. When the clean up is complete, the AdwCleaner may ask you to restart your machine. After restart, the AdwCleaner will display the log file.
All the above steps are shown in detail in the following video guide.
Finish words
Once you have finished the instructions shown above, your PC system should be clean from malware and ad supported software. The Chrome, Firefox, MS Edge and Microsoft Internet Explorer will no longer display “Ads by Alex” annoying advertisements or redirect you to unwanted web-pages. Unfortunately, if the guide does not help you, then you have caught a new type of adware, and then the best way – ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.
