How to remove startplayit.com ads [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

Are you seeing startplayit.com advertisements in the Chrome, IE, Firefox and Edge every time you use the web-browser to surf the Internet? This means that your system is infected with an ‘ad-supported’ software (also known as adware) which looks the entire traffic generated by you and on this basis, it displays lots of annoying pop-up ads. Currently, this ad-supported software are widely spread, due to the fact that most people are trying to find free applications, download and install them on the computer without proper attention to the fact that the adware can penetrate into the computer along with them.

The ‘ad-supported’ software can change the settings of the Google Chrome, FF, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge, but often that a malicious software like this can also infect all types of web-browsers by changing their desktop shortcuts. Thus forcing the user each time launch the internet browser to see startplayit.com annoying ads.

The adware is the part of the software that is used as an online promotional tool. It’s created with the sole purpose to open dozens of ads, and thus to promote the goods and services in an open internet browser window. So, the startplayit.com is just one of the many pages of the so-called ‘ad-support’ type. It is designed to fill the web-browser’s constant stream of advertisements, or redirect the browser to not expected and intrusive advertising web-pages. Moreover, the adware can substitute the legitimate advertising banners on misleading or even banners that can offer to visit dangerous pages. The reason is simple, many advertisers agree on any ways to attract users to their web sites, so the creators of adware, often forcing users to click on an advertising link. For each click on a link, the authors of the adware receive income. It’s the so-called ‘Pay-Per-Click’ method.

Therefore it’s very important to follow the steps below as soon as possible. The instructions will assist you to get rid of ‘ad-supported’ software as well as clean your computer from the startplayit.com . What is more, the step-by-step instructions below will help you remove other dangerous software such as unwanted toolbars and browser hijackers, which could penetrate the PC along with the adware.

How does startplayit.com ads get installed onto computer

Most often, the free applications installer includes the optional potentially unwanted software such as this ad-supported software. So, be very careful when you agree to install anything. The best way is to select the Custom, Advanced or Manual installation mode. Here disable (uncheck) all optional software in which you are unsure or that causes even a slightest suspicion. The main thing you should remember, you don’t need to install the optional software which you do not trust! The only thing I want to add. Once the free applications is installed, if you {aninstall} this software, the ad supported software will not be removed. This must be done by yourself. Just follow the steps below.

How to manually remove startplayit.com ads

The following instructions is a step-by-step guide, which will help you manually delete startplayit.com ads from the Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Edge.

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

Remove suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel

The best way to begin the computer cleanup is to delete unknown and suspicious programs. Using the Windows Control Panel you can do this quickly and easily. This step, in spite of its simplicity, should not be ignored, because the removing of unneeded software can clean up your browser from pop-ups, hijackers and so on.

1. If you are using Windows 8, 8.1 or 10 then press Windows key, click Search. Type “Control panel”and press Enter.
2. If you are using Windows XP, Vista, 7, then press “Start” button and click “Control Panel”.
3. It will open the Windows Control Panel.
4. Click “Uninstall a program” under Programs category.
5. You will see a list of all installed applications.
6. Scroll through the all list, and uninstall suspicious and unknown software. To quickly find the latest installed software, we recommend sort software by date.

See more details in the video instructions below.

Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove startplayit.com redirect

Click the right mouse button to a desktop shortcut which you use to open your web browser. Next, select the “Properties” option. Important: necessary to click on the desktop shortcut for the internet browser which is redirected to the startplayit.com or other annoying web page.

Further, necessary to look at the text which is written in the “Target” field. The adware can replace the contents of this field, which describes the file to be launch when you start your web browser. Depending on the internet browser you are using, there should be: Google Chrome: chrome.exe, Opera: opera.exe, Firefox: firefox.exe, Internet Explorer: iexplore.exe. If you are seeing an unknown text such as “http://site.address” which has been added here, then you should delete it, as on the image below.

Next, press the “OK” button to save the changes. Now, when you run the internet browser from this desktop shortcut, it does not occur automatically redirect on the startplayit.com web-page or any other annoying web-pages that is advertised by the ad supported software. Once the step is finished, we recommend to go to the next step.

Get rid of startplayit.com redirect from Google Chrome

Reset Google Chrome settings is a simple way to delete 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 start the Google Chrome and press Menu button (small button in the form of three horizontal stripes).
2. It will display the Google Chrome main menu. Select “Settings” option.
3. You will see the Google Chrome’s settings page. Scroll down and press “Show advanced settings” link.
4. Scroll down again and press the “Reset settings” button.
5. The Google Chrome will display the reset profile settings page as on the image above.
6. Next, press the “Reset” button.
7. When this process is finished, your web-browser’s settings will be restored to their original defaults. This will reset your homepage, new tab and default search engine.
8. To learn more, read the post How to reset Chrome settings to default.

Get rid of startplayit.com from Mozilla Firefox

First, run the Firefox. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It will display the drop-down menu. Next, click the “Help” button ().

In the Help menu, click the “Troubleshooting Information”. In the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page, press “Refresh Firefox” button.

Confirm your action, press the “Refresh Firefox”.

Get rid of startplayit.com ads from Internet Explorer

First, start the IE, then press the button in the form of gear (). It will display the Tools drop-down menu like below. Next, click the “Internet Options”.

In the Internet Options window click on the Advanced tab, then click the Reset button. The Microsoft Internet Explorer will open the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” window as on the image below. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box, then click on “Reset” button.

You will now need to reboot your PC system for the changes to take effect.

Remove 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 machine, it will open startplayit.com annoying web site. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and get rid of all tasks that have been created by ‘ad-supported’ program.

Press Windows and R keys on your keyboard at the same time. It will display a dialog box that titled with 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 open 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 on the screen below.

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

How to remove startplayit.com advertisements automatically

We recommend using the Malwarebytes Free. You can download and install this tool to detect startplayit.com threat and get rid of it, from the link below. When installed and updated, the free malware remover will automatically scan and detect all threats present on the machine.

Once installed, the Malwarebytes will try to update itself and when this procedure is finished, click “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan for the adware and malware. During the scan it will detect all threats present on your machine. In order to delete all threats, simply click “Quarantine Selected” button.

The Malwarebytes is a free program that you can use to delete all detected folders, files, services, registry entries and so on. To learn more about the Malwarebytes, we recommend you to read and follow the instructions or the video guide below.

Block startplayit.com pop-up ads and other unwanted web sites

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

Download AdGuard program using the following link.

After downloading is finished, start the file named adguardInstaller. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as shown on the screen below.

Follow the prompts. When the setup is finished, you will see a window as shown below.

You can click “Skip” to close the installation application and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial which 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 launch automatically and block pop-up ads, web pages such as startplayit.com, as well as other malicious or misleading sites. For an overview of all the features of the program, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the AdGuard icon, which is located on your Windows desktop.

Scan your machine and remove startplayit.com ads 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, FF, Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers and thereby restore back their default settings (homepage, new tab page and search engine by default). AdwCleaner is powerful enough to find and delete malicious registry entries and files that are hidden on the computer.

Download AdwCleaner utility using the link below. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.

After downloading is finished, 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 shown on the screen below. If the User Account Control prompt will ask you want to show the application, click Yes button to continue.

Now, click the “Scan” . This will begin scanning the whole computer to find out ‘ad-supported’ software that cause a redirect to startplayit.com advertisements.

When it has finished scanning your system, it will open a list of all items detected by this tool as shown in the following image.

You need to click “Clean” button. It will show a dialog box, click “OK” to start the cleaning procedure. When the cleaning procedure is complete, the AdwCleaner may ask you to restart your computer. After reboot, the AdwCleaner will show the log file.

All the above steps are shown in detail in the following video guide.

Finish words

Now your computer should be clean of the startplayit.com pop-up ads. Remove AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you block unwanted pop-ups and annoying malicious sites) and Malwarebytes (to periodically scan your personal computer for new malware and adware). Make sure that you have all the Critical Updates recommended for Windows OS. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new dangerous programs and adware are released.

If you are still having problems while trying to delete startplayit.com ads from your machine, then ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.