The appearance of annoying pcfixertools.net advertisements in your web-browser means that your personal computer is infected with an adware (also known as ‘ad-supported’ software). It makes changes to the PC system settings and configures itself so as to start automatically each time the PC system is turned on. Immediately after startup, the ad-supported software begins to monitor the user’s actions and insert advertisements directly into the open windows of the Google Chrome, Firefox, IE and Edge. So, if you notice that your web browser has become open this web-page, then you do not need to wait , you need to follow the step-by-step guide below and remove pcfixertools.net ads as quickly as possible.
The ‘ad supported’ software can change the settings of the Google Chrome, IE, Firefox and Microsoft Edge, but often that a harmful software such as this can also infect all types of browsers by changing their desktop shortcuts. Thus forcing the user each time start the browser to see pcfixertools.net unwanted advertisements.
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 web browser window. So, the pcfixertools.net is just one of the many pages of the so-called ‘ad-support’ type. It’s designed to fill the web-browser’s constant stream of advertisements, or redirect the internet browser to not expected and intrusive advertising pages. Moreover, the ‘ad supported’ software can substitute the legitimate advertising banners on misleading or even banners that can offer to visit malicious sites. 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 ‘ad supported’ software receive income. It’s the so-called ‘Pay-Per-Click’ method.
We recommend to remove the adware, which redirects your web-browser on the pcfixertools.net annoying page, as soon as you found this problem, as it can direct you to web-resources which may load other dangerous software on your computer.
Tips to prevent pcfixertools.net pop-up ads
Just as the beginning of this blog post, if you have ever seen the pcfixertools.net site appear in your web-browser, it means your computer has been infected with the ‘ad supported’ software. Most often ‘ad supported’ software is bundled with freeware. So, think back, have you ever download and start any freeware? Because most users, in the Setup Wizard, simply press the Next button and do not read any information such as ‘Terms of use’ and ‘Software license’. This leads to the fact that the personal computer is infected, the web-browser’s configured to open a huge number of the pcfixertools.net unwanted advertisements. Even removing the free programs that contains this ‘ad supported’ software, the annoying ads does not disappear. Therefore, you must follow the few simple steps below to clean your PC from the ad-supported software and thereby remove pcfixertools.net redirect.
How to manually remove pcfixertools.net pop-up ads
Without a doubt, the ad supported software is harmful to your machine. So you need to quickly and completely delete this malicious software. To get rid of this adware, you can use the manual removal which are given below, or use an anti-malware utility for removing malicious applications, such as Malwarebytes Anti-malware and AdwCleaner (both are free). I note that we recommend that you use automatic removal, which will allow you to get rid of pcfixertools.net redirect easily and safely. Manual removal is best used only if you are well versed in system or in the case where adware is not removed automatically.
- Remove suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel
- Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to delete pcfixertools.net redirect
- Get rid of pcfixertools.net pop-ups from Chrome
- Remove pcfixertools.net from Firefox
- Remove pcfixertools.net pop-ups from Internet Explorer
- Get rid of unwanted Scheduled Tasks
Remove suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel
We recommend that you start the machine cleaning process by checking the list of installed programs and uninstall all unknown or suspicious programs. This is a very important step, as mentioned above, very often the malicious applications such as adware and browser hijackers may be bundled with free applications. Delete the unwanted software may remove the annoying advertisements or browser redirect to unknown or unwanted web pages.
Windows 8, 8.1, 10
Press Windows key , then click Search . Type “Control panel”and press Enter.
Windows XP, Vista, 7
First, press “Start” and select “Control Panel”.
It will open the Windows Control Panel as on the image below.
Next, click “Uninstall a program”
It’ll show a list of all applications. Scroll through the all list, and delete any suspicious and unknown programs. To quickly find the latest installed software, we recommend sort programs by date of installation in the Control panel.
Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to delete pcfixertools.net redirect
When the adware is started, it can also modify the web browser’s shortcuts, adding an argument similar “http://site.address” into the Target field. Due to this, every time you start the web browser, it will be redirected to an unwanted advertisements.
To clear the web 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 which starts with “http://” which has been added here. You need to remove it.
When the argument is removed, press the OK button. You need to clean all shortcuts of all your web-browsers, as they may be infected too.
Get rid of pcfixertools.net pop-ups from Chrome
Reset Chrome settings is a simple way to remove the malicious and ad-supported extensions, as well as to restore the web browser’s homepage, new tab and default search engine that have been changed by ad supported software.
- Open the Google Chrome, then click the Menu icon (icon in the form of three horizontal stripes).
- It will open the Chrome main menu. Click the “Settings” menu.
- Next, press the “Show advanced settings” link, which located at the bottom of the Settings page.
- Further, click the “Reset settings” button, which located at the bottom of the Advanced settings page.
- The Google Chrome will open the reset settings dialog box as shown on the screen above.
- Confirm the internet browser’s reset by clicking on the “Reset” button.
- To learn more, look the blog post How to reset Google Chrome settings to default.
Remove pcfixertools.net from Firefox
First, start the Firefox. Next, press 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, click the “Refresh Firefox”.
Remove pcfixertools.net pop-ups from Internet Explorer
To delete the pcfixertools.net advertisements you need to reset the Microsoft Internet Explorer to the state, that was when the Windows was installed on your PC system.
First, run the Internet Explorer, then click ‘gear’ icon . It will open the drop-down menu on the right part of the browser, then press the “Internet Options” like below.
In the “Internet Options” screen, you need to select the “Advanced” tab and click the “Reset” button. The Internet Explorer will open the “Reset Microsoft Internet Explorer settings” prompt as shown in the figure below. Next, click the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. After that, click the “Reset” button.
Once the process is finished, click “Close” button. Close the Internet Explorer and restart your PC for the changes to take effect. This step will help you to restore your browser’s settings to default state and disable ‘ad-supported’ extensions.
Get rid of 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 open pcfixertools.net annoying web-site. 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 simultaneously. It will show a dialog box which titled with Run. In the text field, type “taskschd.msc” (without the quotes) and press OK. Task Scheduler window opens. In the left-hand side, click “Task Scheduler Library”, as on the image below.
In the middle part you will see a list of installed tasks. Select the first task, its properties will be show just below automatically. Next, press 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 delete this task. If you are not sure that executes the task, then google it. If it is a component of the malicious program, then this task also should be removed.
Further click on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as on the image below.
Repeat this step, if you have found a few tasks that have been created by malicious application. Once is done, close the Task Scheduler window.
Delete pcfixertools.net pop-ups automatically
You can remove pcfixertools.net ads automatically with a help of Malwarebytes Free. We recommend this free malware removal utility because it can easily remove ‘ad supported’ software, browser hijackers, potentially unwanted programs and toolbars with all their components such as files, folders and registry entries.
Download Malwarebytes Free on your PC by clicking on the link below. Save it on your Desktop.
326462 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
Once downloading is finished, close all windows on your computer. Further, launch the file named mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up as shown in the figure below, click the Yes button.
It will show the “Setup wizard” that will allow you install Malwarebytes on the machine. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
When the setup is finished successfully, click Finish button. Then Malwarebytes will automatically start and you can see its main window as shown in the figure below.
Next, click the “Scan Now” button . This will begin scanning the whole system to find out malware and ad-supported software that cause the pcfixertools.net ads. When a threat is found, the number of the detected objects will change accordingly. Wait until the the checking is complete. Please be patient.
Once the system scan is done, you can check all threats detected on your computer. Make sure all entries have “checkmark” and click “Quarantine Selected” button.
The Malwarebytes will begin removing malware and ad-supported software that cause pcfixertools.net pop-ups. When the disinfection is complete, you may be prompted to reboot your machine. I recommend you look at the following video, which completely explains the procedure of using the Malwarebytes to remove ‘ad supported’ software and other malicious programs.
Block pcfixertools.net advertisements and other annoying web pages
To increase your security and protect your machine against new annoying ads and malicious pages, you need to use program that stops access to harmful advertisements and web-pages. Moreover, the program can stop the display of intrusive advertising, which also leads to faster loading of sites and reduce the consumption of web traffic.
Download AdGuard program from the following link.
26657 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
Once the download is finished, start the file named adguardInstaller. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen like below.
Follow the prompts. Once the installation is finished, you will see a window as shown in the figure below.
You can click “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial which will help 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 system, AdGuard will start automatically and stop pop-ups, web-pages like pcfixertools.net, as well as other harmful 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, which is located on your Windows desktop.
If the problem with pcfixertools.net ads is still remained
If MalwareBytes cannot delete pcfixertools.net pop-up ads, then we suggests to use the AdwCleaner. AdwCleaner is a free removal tool for adware, browser hijackers, PUPs, toolbars.
- Download AdwCleaner from the link below.
AdwCleaner download
225300 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024
- Double click the AdwCleaner icon. Once the tool is opened the main screen will appear as shown on the image above.
- Now, click the “Scan” button . This will start scanning the whole computer to find out adware that generates pcfixertools.net advertisements.
- Once the scan is finished, AdwCleaner will show a scan report. Review the report and then press “Clean” button. It will open a dialog box, click “OK” button.
The following video explains the steps above on how to get rid of ‘ad supported’ software with AdwCleaner.
Finish words
Now your machine should be clean of the pcfixertools.net ads. Remove AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted ads and unwanted dangerous sites) and Malwarebytes (to periodically scan your computer for new malware and adware). 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 pcfixertools.net ads from your personal computer, then ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.