If you keep receiving the BetterAds popup ads, when you surf the Internet with the Chrome, Firefox, MS Edge and Internet Explorer, then it could mean your computer is infected with adware (sometimes called ‘ad-supported’ software) from the big malware family. Once started, it may install a dangerous internet browser’s extension that generates a ton of pop-ups or alter the web-browser’s settings to show ads on all pages that you are opening in the internet browser, even on those web-pages where before you did not see any ads. We recommend you to clean you system from ad supported software and thereby remove BetterAds ads. You need to follow the step-by-step instructions below as quickly as possible. It’ll remove the unwanted pop-up ads and protect your system from more dangerous programs and trojans.
The adware can change the settings of the Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer, but often that a harmful software like this can also infect all types of internet browsers by changing their desktop shortcuts. Thus forcing the user each time start the browser to see BetterAds unwanted ads.
The ad supported software is the part of the software that is used as an online promotional tool. It is created with the sole purpose to display dozens of popup ads, and thus to promote the goods and services in an open web-browser window. So, the BetterAds is just one of the many web sites of the so-called ‘ad-support’ type. It’s designed to fill the web browser’s constant stream of advertisements, or redirect the web-browser to not expected and intrusive advertising sites. Moreover, the adware can substitute the legitimate advertising banners on misleading or even banners that can offer to visit malicious web-pages. The reason is simple, many advertisers agree on any ways to attract users to their web pages, so the creators of ad supported software, 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.
So, obviously, you need to remove the adware ASAP. Use the free step-by-step guide below. This guide will help you clean your computer and thereby remove the BetterAds unwanted advertisements.
How did BetterAds pop-ups get on your computer
I want to note that the ad-supported software spreads in the composition together with various free software. This means that you need to be very careful when installing software downloaded from the Internet, even from a large proven hosting. Be sure to read the Terms of Use and the Software license, select only the Manual, Advanced or Custom install mode, switch off all additional modules and programs are offered to install. So, the negligence when running unknown applications may lead to the fact that the adware is installed.
How to manually remove BetterAds pop-ups
The following instructions is a step-by-step guide, that will assist you manually delete BetterAds advertisements from the Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Edge.
- Uninstall suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel
- Delete BetterAds ads from FF
- Remove BetterAds pop-ups from Chrome
- Delete BetterAds advertisements from IE
- Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove BetterAds redirect
- Get rid of unwanted Scheduled Tasks
Uninstall suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel
First, you should try to identify and delete the program that causes the appearance of unwanted advertisements 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
Press Windows key
, then click Search 
. Type ‘Control panel’and press Enter as on the image below.
When the ‘Control Panel’ opens, click the ‘Uninstall a program’ under Programs category as shown on the screen below.
You will see the ‘Uninstall a program’ panel as shown on the image below.
Very carefully look around the entire list of installed applications. Most likely, one or more of them are responsible for the web browser redirect to unwanted BetterAds pop-ups. 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
First, press ‘Start’ button and select ‘Control Panel’ at right panel like below.
When the Windows ‘Control Panel’ opens, you need to click ‘Uninstall a program’ under ‘Programs’ as shown below.
You will see a list of applications installed on your PC. 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 pop-up ads 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 application, you need to remove, is found, simply click on its name, and then click ‘Uninstall’ as shown below.
Delete BetterAds ads from FF
If the Mozilla Firefox settings have been changed by the ad supported software, then resetting it to the default state can help you to delete the reroute onto BetterAds page.
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 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 web browser address bar and press Enter. It will display the “Troubleshooting Information” page as shown in the figure below. In the upper-right corner of this screen, press the “Refresh Firefox” button.
It will open the confirmation dialog box, click the “Refresh Firefox” button. The Firefox will begin a process to fix your problems that caused by the ad-supported software. When it is complete, click the “Finish” button
Remove BetterAds pop-ups from Chrome
Open the Chrome menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It opens the drop-down menu. Next, click the “Settings” option.
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, like below and press the “Reset settings” button.
Confirm your action, click the “Reset” button.
Delete BetterAds advertisements from IE
First, start the Internet Explorer, then click the button in the form of gear (
). It will display the Tools drop-down menu as on the image below. Next, press the “Internet Options”.
In the Internet Options window click on the Advanced tab, then click the Reset button. The Internet Explorer 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 computer for the changes to take effect.
Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove BetterAds redirect
Once the ad-supported software is started, it can also alter the web browser’s shortcuts, adding an argument such as “http://site.address” into the Target field. Due to this, every time you start the browser, it will be rerouted to an unwanted advertisements.
To clear the internet 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 internet browsers, as they may be infected too.
Get rid of unwanted Scheduled Tasks
If the unwanted BetterAds web page opens automatically on Windows startup or at equal time intervals, then you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and remove all the tasks that have been created by malicious applications.
Press Windows and R keys on the keyboard at the same time. This opens a prompt that called 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 below.
Task scheduler
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, click the Actions tab. Pay attention to that it launches on your machine. Found something like “explorer.exe http://site.address” or “chrome.exe http://site.address”, then you need remove it. If you are not sure that executes the task, check it through a search engine. If it’s a component of the malicious application, then this task also should be removed.
Having defined the task that you want to delete, then press on it with the right mouse button and select Delete like below.
Delete a task
Repeat this step, if you have found a few tasks that have been created by ‘ad-supported’ applications. Once is done, close the Task Scheduler window.
Remove BetterAds ads automatically
You can remove BetterAds ads automatically with a help of Malwarebytes Free. We recommend this free malware removal tool because it can easily remove ‘ad supported’ software, browser hijackers, potentially unwanted applications and toolbars with all their components such as files, folders and registry entries.
Download Malwarebytes Free on your system by clicking on the link below. Save it on your Desktop.
326464 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” prompt pops up like below, click the Yes button.
It will show the “Setup wizard” that will help you install Malwarebytes on the PC. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
When the installation is finished successfully, click Finish button. Then Malwarebytes will automatically start and you can see its main window like below.
Next, click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan for the malware and ad-supported software that cause the BetterAds ads. When a threat is found, the number of the detected objects will change accordingly. Wait until the the scanning is complete. Please be patient.
Once the scan is finished, you can check all threats detected on your computer. Make sure all entries have “checkmark” and click “Quarantine Selected” button.
The Malwarebytes will start removing malware and ad supported software which cause BetterAds ads. When the disinfection is complete, you may be prompted to reboot your computer. I recommend you look at the following video, which completely explains the procedure of using the Malwarebytes to remove ad-supported software and other dangerous software.
Stop BetterAds ads and other unwanted web-pages
To increase your security and protect your computer against new annoying ads and malicious sites, you need to use program that stops access to dangerous advertisements and web pages. Moreover, the program can stop the show of intrusive advertising, which also leads to faster loading of pages and reduce the consumption of web traffic.
Download AdGuard program from the following link.
26659 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
When downloading is finished, start the file named adguardInstaller. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as shown on the image below.
Follow the prompts. When the install is finished, you will see a window as on the image 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 that 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 personal computer, AdGuard will start automatically and stop popup ads, pages such as BetterAds, as well as other dangerous or misleading web-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, that is located on your Windows desktop.
Scan your system and remove BetterAds advertisements with AdwCleaner.
This removal application is free and easy to use. It can scan and remove ad-supported software, browser hijackers, malware and unwanted toolbars in Chrome, FF, Microsoft Internet Explorer and MS Edge web-browsers and thereby restore back their default settings (homepage, new tab and default search engine). AdwCleaner is powerful enough to find and remove malicious registry entries and files that are hidden on the computer.
Download AdwCleaner utility from the link below. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.
225301 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024
After downloading is finished, open the file location and double-click the AdwCleaner icon. It will start the AdwCleaner tool and you will see a screen like below. If the User Account Control prompt will ask you want to display the program, click Yes button to continue.
Now, click the “Scan” to perform a system scan for the ad supported software that cause a redirect to BetterAds ads.
Once the checking is done, it will show a list of all items detected by this utility as shown on the image below.
You need to press “Clean” button. It will open a prompt, press “OK” to start the cleaning procedure. When the clean up is finished, 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
Once you have done the guide above, your computer should be free from malware and ad supported software. The FF, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and MS Edge will no longer display BetterAds annoying advertisements or redirect you to unwanted pages. Unfortunately, if the steps does not help you, then you have caught a new type of ad-supported software, and then the best way – ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.
