How to remove Great Hippo ads [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

The very appearance pop-up ads signed with Great Hippo, “Ad by Great Hippo” or “Powered by Great Hippo” is a classic sign of adware (also known as ‘ad-supported’ software) which installed on your computer. Moreover, the adware can lead to the internet browser freezing/crash, delays when starting a new web-browser window or delays when viewing a page on the Internet. I think you definitely want to solve this problem. For this purpose, necessity to perform cleanup of your computer. Follow the instructions below that will allow you to get rid of Great Hippo ads and clean your personal computer from the ad-supported software using the standard features of Windows and some proven free programs.

Most often, the ad-supported software affects the most common internet browsers like the Chrome, IE, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge. But such the harmful software as well may infect another browsers by changing its shortcuts (adding an argument like ‘http://site.address’ into Target field of a browser’s shortcut). So every time you launch the browser, it will redirect to the unwanted ad webpages. Even if you setup a new startpage, an annoying page will be the first thing you see when you run the Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Edge.

The adware may insert tons of ads directly to the pages that you visit, creating a sense that the advertising banners has been added by the creators of the site. Moreover, a legal advertisements may be replaced on the fake advertisements, that will offer to download and install various unnecessary and harmful programs. Moreover, the adware has the ability to collect a huge number of personal information about you (your ip address, what is a web page you are viewing now, what you are looking for on the Net, which links you are clicking), which can later transfer to third parties.

We suggest you to remove ad-supported software and clean your computer from Great Hippo pop-up ads ASAP, until the presence of the adware has not led to even worse consequences. You need to follow the steps below that will allow you to completely delete the ads by Great Hippo adware, using only the built-in Windows features and a few of specialized free tools.

How did Great Hippo pop-up ads get on your system

The ‘ad supported’ software spreads with a simple but quite effective way. It’s integrated into the install package of various freeware. Thus on the process of installation, it will infect your web-browser. To avoid ad supported software infection, you just need to follow a few simple rules: carefully read the ‘Terms of Use’ and the ‘License’, select only a Manual, Custom or Advanced setup mode, which enables you to make sure that the application you want to install, thereby protect your system from the malicious software such as this ad supported software that opens the Great Hippo ads.

How to manually remove Great Hippo ads

This few simple steps will allow you get rid of Great Hippo pop-up ads. These adware removal steps work for the Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge, as well as every version of Windows operating system. Some of the steps may require you to close the browser or restart your PC. So, bookmark or print it for later reference.

1. Uninstall suspicious and unknown programs by using Windows Control Panel
2. Delete Great Hippo ads from Google Chrome
3. Get rid of Great Hippo pop-ups from Mozilla Firefox
4. Delete Great Hippo advertisements from Microsoft Internet Explorer
5. Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove Great Hippo redirects
6. Remove unwanted Scheduled Tasks

Uninstall suspicious and unknown programs by using Windows Control Panel

We recommend that you start the PC cleaning process by checking the list of installed programs and delete all unknown or suspicious programs. This is a very important step, as mentioned above, very often the malicious software such as adware and browser hijackers may be bundled with free applications. Delete the unwanted programs may remove the annoying advertisements or browser redirect to unknown or unwanted web-sites.

It’ll display the Windows Control Panel as shown on the screen below.

Next, click “Uninstall a program”
It will display a list of all applications. Scroll through the all list, and remove any suspicious and unknown programs. To quickly find the latest installed programs, we recommend sort software by date of installation in the Control panel.

Delete Great Hippo ads from Google Chrome

Open the Google Chrome menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It opens the drop-down menu. Next, press 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, as shown in the figure below and click the “Reset settings” button.

Confirm your action, press the “Reset” button.

Get rid of Great Hippo pop-ups from Mozilla Firefox

If the FF settings have been modified by the adware, then resetting it to the default state can help you to remove all unwanted ads signed with Great Hippo.

First, start the Firefox and press button. It will show the drop-down menu on the right-part of the web-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 browser address bar and press Enter. It will display the “Troubleshooting Information” page as shown on the image below. In the upper-right corner of this screen, click the “Refresh Firefox” button.

It will display the confirmation dialog box, click the “Refresh Firefox” button. The Firefox will start a task to fix your problems that caused by the ad supported software. Once it’s finished, click the “Finish” button

Delete Great Hippo advertisements from Microsoft Internet Explorer

First, run the IE, then click button. Next, click “Internet Options” as shown in the figure below.

In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, click the “Reset” button. The Internet Explorer will show the “Reset Internet Explorer” settings dialog box. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and click Reset button.

You will now need to reboot your computer for the changes to take effect. It will restore the IE’s settings like home page, newtab page and search provider by default to default state, disable ad-supported web-browser’s extensions and thereby remove all annoying Great Hippo ads.

Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove Great Hippo redirects

Once the ‘ad supported’ software is started, it can also change the browser’s shortcuts, adding an argument similar “http://site.address” into the Target field. Due to this, every time you open 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 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.

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 PC system, it will display an annoying ad site. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and remove all tasks that have been created by malicious program.

Press Windows and R keys on your keyboard simultaneously. It will open a dialog box which titled as 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 shown 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, 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 delete this task. If you are not sure that executes the task, then google it. If it’s a component of the unwanted applications, 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 program. Once is finished, close the Task Scheduler window.

How to remove Great Hippo ads with free malware remover

Remove Great Hippo adware manually is difficult and often the ad supported software is not completely removed. Therefore, we recommend you to use the Malwarebytes Free which are completely clean your computer. Moreover, the free program will help you to delete malware, browser hijacker and toolbars that your computer may be infected too.

1. Download Malwarebytes by clicking on the link below.
   
   

   Malwarebytes Anti-malware
   326464 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: April 15, 2020
   
2. Close all programs and windows on your computer. Open the directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
3. This will launch the installation of Malwarebytes. Next, press Next button and follow the prompts.
4. When installation is done, press on the “Scan Now” button . This will begin scanning the whole computer to find out ad-supported software which opens lots of unwanted Great Hippo ads within your web browser. This process can take some time, so please be patient.
5. When it has finished scanning, make sure all entries have “checkmark” and click “Quarantine Selected”. When the disinfection is finished, you may be prompted to reboot your machine.

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

How to block Great Hippo ads

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

1. Download AdGuard program by clicking on the following link.
   

   Adguard download
   26659 downloads
   Version: 6.4
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: November 15, 2018
   
2. When the download is finished, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” window. Follow the prompts.
3. When the installation is complete, press “Skip” to close it and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see a quick tutorial which will help you get to know AdGuard better.
4. In most cases, the default settings are enough and you do not need to change anything. Each time, when you run your personal computer, AdGuard will launch automatically and stop pop-up ads, Great Hippo ads, as well as other malicious or misleading 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, which is located on your Windows desktop.

Scan your machine and delete Great Hippo 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, Internet Explorer and Edge web-browsers and thereby restore back their default settings (home page, newtab page and search provider by default). AdwCleaner is powerful enough to find and delete malicious registry entries and files that are hidden on the computer.

Download AdwCleaner utility by clicking on 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 run the AdwCleaner utility and you will see a screen as on the image below. If the User Account Control prompt will ask you want to show the program, press Yes button to continue.

Now, press the “Scan” to begin scanning your personal computer for the ‘ad supported’ software which opens the Great Hippo advertisements.

Once the scanning is complete, it will display a list of all items detected by this utility as shown on the image below.

You need to click “Clean” button. It will show a prompt, press “OK” to begin the cleaning process. Once the cleaning procedure is finished, the AdwCleaner may ask you to restart your personal computer. After restart, the AdwCleaner will display the log file.

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

Finish words

Now your PC system should be clean of the Great Hippo pop-up ads. Remove AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted pop-up ads and annoying dangerous web-pages) 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 applications and ‘ad supported’ software are released.

If you are still having problems while trying to delete Ads by Great Hippo adware from your personal computer, then ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.