How to remove start.controlsearchsettings.online pop-ups [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

The start.controlsearchsettings.online is a ad web page offering install an questionable browser extension. It pops up on personal computer that’s infected with adware (also known as ‘ad-supported’ software). The ad supported software is one of the most annoying type of malware floating around the Web: an attack generates a huge number of annoying pop-up ads within a user web browser’s screen. A lot of people have fallen victim to these kinds of attacks, looking the World Wide Web in hopes of finding instructions on how to delete annoying ads. Now, computer geeks and Myantispyware lab have teamed up to create the few simple steps that help users remove start.controlsearchsettings.online advertisements for free.

The ad supported software can change the settings of the Google Chrome, FF, IE and MS Edge, but often that a dangerous software such as this can also infect all types of web-browsers by changing their desktop shortcuts. Thus forcing the user each time launch the browser to see start.controlsearchsettings.online unwanted ads.

What is more, the adware may open ads depend on a web page that you are visiting. That is, it’s clear that this adware, without your permission, steals your private information such as: your ip address, what is a web page you are viewing now, what you are looking for on the Internet, which links you are clicking, and much, much more. The ad-supported software may monetize its functionality by collecting data from your browsing sessions and selling it to third party companies. This puts your personal information at a security risk.

We suggest you to remove adware and clean your PC system from start.controlsearchsettings.online 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 redirect to start.controlsearchsettings.online unwanted web page, using only the built-in Windows features and a few of specialized free tools.

How does start.controlsearchsettings.online pop-up ads get installed onto system

The adware actively distributed with free applications, as a part of the installer of the software. Therefore, it is very important, when installing an unknown software even downloaded from known or big hosting web-page, read the Terms of use and the Software license, as well as to choose the Manual, Advanced or Custom setup mode. In this mode, you can disable the installation of unneeded modules and applications and protect your computer from the ad-supported software infection. Unfortunately, most users when installing unknown programs, simply press Next button, and do not read any information that the free software displays them during its setup. This leads to the fact that the internet browser starts to show lots of the start.controlsearchsettings.online ads.

How to manually remove start.controlsearchsettings.online ads

The simple answer is right here on this page. We have put together simplicity and efficiency. It will assist you easily to clean your machine of adware. Moreover, you can select manual or automatic removal method. If you are familiar with the personal computer then use manual removal, otherwise use the free anti-malware tool designed specifically to delete ad supported software which causes annoying start.controlsearchsettings.online . Of course, you can combine both methods. Read this manual carefully, bookmark or print it, because you may need to close your web-browser or reboot your computer.

1. Remove suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel
2. Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to delete start.controlsearchsettings.online redirect
3. Get rid of start.controlsearchsettings.online pop-ups from Google Chrome
4. Remove start.controlsearchsettings.online ads from Firefox
5. Delete start.controlsearchsettings.online advertisements from Internet Explorer
6. Delete unwanted Scheduled Tasks

Remove suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel

We recommend that you begin the PC cleaning process by checking the list of installed software and uninstall all unknown or suspicious software. 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 software. Delete the unwanted programs may remove the annoying ads or web browser redirect to unknown or annoying sites.

It will show the Windows Control Panel as shown in the figure below.

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

Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to delete start.controlsearchsettings.online redirect

Once the ‘ad supported’ software is started, it can also alter the web-browser’s shortcuts, adding an argument similar “http://site.address” into the Target field. Due to this, every time you start the internet browser, it will be rerouted to an annoying ads.

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 that 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.

Get rid of start.controlsearchsettings.online pop-ups from Google Chrome

Reset Google Chrome settings is a simple way to get rid of the malicious and ad-supported extensions, as well as to restore the web browser’s homepage, new tab page and search engine by default that have been replaced by ‘ad supported’ software.

1. Open the Google Chrome, then click the Menu icon (icon in the form of three horizontal stripes).
2. It will open the Chrome main menu. Click the “Settings” menu.
3. Next, click the “Show advanced settings” link, that located at the bottom of the Settings page.
4. Further, press the “Reset settings” button, that located at the bottom of the Advanced settings page.
5. The Google Chrome will display the reset settings dialog box as shown on the image above.
6. Confirm the internet browser’s reset by clicking on the “Reset” button.
7. To learn more, look the blog post How to reset Google Chrome settings to default.

Remove start.controlsearchsettings.online ads from Firefox

If the Firefox settings have been modified by the adware, then resetting it to the default state can help you to delete the redirect onto start.controlsearchsettings.online web-page.

First, start the Mozilla Firefox and click button. It will display the drop-down menu on the right-part of the internet browser. Next, press the Help button () as shown 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 open the “Troubleshooting Information” page like below. In the upper-right corner of this screen, press the “Refresh Firefox” button.

It will display the confirmation prompt, click the “Refresh Firefox” button. The Firefox will begin a process to fix your problems that caused by the adware. When it’s complete, press the “Finish” button

Delete start.controlsearchsettings.online advertisements from Internet Explorer

To get rid of the start.controlsearchsettings.online you need to reset the IE to the state, that was when the Windows was installed on your computer.

First, start the Internet Explorer, then click ‘gear’ icon . It will show the drop-down menu on the right part of the web-browser, then press the “Internet Options” as shown below.

In the “Internet Options” screen, you need to select the “Advanced” tab and click the “Reset” button. The IE will show the “Reset IE settings” prompt as shown below. Next, press the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. After that, click the “Reset” button.

Once the procedure is finished, click “Close” button. Close the Microsoft Internet Explorer and reboot your PC for the changes to take effect. This step will help you to restore your web browser’s settings to default state and disable ‘ad-supported’ extensions.

Delete 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 start your PC system, it will display start.controlsearchsettings.online unwanted site. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and remove all tasks that have been created by unwanted programs.

Press Windows and R keys on your keyboard simultaneously. It will open a dialog box 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, 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 display 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 remove this task. If you are not sure that executes the task, then google it. If it’s a component of the unwanted programs, then this task also should be removed.

Further press on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as shown 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.

How to delete start.controlsearchsettings.online with free malware removal program

Manual removal start.controlsearchsettings.online pop-up ads 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 that are completely clean your computer. Moreover, the free programs will help you to delete malware, web browser hijackers and toolbars that your computer may be infected too.

1. Please download Malwarebytes to your desktop by clicking on the following link.
   
   

   Malwarebytes Anti-malware
   326464 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: April 15, 2020
   
2. At the download page, click the Download button. Your web-browser will open the “Save as” prompt. Please save it onto your desktop.
3. Once the download process is finished, please close all programs and open windows on your computer. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
4. This will start the Setup wizard of Malwarebytes onto your system. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
5. When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the malware remover will start and show the main window.
6. Further, click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan for the ad-supported software that redirects your browser to the start.controlsearchsettings.online annoying web site. This process can take quite a while, so please be patient.
7. Once the scanning is done, it will open a screen that contains a list of malicious applications that has been found.
8. When you are ready, click on “Quarantine Selected” button to start cleaning your personal computer. Once the task is finished, you may be prompted to reboot your computer.
9. Close the Anti-Malware and continue with the next step.

Video instruction, which reveals in detail the steps above.

Block start.controlsearchsettings.online advertisements and other annoying web sites

To increase your security and protect your personal computer against new unwanted ads and malicious web sites, you need to use program that stops access to harmful ads and web-sites. Moreover, the program 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 by clicking on the following link.

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

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

You can press “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 personal computer, AdGuard will launch automatically and stop ads, web-pages such as start.controlsearchsettings.online, as well as other harmful or misleading web-pages. 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 start.controlsearchsettings.online advertisements is still remained

If MalwareBytes cannot remove start.controlsearchsettings.online redirect, then we suggests to use the AdwCleaner. AdwCleaner is a free removal tool for adware, browser hijackers, PUPs, toolbars.

1. Download AdwCleaner from the link below.
   
   

   AdwCleaner download
   225301 downloads
   Version: 8.4.1
   Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: October 5, 2024
   
2. Double click the AdwCleaner icon. Once the utility is started the main screen will appear as shown on the image above.
3. Now, press the “Scan” button for scanning your machine for the adware which generates start.controlsearchsettings.online ads.
4. When it has finished scanning, AdwCleaner will show a scan report. Review the report and then click “Clean” button. It will open a prompt, click “OK” button.

The following video explains the few simple steps above on how to delete ad supported software with AdwCleaner.

Finish words

Now your machine should be free of the start.controlsearchsettings.online pop-ups. Remove AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted popup ads and unwanted malicious sites) and Malwarebytes (to periodically scan your personal computer for new malware and ad-supported software). Make sure that you have all the Critical Updates recommended for Windows OS. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new harmful software and ad-supported software are released.

If you are still having problems while trying to get rid of start.controlsearchsettings.online redirect from your computer, then ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.