The a.targetserving.com is an ‘ad’ web-site. If this web site popping up in your web browser then it’s possible that your personal computer is infected with adware (also known as ‘ad-supported’ software). It is a type of harmful applications that designed to open lots of annoying ads. Unlike viruses, the ad supported software will not delete or infect your files, but its actions will cause some problems with your browser. This is because, it will infect your system, get full access to your web browsers like FF, Google Chrome, IE and MS Edge and be able to modify their settings. Of course, it did not ask you for permission and do it secretly as possible. Once your browser settings will be replaced, you will be redirected to unwanted ads, some of which can lead to dangerous or misleading sites. For this reason, we recommend that you begin the clean up of your machine ASAP and thereby remove a.targetserving.com popup ads.
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The adware usually affects only the Chrome, FF, IE and Edge by changing the browser’s settings or installing a harmful extensions (addons). Moreover, possible situations, when any other web browsers will be affected too. The ‘ad supported’ software will perform a scan of the computer for browser shortcuts and modify them without your permission. When it infects the web browser shortcuts, it’ll add the argument like ‘http://site.address’ into Target property. So, each time you start the internet browser, you will see an unwanted a.targetserving.com web page.
While your computer is infected with the adware, the Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Microsoft Internet Explorer may be rerouted to a.targetserving.com unwanted site. Of course, the adware may not cause damages to your files or Windows system, but it may display a large number of unwanted ads. These advertisements will be injected within the content of pages that are you opening in your web browser and can be varied: pop-up ads, in-text ads, different sized banners, offers to install an questionable software. The advertisements will appear on all pages, including web-pages where previously you have never seen any ads. In this case, when you open any web page, you may see in your web browser’s status bar the following messages: ‘Waiting for a.targetserving.com’, ‘Transferring data from a.targetserving.com’, ‘Looking up a.targetserving.com’, ‘Read a.targetserving.com’, ‘Connected to a.targetserving.com’.
Instructions, which is shown below, will allow you to clean your computer from the adware as well as remove a.targetserving.com unwanted popup ads from the Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Edge and other internet browsers.
How can you prevent the a.targetserving.com pop-up ads
The adware spreads along with various free programs, as a supplement, which is installed automatically. This is certainly not an honest way to get installed onto your computer. To avoid infecting of your machine and side effects in the form of the a.targetserving.com unwanted advertisements, you should always carefully read the ‘Terms of Use’ and the ‘Software license’. Additionally, always select Manual, Custom or Advanced installation mode. This allows you to disable the installation of unnecessary and often harmful software.
How to manually remove a.targetserving.com redirect
The simple answer is right here on this page. We have put together simplicity and efficiency. It will help you easily to clean your personal computer of ad-supported software. Moreover, you can choose manual or automatic removal method. If you are familiar with the system then use manual removal, otherwise use the free anti-malware utility designed specifically to get rid of adware which causes unwanted a.targetserving.com . 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 restart your personal computer.
- Delete suspicious and unknown applications by using Windows Control Panel
- Delete a.targetserving.com redirect from Google Chrome
- Remove a.targetserving.com from FF
- Remove a.targetserving.com redirect from Internet Explorer
- Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove a.targetserving.com redirect
- Get rid of unwanted Scheduled Tasks
Delete suspicious and unknown applications by using Windows Control Panel
First, you should try to identify and uninstall the program that causes the appearance of annoying advertisements and web-browser redirect to unwanted web-pages, 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 shown in the figure below.
When the ‘Control Panel’ opens, click the ‘Uninstall a program’ under Programs category like below.
You will see the ‘Uninstall a program’ panel as shown on the screen below.
Very carefully look around the entire list of installed programs. Most likely, one or more of them are responsible for the internet browser redirect to unwanted a.targetserving.com ads. If you have many programs installed, you can help simplify the search of malicious software by sort the list by date of installation. Once you have found a suspicious, unwanted or unused application, right click to it and press ‘Uninstall’.
Windows XP, Vista, 7
First, click ‘Start’ button and select ‘Control Panel’ at right panel as shown on the image 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 personal computer. We recommend to sort the list by date of installation to quickly find the programs that were installed last. Most likely they responsibility for the appearance of annoying 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 program, you need to delete, is found, simply click on its name, and then click ‘Uninstall’ as shown on the screen below.
Delete a.targetserving.com redirect 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, 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, as shown in the figure below and click the “Reset settings” button.
Confirm your action, press the “Reset” button.
Remove a.targetserving.com 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 redirect onto a.targetserving.com web-page.
First, start the Firefox and press button. It will display the drop-down menu on the right-part of the web browser. Next, click the Help button (
) as shown in the figure below.
In the Help menu, select the “Troubleshooting Information” option. Another way to open the “Troubleshooting Information” screen – type “about:support” in the internet browser address bar and press Enter. It will show the “Troubleshooting Information” page as on the image below. In the upper-right corner of this screen, click the “Refresh Firefox” button.
It will open the confirmation prompt, press the “Refresh Firefox” button. The FF will begin a procedure to fix your problems that caused by the ‘ad supported’ software. Once it is complete, click the “Finish” button
Remove a.targetserving.com redirect from Internet Explorer
First, start the Internet Explorer, then click 
button. Next, click “Internet Options” as shown below.
In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, press the “Reset” button. The IE will show the “Reset Internet Explorer” settings prompt. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and click Reset button.
You will now need to reboot your personal computer for the changes to take effect. It will restore the IE’s settings like startpage, new tab page and default search engine to default state, disable ad-supported web browser’s extensions and thereby get rid of the redirect to a.targetserving.com annoying page.
Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove a.targetserving.com redirect
When the ‘ad supported’ software is started, it can also change the web-browser’s shortcuts, adding an argument similar “http://site.address” into the Target field. Due to this, every time you open the 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 that starts 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 unwanted Scheduled Tasks
If the annoying a.targetserving.com web-site opens automatically on Windows startup or at equal time intervals, then you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and get rid of all the tasks that have been created by adware.
Press Windows and R keys on the keyboard at the same time. This shows 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 open just below automatically. Next, click the Actions tab. Pay attention to that it launches on your PC system. Found something like “explorer.exe http://site.address” or “chrome.exe http://site.address”, then you need get rid of it. If you are not sure that executes the task, check it through a search engine. If it’s a component of the ‘ad-supported’ program, then this task also should be removed.
Having defined the task that you want to remove, then press on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as shown in the figure below.
Delete a task
Repeat this step, if you have found a few tasks that have been created by ‘ad-supported’ application. Once is complete, close the Task Scheduler window.
How to remove a.targetserving.com advertisements with free malware remover
Remove a.targetserving.com ads manually is difficult and often the ad-supported software is not completely removed. Therefore, we recommend you to use the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your computer. Moreover, the free program will help you to remove malware, browser hijacker and toolbars that your computer may be infected too.
- Download Malwarebytes by clicking on the link below.
Malwarebytes Anti-malware
327064 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
- Close all applications and windows on your computer. Open the file location. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
- This will start the setup of Malwarebytes. Next, click Next button and follow the prompts.
- When installation is finished, click on the “Scan Now” button to start scanning your machine for the ad-supported software which redirects your web browser to the a.targetserving.com unwanted web page. This process can take some time, so please be patient.
- Once the system scan is complete, make sure all entries have “checkmark” and click “Quarantine Selected”. When the disinfection is complete, you may be prompted to restart your personal computer.
These steps above are shown in detail in the following video guide.
How to block a.targetserving.com redirect
To increase your security and protect your computer against new annoying advertisements and malicious sites, you need to use an application that stops access to malicious advertisements and web-pages. 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.
- Download AdGuard program by clicking on the following link.
Adguard download
26841 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- When the download is complete, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” window. Follow the prompts.
- When the setup is finished, click “Skip” to close it and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see a 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 PC, AdGuard will run automatically and stop ads, a.targetserving.com redirects, 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 a.targetserving.com redirect is still remained
If MalwareBytes cannot remove a.targetserving.com 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
225542 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024
- Double click the AdwCleaner icon. Once the tool is launched the main screen will appear as shown on the image above.
- Now, press the “Scan” button to perform a system scan for the ‘ad supported’ software that generates a.targetserving.com ads.
- When it has finished scanning your computer, AdwCleaner will show a scan report. Review the report and then press “Clean” button. It will show a prompt, click “OK” button.
The following video explains the guide above on how to delete ad-supported software with AdwCleaner.
Finish words
Once you have finished the steps shown above, your computer should be clean from malware and ad-supported software. The Mozilla Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer and MS Edge will no longer display a.targetserving.com unwanted popup ads and redirect you to unknown 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.
- Download HijackThis by clicking on the link below and save it to your Desktop.
HijackThis download
4894 downloads
Version: 2.0.5
Author: OpenSource
Category: Security tools
Update: November 7, 2015
- Double-click on the HijackThis icon. Next press “Do a system scan only” button.
- Once the system scan is finished, the scan button will read “Save log”, click it. Save this log to your desktop.
- Create a Myantispyware account here. Once you’ve registered, check your e-mail for a confirmation link, and confirm your account. After that, login.
- Copy and paste the contents of the HijackThis log into your post. If you are posting for the first time, please start a new thread by using the “New Topic” button in the Spyware Removal forum. When posting your HJT log, try to give us some details about your problems, so we can try to help you more accurately.
- Wait for one of our trained “Security Team” or Site Administrator to provide you with knowledgeable assistance tailored to your problem with the annoying a.targetserving.com redirect.
