Seeing random PCKeeper pop-up ads could mean you have some type of adware (sometimes called ‘ad-supported’ software) which installed on your computer. Moreover, the ‘ad supported’ software can lead to the web-browser freezing/crash, delays when starting a new internet browser window or delays when viewing a page on the Web. I think you definitely want to solve this problem. For this purpose, necessity to perform cleanup of your computer. Follow the step-by-step guide below that will allow you to remove PCKeeper ads and clean your personal computer from the ‘ad supported’ software using the standard features of Windows and some proven freeware.
The adware usually affects only the Mozilla Firefox, Chrome, IE and Edge by changing the web-browser’s settings or installing a dangerous extensions (addons). Moreover, possible situations, when any other browsers will be affected too. The adware will perform a scan of the system for web browser shortcuts and modify them without your permission. When it infects the web-browser shortcuts, it will add the argument like ‘http://site.address’ into Target property. So, each time you launch the web browser, you will see an annoying PCKeeper page.
The adware may insert tons of ads directly to the web-pages that you visit, creating a sense that the advertising banners has been added by the creators of the web-page. Moreover, a legal advertising links may be replaced on the fake advertisements, that will offer to download and install various unnecessary and harmful programs. Moreover, the ad-supported software has the ability to collect a large 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 recommend to remove the ‘ad supported’ software, which redirects your web browser on the PCKeeper annoying web site, as soon as you found this problem, as it can direct you to web-resources which may load other harmful software on your computer.
How did you get infected with PCKeeper advertisements
Most often, the adware gets on your PC system as a part of various free applications, as a bonus. Therefore it’s very important at the stage of installing programs downloaded from the Internet carefully review the ‘Terms of use’ and the ‘License agreement’, as well as to always select the Advanced, Custom or Manual installation mode. In this mode, you can turn off all unwanted add-ons, including an adware, which can be installed along with the desired program.
How to manually remove PCKeeper ads
This useful removal guide for the PCKeeper advertisements. The detailed procedure can be followed by anyone as it really does take you step-by-step. If you follow this process to remove PCKeeper pop-ups let us know how you managed by sending us your comments please.
- Uninstall suspicious and unknown applications by using Windows Control Panel
- Delete PCKeeper pop-ups from Google Chrome
- Get rid of PCKeeper pop-up ads from FF
- Remove PCKeeper pop-ups from Microsoft Internet Explorer
- Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to get rid of PCKeeper redirect
- Remove unwanted Scheduled Tasks
Uninstall suspicious and unknown applications by using Windows Control Panel
The best way to begin the system cleanup is to remove unknown and suspicious applications. Using the Windows Control Panel you can do this quickly and easily. This step, in spite of its simplicity, should not be ignored, because the removing of unneeded programs can clean up your web browser from pop-up ads, hijackers and so on.
- If you are using Windows 8, 8.1 or 10 then press Windows key, click Search. Type “Control panel”and press Enter.
- If you are using Windows XP, Vista, 7, then press “Start” button and click “Control Panel”.
- It’ll display the Windows Control Panel.
- Click “Uninstall a program” under Programs category.
- You will see a list of all installed applications.
- Scroll through the all list, and remove suspicious and unknown applications. To quickly find the latest installed programs, we recommend sort programs by date.
See more details in the video instructions below.
Delete PCKeeper pop-ups from Google Chrome
Reset Google Chrome settings is a easy way to remove the malware and ‘ad supported’ software, as well as to restore the web-browser’s settings that have been replaced by ‘ad supported’ software.
- Now start the Google Chrome and click Menu button (small button in the form of three horizontal stripes).
- It will show the Chrome main menu. Select “Settings” option.
- You will see the Chrome’s settings page. Scroll down and click “Show advanced settings” link.
- Scroll down again and click the “Reset settings” button.
- The Google Chrome will display the reset profile settings page as on the image above.
- Next, click the “Reset” button.
- Once this process is done, your internet browser’s settings will be restored to their original defaults. This will reset your home page, newtab page and search provider by default.
- To learn more, read the article How to reset Chrome settings to default.
Get rid of PCKeeper pop-up ads from FF
If the Mozilla Firefox settings have been modified by the ad-supported software, then resetting it to the default state can help you to delete the redirect onto PCKeeper page.
First, run the Firefox and click button. It will display the drop-down menu on the right-part of the web browser. Next, click the Help button () as shown on the screen 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 on the image below. In the upper-right corner of this screen, click the “Refresh Firefox” button.
It will show the confirmation dialog box, click the “Refresh Firefox” button. The FF will begin a task to fix your problems that caused by the adware. Once it’s finished, press the “Finish” button
Remove PCKeeper pop-ups from Microsoft Internet Explorer
To delete the PCKeeper you need to reset the Internet Explorer to the state, that was when the Windows was installed on your PC.
First, launch the IE, then click ‘gear’ icon . It will open the drop-down menu on the right part of the internet browser, then click the “Internet Options” as shown below.
In the “Internet Options” screen, you need to select the “Advanced” tab and click the “Reset” button. The Internet Explorer will show the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” dialog box like below. Next, press the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. After that, click the “Reset” button.
When the procedure is done, click “Close” button. Close the Microsoft Internet Explorer and restart your computer 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.
Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to get rid of PCKeeper redirect
Once the adware is started, it can also alter the 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 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 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.
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 open PCKeeper unwanted web site. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and delete all tasks that have been created by adware.
Press Windows and R keys on your keyboard together. It will show 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, press “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 display 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 remove this task. If you are not sure that executes the task, then google it. If it is a component of the malicious applications, then this task also should be removed.
Further click on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as shown on the screen below.
Repeat this step, if you have found a few tasks that have been created by ‘ad-supported’ program. Once is done, close the Task Scheduler window.
Remove PCKeeper ads with Malwarebytes
Delete PCKeeper pop-ups 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 system. The Malwarebytes is a reputable malware removal application. It can automatically detect and remove the adware (also known as ‘ad-supported’ software) of the your computer. Moreover, this free program will help you to delete internet browser hijackers, malware and toolbars that your personal computer may be infected too. You can follow the few simple steps below to remove the PCKeeper unwanted pop-up ads completely.
Download Malwarebytes Free by clicking on the link below.
326460 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
Once downloaded, close all programs and windows on your personal computer. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup like below.
When the install starts, you will see the “Setup wizard” which will help you install Malwarebytes on your machine.
Once installation is done, you will see window as on the image below.
Now click on the “Scan Now” button for scanning your computer for the adware that causes the redirect to PCKeeper page. This procedure can take some time, so please be patient.
When the system scan is finished, make sure all entries have “checkmark” and click “Quarantine Selected” button. The Malwarebytes will start removing the adware related files, folders, registry keys. When the disinfection is done, you may be prompted to reboot the computer.
The following video explains the guide above on how to remove adware with Malwarebytes Anti-malware.
How to stop PCKeeper pop-up ads
To increase your security and protect your machine against new unwanted ads and malicious web pages, you need to use an application that stops access to malicious advertisements and web-pages. Moreover, the application can block the open of intrusive advertising, that also leads to faster loading of sites and reduce the consumption of web traffic.
- Download AdGuard program by clicking on the following link.
Adguard download
26656 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- After the download is done, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” window. Follow the prompts.
- Once the setup is finished, press “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 system, AdGuard will launch automatically and stop pop-up ads, PCKeeper redirects, as well as other harmful or misleading web-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, that is located on your Windows desktop.
Scan your computer and delete PCKeeper with AdwCleaner.
This removal program is free and easy to use. It can scan and delete ‘ad supported’ software, browser hijackers, malware and unwanted toolbars in Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Edge browsers and thereby restore back their default settings (homepage, new tab page and search engine by default). AdwCleaner is powerful enough to find and remove malicious registry entries and files that are hidden on the PC system.
Download AdwCleaner utility from the link below. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.
225298 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024
When downloading is done, open the directory in which you saved it and double-click the AdwCleaner icon. It will start the AdwCleaner tool and you will see a screen as shown below. If the User Account Control prompt will ask you want to display the program, press Yes button to continue.
Now, click the “Scan” for scanning your PC for the ad supported software which cause a redirect to PCKeeper advertisements.
When it has finished scanning your personal computer, it will open a list of all items detected by this tool as shown below.
You need to click “Clean” button. It will display a dialog box, click “OK” to start the cleaning procedure. When the cleaning procedure is finished, the AdwCleaner may ask you to reboot your personal computer. After reboot, the AdwCleaner will display the log file.
All the above steps are shown in detail in the following video guide.
Finish words
Once you have complete the instructions above, your system should be clean from malware and ad-supported software. The FF, Chrome, Internet Explorer and MS Edge will no longer open PCKeeper unwanted pop-up ads or redirect you to unwanted web-pages. Unfortunately, if the steps does not help you, then you have caught a new type of adware, and then the best way – ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.