How to remove TopSites Tab [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

We recommend you to remove TopSites Tab search and clean your PC of hijacker as soon as possible, until the presence of the browser hijacker has not led to even worse consequences. You need to perform the guide below that will assist you to completely remove TopSites Tab , using only the built-in Windows features and a few of specialized free tools.

How to remove TopSites Tab redirect

As with removing ‘ad supported’ software, malware or PUPs, there are few steps you can do. We suggest trying them all. If you do only one part of the guide, then it should be use malicious software removal tool, because it should get rid of hijacker and stop any further infection. But to completely delete the TopSites Tab you will have to at least reset your browser settings like startpage, new tab and search provider by default to default state, disinfect web-browsers shortcuts, remove all unwanted and suspicious programs, and delete browser hijacker infection with malware removal tools. Read it once, after doing so, please print this page as you may need to exit your web browser or reboot your PC.

How to manually remove TopSites Tab

Steps to get rid of TopSites Tab browser hijacker without any software are presented below. Be sure to carry out the step-by-step tutorial completely to fully remove this unwanted TopSites Tab startpage.

Uninstall suspicious and potentially unwanted programs using MS Windows Control Panel

The process of browser hijacker infection removal is generally the same across all versions of Windows OS from 10 to XP. To start with, it’s necessary to check the list of installed software on your computer and delete all unused, unknown and suspicious applications.

Carefully browse through the list of installed programs and get rid of all programs which has the name similar to the web site that has been set as your Chrome, IE, Firefox and Edge new tab, homepage and search provider by default. We suggest to click ‘Installed programs’ and even sorts all installed applications by date. After you have found anything suspicious that may be the hijacker, ad-supported software or PUPs, then select this application and press ‘Uninstall’ in the upper part of the window. If the suspicious program blocked from removal, then run Revo Uninstaller Freeware to fully get rid of it from your machine.

Fix infected web browsers shortcuts to remove TopSites Tab

A hijacker infection can hijack various Windows shortcuts on your desktop (most often, all internet browsers shortcuts), so in this step you need to check and clean them by removing the argument like http://site.address/.

Right click to a desktop shortcut for your browser. Choose the “Properties” option. It will open the Properties window. Select the “Shortcut” tab here, after that, look at the “Target” field. The hijacker can replace it. If you are seeing something like “…exe http://site.address” then you need to remove “http…” and leave only, depending on the browser you are using:

• Google Chrome: chrome.exe
• Opera: opera.exe
• Firefox: firefox.exe
• Internet Explorer: iexplore.exe

Look at the example as shown on the screen below.

Once is done, click the “OK” button to save the changes. Please repeat this step for web-browser shortcuts which redirects to an undesired web pages. When you have completed, go to next step.

Delete TopSites Tab redirect from IE

In order to restore all web browser home page, newtab page and default search engine you need to reset the Internet Explorer to the state, which was when the Microsoft Windows was installed on your machine.

First, run the Microsoft Internet Explorer. Next, click the button in the form of gear (). It will show the Tools drop-down menu, click the “Internet Options” as on the image below.

In the “Internet Options” window click on the Advanced tab, then click the Reset button. The IE will display the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” window as shown below. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box, then click “Reset” button.

You will now need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Delete TopSites Tab start page from Google Chrome

In order to be sure that there is nothing left behind, we recommend you to reset Google Chrome web browser. It will restore Chrome settings including newtab page, homepage and search engine by default to defaults.

First launch the Google Chrome. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It will show the main menu. Further, press the option named “Settings”. Another way to show the Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the browser adress bar and press Enter.

The browser will display the settings screen. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the “Show advanced settings” link. Now scroll down until the “Reset settings” section is visible, as shown below and click the “Reset settings” button.

The Google Chrome will display the confirmation prompt. You need to confirm your action, click the “Reset” button. The web-browser will run the task of cleaning. After it is complete, the web-browser’s settings including start page, new tab page and default search engine back to the values that have been when the Chrome was first installed on your machine.

Get rid of TopSites Tab home page from Mozilla Firefox

If your Firefox web-browser homepage has modified to TopSites Tab without your permission or an unknown search provider opens results for your search, then it may be time to perform the web browser reset.

Launch the Firefox and press the menu button (it looks like three stacked lines) at the top right of the internet browser screen. Next, click the question-mark icon at the bottom of the drop-down menu. It will open the slide-out menu.

Select the “Troubleshooting information”. If you are unable to access the Help menu, then type “about:support” in your address bar and press Enter. It bring up the “Troubleshooting Information” page as shown on the screen below.

Click the “Refresh Firefox” button at the top right of the Troubleshooting Information page. Select “Refresh Firefox” in the confirmation dialog box. The Mozilla Firefox will start a process to fix your problems that caused by the TopSites Tab hijacker. After, it’s finished, click the “Finish” button.

How to automatically delete TopSites Tab hijacker infection

In order to completely remove TopSites Tab, you not only need to uninstall it from the internet browsers, but also get rid of all its components in your personal computer including Windows registry entries. We recommend to download and use free removal utilities to automatically free your machine of TopSites Tab hijacker infection.

Remove TopSites Tab home page with Zemana Anti-malware

We recommend using the Zemana Anti-malware which are completely clean your computer of the browser hijacker infection. The utility is an advanced malware removal application developed by (c) Zemana lab. It is able to help you delete potentially unwanted software, hijacker infections, ‘ad supported’ software, malware, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your computer for free.

Now you can setup and run Zemana AntiMalware to remove TopSites Tab startpage from your browser by following the steps below:

Click the link below to download Zemana Anti Malware setup file called Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup on your computer.

Launch the installer after it has been downloaded successfully and then follow the prompts to install this tool on your computer.

During install you can change some settings, but we recommend you don’t make any changes to default settings.

When installation is finished, this malware removal tool will automatically start and update itself. You will see its main window as shown below.

Now press the “Scan” button to start scanning your machine for the browser hijacker infection that causes web browsers to show undesired TopSites Tab web site. Depending on your PC system, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. During the scan it’ll detect all threats exist on your personal computer.

Once the scanning is finished, you may check all threats found on your PC system. Review the report and then click “Next” button.

The Zemana Anti Malware will remove TopSites Tab browser hijacker and other kinds of potential threats such as malicious software and ad supported software and add items to the Quarantine. After the procedure is done, you can be prompted to reboot your PC to make the change take effect.

Scan and clean your computer of browser hijacker infection with Malwarebytes

We recommend using the Malwarebytes Free which are completely clean your computer of the browser hijacker. The free tool is an advanced malicious software removal program developed by (c) Malwarebytes lab. This application uses the world’s most popular anti malware technology. It is able to help you remove hijackers, PUPs, malicious software, ad supported software, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your PC system for free.

Download Malwarebytes Free on your computer by clicking on the link below. Save it on your desktop.

After downloading is complete, close all windows on your personal computer. Further, open the file called mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up as shown in the figure below, press the “Yes” button.

It will show the “Setup wizard” which will help you install Malwarebytes on the computer. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.

Once setup is done successfully, click Finish button. Then Malwarebytes will automatically start and you can see its main window as shown below.

Next, click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan with this utility for the hijacker infection which designed to redirect your web-browser to the TopSites Tab web page. While the program is scanning, you can see count of objects it has identified as threat.

As the scanning ends, it’ll display a scan report. Make sure all threats have ‘checkmark’ and click “Quarantine Selected” button.

The Malwarebytes will remove TopSites Tab hijacker and other kinds of potential threats such as malicious software and adware. Once the clean up is complete, you can be prompted to restart your computer. We suggest you look at the following video, which completely explains the process of using the Malwarebytes to delete browser hijacker infections, ‘ad supported’ software and other malware.

Use AdwCleaner to remove TopSites Tab from the personal computer

If MalwareBytes anti malware or Zemana anti-malware cannot remove this hijacker, then we suggests to use the AdwCleaner. AdwCleaner is a free removal utility for hijackers, ‘ad supported’ software, potentially unwanted applications and toolbars.

Download AdwCleaner from the link below.

Once the download is finished, open the folder in which you saved it. You will see an icon like below.

Double click the AdwCleaner desktop icon. When the tool is started, you will see a screen as on the image below.

Further, click “Scan” button to begin scanning your machine for the TopSites Tab browser hijacker and other malicious software and ‘ad supported’ software. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your PC and the speed of your PC system. Once it has finished scanning your computer, the results are displayed in the scan report as on the image below.

Review the results once the tool has finished the system scan. If you think an entry should not be quarantined, then uncheck it. Otherwise, simply click “Clean” button. It will open a dialog box as shown in the figure below.

You need to click “OK”. When finished, the AdwCleaner may ask you to restart your personal computer. When your personal computer is started, you will see an AdwCleaner log.

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

How to stop TopSites Tab redirect

By installing an ad-blocker application like AdbGuard, you are able to block TopSites Tab, autoplaying video ads and remove a large count of distracting and annoying ads on pages.

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

   Adguard download
   26883 downloads
   Version: 6.4
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: November 15, 2018
   
2. When the downloading process is finished, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
3. When the installation is finished, click “Skip” to close the setup application and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an 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 start your system, AdGuard will launch automatically and stop advertisements, TopSites Tab redirect, as well as other malicious 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 icon named AdGuard, which can be found on your desktop.

Tips to prevent TopSites Tab and other unwanted applications

The TopSites Tab hijacker usually spreads as a part of another program in the same install package. The risk of this is especially high for the various free applications downloaded from the Internet. The developers of the programs are hoping that users will run the quick installation mode, that is simply to press the Next button, without paying attention to the information on the screen and don’t carefully considering every step of the setup procedure. Thus, the hijacker can infiltrate your personal computer without your knowledge. Therefore, it is very important to read all the information that tells the program during setup, including the ‘Terms of Use’ and ‘Software license’. Use only the Manual, Custom or Advanced installation mode. This mode will allow you to disable all optional and unwanted applications and components.

To sum up

Now your PC should be clean of the TopSites Tab search. Delete AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep Malwarebytes (to periodically scan your PC for new malicious software, hijackers and adware) and AdGuard (to help you block undesired pop ups and malicious web-sites). Moreover, to prevent hijackers, please stay clear of unknown and third party applications, make sure that your antivirus program, turn on the option to detect PUPs (potentially unwanted programs).

If you need more help with TopSites Tab search related issues, go to our Spyware/Malware removal forum.