If you have ever seen the Shield Defense web-page appear in your browser, then it’s a sign that unwanted software from the browser hijacker family get installed on your computer. The hijacker problem is, no doubt, a quite annoying issue for you and other active Net users last days. The browser hijacker is made to modify your web browser start page, new tab page and default search engine, set up the Shield Defense page as the startpage and default search provider and cause redirections via this web-site. The detailed removal guidance below will allow you remove the Shield Defense and protect your computer from other unwanted software.
The Shield Defense browser hijacker infection will alter your browser’s search provider so that all searches are sent via Shield Defense, which redirects to Bing, Yahoo or Google Custom Search engine which shows the search results for your query. The makers of this hijacker infection are utilizing legitimate search engine as they may earn money from the advertisements which are shown in the search results.
Also, adware (also known as ‘ad-supported’ software) can be installed on the PC system together with Shield Defense hijacker. It will insert a huge number of advertisements directly to the web sites that you view, creating a sense that advertisements has been added by the developers of the page. Moreover, legal advertisements may be replaced on fake ads that will offer to download and install various unnecessary and harmful programs. Moreover, the Shield Defense browser hijacker infection has the ability to gather lots of your data that may be later sold to third parties.
The hijacker such as Shield Defense often alter all web browser shortcuts that located on your Desktop to force you visit various intrusive pages and show annoying pop-ups. As a result, your web browser can still redirect you to an annoying web site despite your internet browser is actually free of browser hijacker infection.
Therefore it’s very important to free your PC of browser hijacker as soon as possible. Follow the instructions below to remove Shield Defense homepage, as well as other malware and adware, which can be installed onto your computer along with it.
How to remove Shield Defense homepage
In the step-by-step guidance below we will have a look at the browser hijacker and how to get rid of Shield Defense from Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and MS Edge web-browsers for Windows OS, natively or by using a few free removal tools. Read it once, after doing so, please print this page as you may need to exit your internet browser or reboot your PC system.
How to manually remove Shield Defense
The tutorial will help you delete Shield Defense homepage. These Shield Defense removal steps work for the FF, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and MS Edge, as well as every version of Microsoft Windows operating system.
Uninstall Shield Defense related software through the Control Panel of your computer
Some potentially unwanted applications, browser hijacking applications and ad supported software can be removed by uninstalling the freeware they came with. If this way does not succeed, then looking them up in the list of installed applications in MS Windows Control Panel. Use the “Uninstall” command in order to get rid of them.
- If you are using Windows 8, 8.1 or 10 then click Windows button, next press Search. Type “Control panel”and press Enter.
- If you are using Windows XP, Vista, 7, then press “Start” button and click “Control Panel”.
- It will show the Windows Control Panel.
- Further, click “Uninstall a program” under Programs category.
- It will show a list of all applications installed on the machine.
- Scroll through the all list, and uninstall suspicious and unknown applications. To quickly find the latest installed programs, we recommend sort applications by date.
See more details in the video tutorial below.
Remove Shield Defense from Google Chrome
Use the Reset browser tool of the Google Chrome to reset all its settings such as homepage, newtab page and default search provider to original defaults. This is a very useful tool to use, in the case of browser hijacks like Shield Defense.
- First, launch the Chrome and click the Menu icon (icon in the form of three horizontal stripes).
- It will show the Chrome main menu, click the “Settings” menu.
- Next, click “Show advanced settings” link, which located at the bottom of the Settings page.
- On the bottom of the “Advanced settings” page, click the “Reset settings” button.
- The Google Chrome will open the reset settings prompt as on the image above.
- Confirm the internet browser’s reset by clicking on the “Reset” button.
- To learn more, read the blog post How to reset Chrome settings to default.
Delete Shield Defense start page from Internet Explorer
If you find that IE browser settings like home page, newtab page and default search engine having been hijacked, then you may return your settings, via the reset browser procedure.
First, open the IE, press 
) button. Next, click “Internet Options” as displayed on the image below.
In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, press Reset button. The Internet Explorer will show the Reset Internet Explorer settings dialog box. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and press Reset button.
You will now need to reboot your computer for the changes to take effect. It will remove hijacker infection which created to reroute your internet browser to the Shield Defense web site, disable malicious and ad-supported internet browser’s extensions and restore the Internet Explorer’s settings like newtab page, homepage and search provider by default to default state.
Delete Shield Defense from Mozilla Firefox by resetting browser settings
First, open the Firefox. Next, press the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (
). It will open the drop-down menu. Next, click the Help button (
).
In the Help menu press the “Troubleshooting Information”. In the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page press on “Refresh Firefox” button as on the image below.
Confirm your action, click the “Refresh Firefox”.
Fix web-browser shortcuts, altered by Shield Defense hijacker infection
Now you need to clean up the web browser shortcuts. Check that the shortcut referring to the right exe-file of the web browser, and not on any unknown file.
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 similar to “http://site.address” that has been added here. You need to delete it.
When the text is removed, press the OK button. You need to clean all shortcuts of all your internet browsers, as they may be infected too.
How to get rid of Shield Defense search with free software
Use malicious software removal tools to get rid of Shield Defense automatically. The free software tools specially developed for hijacker infection, adware and other potentially unwanted software removal. These tools can remove most of browser hijacker from Chrome, IE, FF and Edge. Moreover, it may remove all components of Shield Defense from Windows registry and system drives.
Automatically get rid of Shield Defense startpage with Zemana Free
Zemana highly recommended, because it can scan for security threats such ad supported software and hijackers which most ‘classic’ antivirus applications fail to pick up on. Moreover, if you have any Shield Defense hijacker removal problems which cannot be fixed by this utility automatically, then Zemana Anti Malware provides 24X7 online assistance from the highly experienced support staff.
- Please download Zemana Free by clicking on the following link. Save it on your MS Windows desktop.
Zemana AntiMalware
159607 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
- At the download page, click on the Download button. Your browser will show the “Save as” dialog box. Please save it onto your Windows desktop.
- After downloading is finished, please close all applications and open windows on your computer. Next, run a file named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup.
- This will launch the “Setup wizard” of Zemana Free onto your PC system. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
- When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the Zemana will launch and display the main window.
- Further, press the “Scan” button . Zemana utility will start scanning the whole PC system to find out hijacker infection which changes internet browser settings to replace your start page, new tab page and search engine by default with Shield Defense web-site. Depending on your system, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. While the Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) utility is scanning, you may see number of objects it has identified as being infected by malicious software.
- When the system scan is finished, a list of all items detected is produced.
- 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 the “Next” button. The utility will get rid of browser hijacker infection that causes internet browsers to open undesired Shield Defense web page. After the task is finished, you may be prompted to restart the computer.
- Close the Zemana and continue with the next step.
Scan and free your machine of hijacker with Malwarebytes
We suggest using the Malwarebytes Free which are completely clean your computer of the browser hijacker infection. The free utility is an advanced malicious software removal program made by (c) Malwarebytes lab. This program uses the world’s most popular antimalware technology. It is able to help you delete hijackers, potentially unwanted applications, malicious software, ad supported software, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your personal computer for free.
Download MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) from the following link. Save it on your Windows desktop or in any other place.
317804 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
Once the downloading process is finished, close all applications and windows on your computer. Double-click the install file named mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” prompt pops up as displayed in the figure below, click the “Yes” button.
It will open the “Setup wizard” which will help you setup MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) on your PC. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
Once install is finished successfully, press Finish button. MalwareBytes will automatically start and you can see its main screen as displayed on the screen below.
Now click the “Scan Now” button .MalwareBytes Free application will scan through the whole system for the browser hijacker that causes browsers to show intrusive Shield Defense site. Depending on your PC system, the scan may take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. When a malicious software, ad-supported software or PUPs are found, the number of the security threats will change accordingly.
When the scan is finished, MalwareBytes will show a screen which contains a list of malicious software that has been detected. Next, you need to click “Quarantine Selected” button. The MalwareBytes will start to remove Shield Defense hijacker and other web browser’s malicious add-ons. After that process is complete, you may be prompted to restart the system.
We advise you look at the following video, which completely explains the procedure of using the MalwareBytes Free to get rid of ad supported software, browser hijacker and other malicious software.
Double-check for potentially unwanted programs with AdwCleaner
If MalwareBytes anti malware or Zemana cannot remove this browser hijacker, then we recommends to use the AdwCleaner. AdwCleaner is a free removal tool for malware, adware, potentially unwanted software, toolbars as well as hijacker that reroutes your browser to intrusive Shield Defense web site.
Download AdwCleaner by clicking on the link below. Save it on your Microsoft Windows desktop.
220817 downloads
Version: 8.3.2
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 28, 2022
When downloading is finished, open the file location. You will see an icon like below.
Double click the AdwCleaner desktop icon. Once the tool is opened, you will see a screen as on the image below.
Further, click “Scan” button . AdwCleaner utility will start scanning the whole system to find out Shield Defense browser hijacker and other internet browser’s malicious add-ons. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your PC and the speed of your computer. After finished, you can check all threats detected on your PC system like below.
All found items will be marked. You can remove them all by simply press “Clean” button. It will display a dialog box as shown on the image below.
You need to press “OK”. When that process is finished, the AdwCleaner may ask you to restart your computer. When your computer is started, you will see an AdwCleaner log.
These steps are shown in detail in the following video guide.
Use AdBlocker to block Shield Defense and stay safe online
It is also critical to protect your web-browsers from malicious pages and ads by using an ad-blocking application like AdGuard. Security experts says that it will greatly reduce the risk of malware, and potentially save lots of money. Additionally, the AdGuard may also protect your privacy by blocking almost all trackers.
Download AdGuard program by clicking on the link below. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.
25680 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
When the downloading process is finished, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as shown on the screen below.
Follow the prompts. When the installation is finished, you will see a window as shown in the following example.
You can click “Skip” to close the install program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” button to see an 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 computer, AdGuard will start automatically and block pop-ups, web sites such Shield Defense, as well as other harmful or misleading web sites. 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 can be found on your desktop.
Prevent Shield Defense hijacker from installing
The majority of browser hijacker infections such as Shield Defense is bundled with free applications or even paid programs which Net users can easily download online. The installers of such software, most often, clearly show that they will install additional software. The option is given to users to stop the install of any third-party software. So, in order to avoid the setup of any browser hijacker infections: read all disclaimers and install screens very carefully, choose only Custom or Advanced installation method and uncheck all optional applications in which you are unsure.
To sum up
Now your machine should be free of the browser hijacker infection that cause a redirect to Shield Defense web site. Delete AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted advertisements and undesired harmful web sites) and Zemana (to periodically scan your personal computer for new malware, browser hijackers 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 hijacker infections, harmful applications and adware are released.
If you are still having problems while trying to remove Shield Defense startpage from your browser, then ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.
