Have you become that your web browser randomly shows Microsoft Attention pop-up offering download an questionable software? It is a sign that an ‘ad-supported’ software (also known as adware) gets installed onto your PC system. The ‘ad supported’ software is a part of malicious software that made to show a large number of unwanted pop up ads including misleading advertising such as these Microsoft Attention alerts.
We suggest you to follow the instructions below ASAP. It will clear your PC from ad supported software that generates lots of pop up ads in the browser and thereby remove Microsoft Attention pop-up scam.
While your computer is affected by the adware, the Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Microsoft Internet Explorer may be rerouted to Microsoft Attention intrusive page. Of course, the ad-supported software may not cause damages to your files or Windows system, but it may open a large number of annoying advertisements. The advertisements will appear on all sites, including sites where previously you have never seen any ads.
The ad supported software often alter all web-browser shortcuts that located on your Desktop to force you visit certain intrusive ad web pages. As a result, your web browser can still redirect you to the Microsoft Attention misleading web-page despite your computer is actually clean of adware and other malware.
The tutorial below explaining steps to get rid of Microsoft Attention pop-up scam problem. Feel free to use it for removal of the adware that may attack Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge and other popular web browsers. The few simple steps will help you remove ‘ad supported’ software and thereby clean your browser from all undesired ads.
Remove Microsoft Attention popup
There are several steps to deleting the ‘ad supported’ software which cause misleading Microsoft Attention pop up scam to appear, because it installs itself so deeply into MS Windows. You need to delete all suspicious and unknown applications, then delete harmful plugins from the Chrome, FF, IE and Edge and other browsers you have installed. Finally, you need to reset your browser settings to remove any changes the ad-supported software has made, and then check your machine with Zemana, MalwareBytes or AdwCleaner to ensure the ad supported software is fully removed. It will take a while.
Delete Microsoft Attention pop up without any tools
Read this “How to remove” section to know how to manually delete adware that designed to display misleading Microsoft Attention popup within your web-browser. Even if the step-by-step guide does not work for you, there are several free malicious software removers below that can easily handle such ad supported software that causes multiple misleading Microsoft Attention alerts and pop-ups.
Uninstall ‘ad supported’ software through the Windows Control Panel
Some of PUPs, ‘ad supported’ software and hijackers can be deleted using the Add/Remove programs tool that is located in the MS Windows Control Panel. So, if you’re using any version of MS Windows and you have noticed an unwanted program, then first try to delete it through Add/Remove programs.
- 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 display a list of all software installed on the computer.
- Scroll through the all list, and uninstall suspicious and unknown applications. To quickly find the latest installed applications, we recommend sort applications by date.
See more details in the video tutorial below.
Clean up the web-browsers shortcuts that have been hijacked by adware
After installed, this adware may add an argument similar to “http://site.address” into the Target property of the desktop shortcut for the Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer. Due to this, every time you run the web browser, it will display the Microsoft Attention misleading web-site.
Right click to a desktop shortcut for your web-browser. Choose the “Properties” option. It will open the Properties window. Select the “Shortcut” tab here, after that, look at the “Target” field. The ad-supported software can rewrite it. If you are seeing something similar to “…exe http://site.address” then you need to remove “http…” and leave only, depending on the web-browser you are using:
- Google Chrome: chrome.exe
- Opera: opera.exe
- Firefox: firefox.exe
- Internet Explorer: iexplore.exe
Look at the example as on the image below.
Once is done, press the “OK” button to save the changes. Please repeat this step for browser shortcuts which redirects to the Microsoft Attention site. When you have completed, go to next step.
Remove Microsoft Attention from Firefox by resetting browser settings
Resetting your Firefox is basic troubleshooting step for any issues with your web-browser application, including the redirect to Microsoft Attention web page.
Press the Menu button (looks like three horizontal lines), and click the blue Help icon located at the bottom of the drop down menu as on the image below.
A small menu will appear, press the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, press “Refresh Firefox” button as on the image below.
Follow the onscreen procedure to restore your FF internet browser settings to its original state.
Remove Microsoft Attention popup from Microsoft Internet Explorer
The Internet Explorer reset is great if your internet browser is hijacked or you have unwanted addo-ons or toolbars on your browser, that installed by an malware.
First, launch the Internet Explorer, click ) button. Next, press “Internet Options” like below.
In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, press Reset button. The Internet Explorer will display the Reset Internet Explorer settings prompt. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and click Reset button.
You will now need to reboot your computer for the changes to take effect. It will delete adware which causes misleading Microsoft Attention popup alert on your internet browser, disable malicious and ad-supported web browser’s extensions and restore the Internet Explorer’s settings such as newtab page, startpage and search provider by default to default state.
Remove Microsoft Attention pop-up from Google Chrome
Reset Google Chrome settings is a easy way to remove the browser hijackers, harmful and ‘ad-supported’ extensions, as well as to recover the web browser’s startpage, newtab page and default search provider that have been replaced by adware which causes misleading Microsoft Attention pop up on your web-browser.
- First launch the Google Chrome and click Menu button (small button in the form of three horizontal stripes).
- It will open the Google 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 Chrome will open the reset profile settings page as shown on the screen above.
- Next click the “Reset” button.
- Once this task is finished, your internet browser’s new tab page, homepage and search provider by default will be restored to their original defaults.
- To learn more, read the blog post How to reset Chrome settings to default.
Delete 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 run your PC, it will display Microsoft Attention annoying site. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and remove all harmful tasks which have been created by ‘ad-supported’ programs.
Press Windows and R keys on the keyboard at the same time. This displays 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, click “Task Scheduler Library”, as displayed on the screen below.
In the middle part you will see a list of installed tasks. Please select the first task, its properties will be show just below automatically. Next, click the Actions tab. Pay attention to that it launches on your computer. Found something like “explorer.exe http://site.address” or “chrome.exe http://site.address”, then delete this malicious task. If you are not sure that executes the task, check it through a search engine. If it is a component of the adware, then this task also should be removed.
Having defined the task that you want to remove, then click on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as shown below.
Repeat this step, if you have found a few tasks which have been created by unwanted applications. Once is finished, close the Task Scheduler window.
How to automatically remove Microsoft Attention pop up
After completing the manual removal steps above all unwanted software, malicious browser’s addons and ad-supported software which shows misleading Microsoft Attention pop up scam on your PC system should be removed. If the problem with Microsoft Attention popup is still remained, then we suggest to scan your personal computer for any remaining malicious components. Run recommended free ‘ad supported’ software removal applications below.
How to get rid of Microsoft Attention popup scam with Zemana Anti-malware
Zemana Anti-malware highly recommended, because it can find security threats such ‘ad supported’ software and ‘ad supported’ softwares which most ‘classic’ antivirus applications fail to pick up on. Moreover, if you have any Microsoft Attention pop up removal problems which cannot be fixed by this utility automatically, then Zemana Anti-malware provides 24X7 online assistance from the highly experienced support staff.
Download Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) on your machine by clicking on the following link.
164113 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
After downloading is finished, close all programs and windows on your machine. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup as displayed below.
When the installation begins, you will see the “Setup wizard” that will help you setup Zemana Free on your computer.
Once installation is done, you will see window as shown on the screen below.
Now click the “Scan” button . Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) utility will start scanning the whole system to find out adware that causes misleading Microsoft Attention pop up on your web-browser. Depending on your personal computer, the scan may take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. While the Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) tool is scanning, you may see count of objects it has identified as being affected by malware.
Once Zemana AntiMalware has finished scanning, Zemana will display a list of detected threats. Next, you need to click “Next” button.
The Zemana will remove ad supported software that causes web browsers to display misleading Microsoft Attention pop-up scam.
How to automatically get rid of Microsoft Attention with Malwarebytes
Manual Microsoft Attention popup removal requires some computer skills. Some files and registry entries that created by the adware can be not completely removed. We advise that run the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your system of ‘ad supported’ software. Moreover, the free program will help you to remove malicious software, PUPs, hijackers and toolbars that your PC can be infected too.
- Download MalwareBytes AntiMalware from the following link and save it directly to your Microsoft Windows Desktop.
Malwarebytes Anti-malware
326464 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
- Once the downloading process is done, close all applications and windows on your personal computer. Open a file location. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
- Further, click Next button and follow the prompts.
- Once install is done, press the “Scan Now” button .MalwareBytes application will scan through the whole personal computer for the ad-supported software which shows misleading Microsoft Attention pop up scam on your system. A scan may take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the count of files on your system and the speed of your PC. During the scan MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) will detect all threats exist on your computer.
- Once the checking is done, you can check all items found on your personal computer. You may move threats to Quarantine (all selected by default) by simply press “Quarantine Selected”. Once the clean-up is finished, you may be prompted to reboot your computer.
The following video offers a steps on how to delete browser hijackers, ‘ad supported’ software and other malicious software with MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM).
Scan and clean your computer of ad supported software with AdwCleaner
AdwCleaner is a free removal utility that can be downloaded and run to remove ad supported software that causes multiple misleading Microsoft Attention alerts and popups, browser hijackers, malware, PUPs, toolbars and other threats from your PC system. You can use this utility to detect threats even if you have an antivirus or any other security program.
Download AdwCleaner tool by clicking on the following link. Save it on your Desktop.
225301 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024
After the download is finished, open the file location and double-click the AdwCleaner icon. It will start the AdwCleaner utility and you will see a screen as shown in the figure below. If the User Account Control prompt will ask you want to run the program, click Yes button to continue.
Next, click “Scan” .AdwCleaner program will scan through the whole PC for the ad-supported software that cause misleading Microsoft Attention pop-up to appear. Depending on your PC system, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. While the AdwCleaner program is checking, you can see number of objects it has identified as threat.
After finished, AdwCleaner will show a list of detected items as shown on the image below.
Review the report and then press “Clean” button. It will open a dialog box. Click “OK” button. The AdwCleaner will remove ad-supported software that causes multiple misleading Microsoft Attention alerts and popups and move threats to the program’s quarantine. Once that process is done, the tool may ask you to reboot your computer. After reboot, the AdwCleaner will open the log file.
All the above steps are shown in detail in the following video instructions.
Run AdBlocker to stop Microsoft Attention and stay safe online
Running an ad-blocker application like AdGuard is an effective way to alleviate the risks. Additionally, adblocker software will also protect you from harmful advertisements and web sites, and, of course, stop redirection chain to Microsoft Attention and similar web pages.
- Download AdGuard program on your machine from the link below.
Adguard download
26659 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- After the downloading process is finished, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
- When the installation is finished, press “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which 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 personal computer, AdGuard will start automatically and stop popup ads, Microsoft Attention alerts, 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 icon named AdGuard, that is located on your desktop.
How does your computer get infected with Microsoft Attention pop up error
These days some free applications developers bundle additional applications which could be PUPs like this ‘ad supported’ software, with a view to making some money. These are not freeware as install an unwanted applications on to your Microsoft Windows PC system. So whenever you install a new free program that downloaded from the World Wide Web, be very careful during install. Carefully read the EULA (a text with I ACCEPT/I DECLINE button), select custom or manual install method, uncheck all additional applications.
Finish words
Once you have finished the steps above, your PC system should be clean from this adware and other malware. The Google Chrome, IE, Firefox and Edge will no longer open undesired Microsoft Attention web site when you surf the Internet. Unfortunately, if the step by step instructions does not help you, then you have caught a new adware, and then the best way – ask for help.
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 undesired Microsoft Attention pop up scam.