How to remove Winsecurity.online popup [Microsoft support scam]

The Winsecurity.online is a misleading web site that created in order to force into installing an questionable software or calling the fake Microsoft support. If your web-browser opens automatically to the Winsecurity.online then it is a sign that your web-browser is affected with the nasty ‘ad-supported’ software (also known as adware). This adware modifies the Chrome, Internet Explorer, FF and Microsoft Edge settings to show a ton of annoying pop ups on all sites, including web sites where previously you ads have never seen. These advertisements can be varied: pop-up windows, boxes, in-text ads, different sized banners and so on. What is more, the ad-supported software, that shows the Winsecurity.online popup advertisements, can cause your Internet connection to be slow or freeze your browser so that the interface is not updated anymore.

While your system is affected by the ‘ad supported’ software, the Google Chrome, IE, Firefox and MS Edge may be rerouted to Winsecurity.online undesired web-page. Of course, the adware may not cause damages to your files or Windows system, but it may show a lot of unwanted ads. These ads will be injected within the content of web sites that are you opening in your internet 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 web-sites, including web-sites where previously you have never seen any sponsored links.

Most often, the adware infects the most common web browsers such as the Google Chrome, FF, Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Internet Explorer. But such the harmful software as well may affect another browsers by changing its shortcuts (adding an argument such as ‘http://site.address’ into Target field of a web browser’s shortcut). So every time you run the browser, it will redirect to the annoying Winsecurity.online web-page. Even if you setup a new homepage, an intrusive web site will be the first thing you see when you start the Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and MS Edge.

It is important, do not use Winsecurity.online web page and do not click on advertisements placed on it, as they can lead you to a more harmful or misleading web-pages. The best option is to use the step by step guide posted below to free your system of ad supported software and thus delete Winsecurity.online popup.

Remove Winsecurity.online pop-up scam

There are several steps to removing the adware which made to show misleading Winsecurity.online pop up warnings within your internet browser, because it installs itself so deeply into Windows. You need to delete all suspicious and unknown programs, then get rid of harmful plugins from the Firefox, Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer and MS Edge and other internet browsers you have installed. Finally, you need to reset your internet browser settings to remove any changes the ad supported software has made, and then check your computer with Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM), MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) or AdwCleaner to ensure the ‘ad supported’ software is fully removed. It will take a while.

To remove Winsecurity.online, follow the steps below:

1. Manual Winsecurity.online pop-up removal
   • Deleting the Winsecurity.online, check the list of installed apps first
   • Fix infected web-browsers shortcuts to remove Winsecurity.online redirect
   • Remove Winsecurity.online popup scam from IE
   • Get rid of Winsecurity.online fake alerts from Mozilla Firefox
   • Remove Winsecurity.online fake alerts from Chrome
   • Remove unwanted Scheduled Tasks
2. Scan your computer and delete Winsecurity.online pop-up scam with free tools
   • Use Zemana Anti-malware to get rid of Winsecurity.online pop-up scam
   • Use Malwarebytes to remove Winsecurity.online fake alerts
   • Remove Winsecurity.online fake alerts from web-browsers with AdwCleaner
3. Run AdBlocker to stop Winsecurity.online and stay safe online
4. How to Winsecurity.online pop-up get installed onto personal computer
5. Finish words

Manual Winsecurity.online pop-up removal

If you perform exactly the tutorial below you should be able to remove the Winsecurity.online fake alerts from the Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Edge and Internet Explorer browsers.

Deleting the Winsecurity.online, check the list of installed apps first

Check out the Microsoft Windows Control Panel (Programs and Features section) to see all installed software. We suggest to click on the “Date Installed” in order to sort the list of programs by the date you installed them. If you see any unknown and dubious applications, they are the ones you need to remove.

Make sure you have closed all web-browsers and other apps. Press CTRL, ALT, DEL keys together to open the Windows Task Manager.

Click on the “Processes” tab, look for something suspicious that is the adware that causes multiple misleading Winsecurity.online alerts and pop-ups then right-click it and select “End Task” or “End Process” option. In most cases, malicious software masks itself to avoid detection by imitating legitimate Microsoft Windows processes. A process is particularly suspicious: it’s taking up a lot of memory (despite the fact that you closed all of your programs), its name is not familiar to you (if you are in doubt, you can always check the application by doing a search for its name in Google, Yahoo or Bing).

Next, delete any unknown and suspicious applications from your Control panel.

Windows 10, 8.1, 8

Now, click the Windows button, type “Control panel” in search and press Enter. Choose “Programs and Features”, then “Uninstall a program”.

Look around the entire list of software installed on your system. Most likely, one of them is the adware that causes web-browsers to display misleading Winsecurity.online fake alerts. Choose the questionable application or the program that name is not familiar to you and remove it.

Windows Vista, 7

From the “Start” menu in Windows, select “Control Panel”. Under the “Programs” icon, choose “Uninstall a program”.

Select the suspicious or any unknown programs, then click “Uninstall/Change” button to delete this unwanted program from your personal computer.

Windows XP

Click the “Start” button, select “Control Panel” option. Click on “Add/Remove Programs”.

Choose an unwanted program, then click “Change/Remove” button. Follow the prompts.

Fix infected web-browsers shortcuts to remove Winsecurity.online redirect

Now you need to clean up the web-browser shortcut files. Check that the shortcut file referring to the right exe-file of the web browser, and not on any unknown file.

Open the properties of the internet browser shortcut. Right click on the shortcut of affected web browser and choose the “Properties” option and it will display the properties of the shortcut. Next, choose the “Shortcut” tab and have a look at the Target field like below.

Normally, if the last word in the Target field is chrome.exe, iexplore.exe, firefox.exe. Be sure to pay attention to the extension, should be “exe”! All shortcut files which have been changed by adware that developed to show misleading Winsecurity.online pop up scam within your internet browser, usually point to .bat, .cmd or .url files instead of .exe as on the image below

Another variant, an address has been added at the end of the line. In this case the Target field looks like …Application\chrome.exe” http://site.address as on the image below.

In order to fix the infected shortcut file, you need to insert right path to the Target field or remove an address (if it has been added at the end). You can use the following information to fix your shortcut files which have been modified by ad supported software that cause misleading Winsecurity.online popup warnings to appear.

Google Chrome	C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
	C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
Mozilla Firefox	C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
IE	C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
	C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
Opera	C:\Program Files (x86)\Opera\launcher.exe
	C:\Program Files\Opera\launcher.exe

Once is done, click OK to save changes. Repeat the step for all web browsers which are rerouted to the Winsecurity.online intrusive web-page.

Remove Winsecurity.online popup scam from IE

If you find that Microsoft Internet Explorer browser settings like home page, newtab and default search engine having been replaced by ad-supported software which causes misleading Winsecurity.online popup warnings on your internet browser, then you may revert back your settings, via the reset web-browser procedure.

First, start the Internet Explorer, press ) button. Next, click “Internet Options” as displayed on the screen below.

In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, press Reset button. The Microsoft Internet Explorer will show the Reset Internet Explorer settings prompt. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and click Reset button.

You will now need to restart your PC system for the changes to take effect. It will remove ad-supported software that shows misleading Winsecurity.online pop-up scam on your PC system, disable malicious and ad-supported browser’s extensions and restore the IE’s settings like homepage, new tab page and default search provider to default state.

Get rid of Winsecurity.online fake alerts from Mozilla Firefox

If your Mozilla Firefox internet browser is redirected to Winsecurity.online without your permission or an unknown search provider shows results for your search, then it may be time to perform the web-browser reset.

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 shown below.

Follow the onscreen procedure to revert back your FF browser settings to its original state.

Remove Winsecurity.online fake alerts from Chrome

Like other modern web-browsers, the Google Chrome has the ability to reset the settings to their default values and thereby restore the internet browser’s settings such as newtab, start page and search provider by default that have been modified by the ad-supported software that designed to show misleading Winsecurity.online pop-up scam within your web-browser.

First open the Chrome. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal dots ().

It will show the Google Chrome menu. Choose More Tools, then press Extensions. Carefully browse through the list of installed extensions. If the list has the extension signed with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following tutorial: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.

Open the Chrome menu once again. Further, click the option named “Settings”.

The web-browser will show the settings screen. Another method to show the Google Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the web browser adress bar and press Enter

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and press the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the “Reset” section is visible, as displayed in the figure below and click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.

The Chrome will display the confirmation prompt like below.

You need to confirm your action, click the “Reset” button. The browser will start the process of cleaning. When it is finished, the web browser’s settings including start page, new tab and default search provider back to the values which have been when the Google Chrome was first installed on your PC.

Remove unwanted Scheduled Tasks

Once installed, the ad-supported software can add a task in to the Windows Task Scheduler Library. Due to this, every time when you boot your PC, it will open Winsecurity.online annoying web-site. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and remove all harmful tasks which have been created by malicious applications.

Press Windows and R keys on the keyboard together. This displays a prompt that titled as 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 displayed on the image below.

In the middle part you will see a list of installed tasks. Please 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 personal computer. Found something like “explorer.exe http://site.address” or “chrome.exe http://site.address”, then remove this harmful task. If you are not sure that executes the task, check it through a search engine. If it’s a component of the ‘ad-supported’ applications, 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 displayed below.

Repeat this step, if you have found a few tasks that have been created by ‘ad-supported’ program. Once is complete, close the Task Scheduler window.

Scan your computer and delete Winsecurity.online pop-up scam with free tools

In order to completely remove Winsecurity.online, you not only need to uninstall adware from your PC, but also get rid of all its components in your machine including Windows registry entries. We advise to download and use free removal tools to automatically free your computer of adware that shows misleading Winsecurity.online pop-up warnings on your computer.

Use Zemana Anti-malware to get rid of Winsecurity.online pop-up scam

We recommend using the Zemana Anti-malware. You may download and install Zemana Anti-malware to detect and remove Winsecurity.online popup warnings from the Google Chrome, Firefox, MS Edge and Internet Explorer web-browsers. When installed and updated, the malware remover will automatically scan and detect all threats present on your personal computer.

Now you can install and run Zemana Free to get rid of Winsecurity.online fake alerts from your web-browser by following the steps below:

Visit the following page to download Zemana Anti Malware setup file called Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup on your computer. Save it on your MS Windows desktop or in any other place.

Start the installer after it has been downloaded successfully and then follow the prompts to setup this tool on your PC.

During installation you can change certain settings, but we recommend you do not make any changes to default settings.

When setup is done, this malware removal utility will automatically start and update itself. You will see its main window like below.

Now press the “Scan” button .Zemana Free program will scan through the whole PC system for the ad-supported software that causes multiple misleading Winsecurity.online alerts and pop-ups. A system scan may take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your machine. While the Zemana Free tool is scanning, you can see how many objects it has identified as being affected by malware.

After that process is finished, you will be shown the list of all found threats on your computer. You may move threats to Quarantine (all selected by default) by simply click “Next” button.

The Zemana Anti Malware will start to get rid of ad supported software that cause misleading Winsecurity.online pop up to appear. When that process is finished, you can be prompted to restart your computer to make the change take effect.

Use Malwarebytes to remove Winsecurity.online fake alerts

Get rid of Winsecurity.online pop up scam manually is difficult and often the adware is not completely removed. Therefore, we suggest you to use the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your PC system. Moreover, the free application will help you to remove malware, potentially unwanted programs, toolbars and hijackers that your computer may be infected too.

1. Please go to the following link to download the latest version of MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) for Microsoft Windows. Save it on your Microsoft Windows desktop.
   
   

   Malwarebytes Anti-malware
   317660 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: April 15, 2020
   
2. When the download is complete, close all software and windows on your PC. Open a folder in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
3. Further, click Next button and follow the prompts.
4. Once installation is finished, click the “Scan Now” button . MalwareBytes Anti Malware tool will begin scanning the whole computer to find out ad supported software that shows misleading Winsecurity.online pop up scam on your system. Depending on your personal computer, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. When a malicious software, adware or PUPs are detected, the number of the security threats will change accordingly.
5. Once finished, MalwareBytes will open a screen which contains a list of malicious software that has been found. Review the report and then press “Quarantine Selected”. After the clean up is done, you can be prompted to restart your computer.

The following video offers a guidance on how to get rid of browser hijacker infections, adware and other malicious software with MalwareBytes.

Remove Winsecurity.online fake alerts from web-browsers with AdwCleaner

AdwCleaner is a free removal utility. It deletes PUPs, ad-supported software, browser hijackers and undesired web-browser add-ons. Video tutorial available here. It will identify and remove adware that causes multiple misleading Winsecurity.online alerts and popups. AdwCleaner uses very small PC system resources and is a portable program.

Please go to the following link to download the latest version of AdwCleaner for MS Windows. Save it to your Desktop.

After downloading is finished, open the directory in which you saved it. You will see an icon like below.

Double click the AdwCleaner desktop icon. After the tool is opened, you will see a screen as shown on the screen below.

Further, click “Scan” button for scanning your machine for the adware which developed to display misleading Winsecurity.online pop-up scam within your internet browser. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the count of files on your system and the speed of your PC system. When AdwCleaner completes the scan, you will be displayed the list of all found items on your machine as shown in the following example.

Next, you need to press “Clean” button. It will open a dialog box as shown in the figure below.

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

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

Run AdBlocker to stop Winsecurity.online and stay safe online

Run an ad-blocking tool like AdGuard will protect you from malicious advertisements and content. Moreover, you can find that the AdGuard have an option to protect your privacy and stop phishing and spam web-pages. Additionally, ad-blocking applications will allow you to avoid unwanted advertisements and unverified links that also a good way to stay safe online.

1. Download AdGuard program from the link below. Save it directly to your MS Windows Desktop.
   

   Adguard download
   25670 downloads
   Version: 6.4
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: November 15, 2018
   
2. When the downloading process is finished, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
3. When the installation is complete, click “Skip” to close the setup application and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that will assist you get to know AdGuard better.
4. In most cases, the default settings are enough and you don’t need to change anything. Each time, when you start your PC system, AdGuard will start automatically and block advertisements, pages such Winsecurity.online, 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 to Winsecurity.online pop-up get installed onto personal computer

The majority of adware spreads along with freeware or even paid applications which Internet users can easily download online. The setup files of such applications, most commonly, clearly show that they will install additional software. The option is given to users to stop the installation of any optional apps. So, in order to avoid the setup of any adware: read all disclaimers and install screens very carefully, select only Custom or Advanced installation method and uncheck all optional software in which you are unsure.

Finish words

Now your PC system should be free of the ‘ad supported’ software that cause misleading Winsecurity.online fake alerts to appear. Remove AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you block unwanted popup advertisements and undesired malicious pages) and Zemana (to periodically scan your 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 ‘ad supported’ softwares, harmful applications and ad supported software are released.

If you are still having problems while trying to remove Winsecurity.online popup warnings from your web-browser, then ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.