The Power Handler is an adware (also known as ad-supported software). It is developed only for one purpose – show lots of unwanted advertisements or reroute your web browser to various ‘ad’ web-sites. The adware is a type of harmful programs that does not delete files or infect them, but such as a virus can alter PC system settings to generate a lot of ads. All the time, while the Power Handler adware is running, your web-browser will be fill with unwanted ads. Moreover, this Power Handler be able to collect lots of your personal info, everything related to what are you doing on the World Wide Web.
The Power Handler adware that cause intrusive pop-up advertisements to appear, may display advertisements depend on a web site that you are visiting. That is, it is clear that this ad-supported software, without your permission, steals personal info about you such as: your ip address, what is a page you are viewing now, what you are looking for on the World Wide Web, which links you are clicking, and much, much more. The worst is, the adware may monetize its functionality by collecting personal information from your browsing sessions. This personal data, subsequently, can be easily sold to third party companies. This puts your user info at a security risk.
The malicious applications from the adware family such as Power Handler usually infects only the Internet Explorer, Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome. However, possible situations, when any other web-browsers will be affected too. The ad supported software may change the Target property of a web-browser’s shortcut file, so every time you start the internet browser, instead of your home page, you’ll see an annoying ads.
We suggest you to delete the Power Handler adware and clean your machine from unwanted ads ASAP, until the presence of the ad-supported software has not led to even worse consequences. You need to follow the guidance below that will allow you to completely get rid of the Power Handler using only the built-in Windows features and several free malware removal tools of well-known antivirus software companies.
How to remove Power Handler
There are a few methods which can be used to remove Power Handler . But, not all PUPs like this adware can be completely removed utilizing only manual ways. Most commonly you’re not able to remove any adware using standard Microsoft Windows options. In order to remove Power Handler ‘ad supported’ software you need complete a few manual steps and use reliable removal tools. Most IT security professionals states that Zemana Free, MalwareBytes Free or AdwCleaner tools are a right choice. These free programs are able to find out and remove Power Handler adware from your PC and restore your web browser settings to defaults.
To remove Power Handler, complete the steps below:
- Manual Power Handler removal
- Removing the Power Handler, check the list of installed apps first
- Get rid of unwanted Scheduled Tasks
- Disinfect the web-browser’s shortcuts to remove Power Handler redirect
- Delete Power Handler from FF by resetting internet browser settings
- Delete Power Handler adware from Internet Explorer
- Remove Power Handler adware from Google Chrome
- Power Handler automatic removal
- How to stay safe online
- Where the Power Handler comes from
- To sum up
Manual Power Handler removal
If you perform exactly the step by step guide below you should be able to remove the Power Handler from the Windows 10, 8, 7, XP.
Removing the Power Handler, 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 software by the date you installed them. If you see any unknown and dubious applications, they are the ones you need to delete.
Windows 8, 8.1, 10
First, click Windows button
, then press Search 
. Type ‘Control panel’and press Enter like below.
When the ‘Control Panel’ opens, press the ‘Uninstall a program’ link under Programs category as shown on the image below.
You will see the ‘Uninstall a program’ panel like below.
Very carefully look around the entire list of programs installed on your system. Most likely, one of them is the Power Handler that causes a huge count of undesired ads. If you have many apps installed, you can help simplify the search of harmful programs by sort the list by date of installation. Once you’ve found a dubious, unwanted or unused program, right click to it, after that click ‘Uninstall’.
Windows XP, Vista, 7
First, click ‘Start’ button and select ‘Control Panel’ at right panel as displayed on the screen below.
Once the Windows ‘Control Panel’ opens, you need to click ‘Uninstall a program’ under ‘Programs’ as shown in the figure below.
You will see a list of programs installed on your PC system. We recommend to sort the list by date of installation to quickly find the programs that were installed last. Most probably, it is the Power Handler adware that designed to reroute your internet browser to various ad web sites. If you’re in doubt, you can always check the program by doing a search for her name in Google, Yahoo or Bing. Once the program which you need to delete is found, simply click on its name, and then click ‘Uninstall’ like below.
Get rid of unwanted Scheduled Tasks
Once installed, the Power Handler adware can add a task in to the Windows Task Scheduler Library. Due to this, every time when you boot your system, it will show an intrusive web-site. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and get rid of all malicious tasks which have been created by adware.
Press Windows and R keys on your keyboard simultaneously. It will show 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, click “Task Scheduler Library”, as on the image below.
Task scheduler, list of tasks
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. If you are not sure that executes the task, then google it. If it’s a component of the malicious programs, then this task also should be removed.
Further click on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as on the image below.
Task scheduler, delete a task
Repeat this step, if you have found a few tasks that have been created by the Power Handler adware. Once is finished, close the Task Scheduler window.
Disinfect the web-browser’s shortcuts to remove Power Handler redirect
Once the adware is started, it can also change the web browser’s shortcuts, adding an argument similar to “http://site.address” into the Target field. Due to this, every time you open the browser, it will display an intrusive web page.
Click the right mouse button to a desktop shortcut file which you use to launch your browser. Next, select the “Properties” option. Important: necessary to click on the desktop shortcut file for the internet browser that is redirected to an undesired web page.
Further, necessary to look at the text which is written in the “Target” field. The Power Handler adware that causes unwanted popup advertisements can rewrite the contents of this field, which describes the file to be start when you start your browser. Depending on the internet browser you are using, there should be:
- Google Chrome: chrome.exe
- Opera: opera.exe
- Firefox: firefox.exe
- Internet Explorer: iexplore.exe
If you are seeing an unknown text such as “http://site.addres” which has been added here, then you should remove it, as shown in the figure below.
Next, press the “OK” button to save the changes. Now, when you run the browser from this desktop shortcut, it does not occur automatically redirect on any undesired web pages. Once the step is complete, we recommend to go to the next step.
Delete Power Handler from FF by resetting internet browser settings
If the Mozilla Firefox browser application is hijacked, then resetting its settings can help. The Reset feature is available on all modern version of FF. A reset can fix many issues by restoring Mozilla Firefox settings such as newtab, default search provider and start page to its default state. It will save your personal information such as saved passwords, bookmarks, and open tabs.
Click the Menu button (looks like three horizontal lines), and click the blue Help icon located at the bottom of the drop down menu like below.
A small menu will appear, click the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, click “Refresh Firefox” button as on the image below.
Follow the onscreen procedure to return your Firefox browser settings to its original state.
Delete Power Handler adware from Internet Explorer
By resetting Internet Explorer web browser you restore your web-browser settings to its default state. This is first when troubleshooting problems that might have been caused by Power Handler which causes intrusive popups.
First, start the Internet Explorer, click 
) button. Next, press “Internet Options” as displayed below.
In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, press Reset button. The Internet Explorer will display the Reset Internet Explorer settings dialog box. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and click Reset button.
You will now need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect. It will delete Power Handler adware that causes lots of intrusive popup advertisements, disable malicious and ad-supported web-browser’s extensions and restore the IE’s settings such as new tab, startpage and default search engine to default state.
Remove Power Handler adware from Google Chrome
Reset Chrome settings is a easy way to remove the hijackers, harmful and ‘ad-supported’ extensions, as well as to recover the web browser’s newtab page, home page and search engine by default that have been modified by Power Handler adware that causes internet browsers to show unwanted pop-ups.
Open the Google Chrome menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal dotes (
). It will open the drop-down menu. Choose More Tools, then click Extensions.
Carefully browse through the list of installed extensions. If the list has the addon labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following tutorial: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy otherwise, just go to the step below.
Open the Google Chrome main menu again, click to “Settings” option.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the Reset settings section is visible, as shown in the following example and click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
Confirm your action, click the “Reset” button.
Power Handler automatic removal
The easiest way to get rid of Power Handler is to use an anti malware program capable of detecting this Power Handler which causes annoying advertisements. We recommend try Zemana Anti-malware or another free malware remover which listed below. It has excellent detection rate when it comes to ‘ad supported’ software, browser hijacker infections and other PUPs.
Use Zemana Anti-malware to get rid of Power Handler
You can remove Power Handler adware automatically with a help of Zemana Anti-malware. We recommend this malicious software removal tool because it may easily get rid of hijacker infections, PUPs, adware with all their components such as folders, files and registry entries.
- Download Zemana Free by clicking on the link below. Save it on your MS Windows desktop or in any other place.
Zemana AntiMalware
164112 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
- When the download is done, close all programs and windows on your PC system. Open a folder in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup.
- Further, click Next button and follow the prompts.
- Once install is complete, press the “Scan” button to begin scanning your machine for the Power Handler which made to reroute your internet browser to various ad web-pages. While the utility is scanning, you may see how many objects and files has already scanned.
- Once finished, Zemana Free will open you the results. Review the report and then click “Next”. After that process is complete, you can be prompted to restart your computer.
Run Malwarebytes to remove Power Handler ad supported software
We recommend using the Malwarebytes Free. You can download and install Malwarebytes to detect adware and thereby delete Power Handler from your Windows 10 (8, 7, XP). When installed and updated, the free malicious software remover will automatically scan and detect all threats present on the personal computer.
Download MalwareBytes Anti Malware on your Windows Desktop by clicking on the link below.
326462 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
Once the downloading process is done, close all programs and windows on your PC. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup as displayed in the following example.
When the installation starts, you will see the “Setup wizard” which will help you set up Malwarebytes on your machine.
Once installation is complete, you will see window as shown in the figure below.
Now click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan with this utility for the Power Handler adware which redirects your web browser to unwanted ad web-sites. During the scan MalwareBytes will find out threats present on your computer.
Once the scan is done, MalwareBytes will show a list of all items found by the scan. Review the scan results and then press “Quarantine Selected” button.
The Malwarebytes will now start to remove Power Handler adware that causes multiple annoying advertisements and pop ups. After the procedure is done, you may be prompted to reboot your personal computer.
The following video explains guidance on how to remove browser hijacker, adware and other malicious software with MalwareBytes Anti Malware.
Double-check for potentially unwanted programs with AdwCleaner
AdwCleaner is a free application that created to get rid of malware, PUPs, browser hijacker infections and ‘ad supported’ software from your personal computer running Windows 10, 8, 7, XP (32-bit and 64-bit). It’ll help to find and delete Power Handler ad supported software that causes internet browsers to show undesired advertisements, including its files, folders and registry keys.
Visit the following page to download AdwCleaner. Save it to your Desktop.
225300 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024
When the download is complete, open the file location and double-click the AdwCleaner icon. It will start the AdwCleaner utility and you will see a screen as shown below. If the User Account Control dialog box will ask you want to launch the application, click Yes button to continue.
Next, press “Scan” to start checking your PC system for the Power Handler adware that causes a ton of intrusive advertisements. This process can take some time, so please be patient.
When AdwCleaner completes the scan, AdwCleaner will display a scan report as shown below.
You may move items to Quarantine (all selected by default) by simply press “Clean” button. It will show a prompt. Click “OK” button. The AdwCleaner will remove Power Handler adware which causes unwanted pop ups and move threats to the program’s quarantine. After the clean up is complete, the tool may ask you to reboot your personal computer. After restart, the AdwCleaner will display the log file.
All the above steps are shown in detail in the following video instructions.
How to stay safe online
It is important to run ad-blocking software like AdGuard to protect your system from harmful web-pages. Most security experts says that it’s okay to stop advertisements. You should do so just to stay safe! And, of course, the AdGuard can to block malicious, misleading and other undesired sites.
- Download AdGuard program from the following link.
Adguard download
26659 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- When downloading is finished, run the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
- After the installation is done, click “Skip” to close the setup program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” 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 launch your PC, AdGuard will run automatically and block popup ads, as well as other harmful or misleading web sites. 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, which may be found on your desktop.
Where the Power Handler comes from
It’s very important to pay attention to additional checkboxes during the setup of free software to avoid installing of PUPs, adware, hijacker infections or other unwanted apps. Never install the third-party software that the program wants to setup with it. Inattentive free programs download can result in installation of undesired program such as this Power Handler ad supported software which causes unwanted popup ads.
To sum up
Once you have finished the guide outlined above, your machine should be clean from Power Handler adware that causes lots of undesired pop up advertisements and other malware. The FF, Edge, IE and Chrome will no longer redirect you to various undesired web-sites. Unfortunately, if the guidance does not help you, then you have caught a new ad supported software, and then the best way – ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.
