What is Clckads.com? The Clckads.com is an annoying web-page which always reroutes you to a variety of advertising web sites. Some of them can be suspicious or misleading web-sites. Computer security specialists has determined that users are re-directed to Clckads.com by various potentially unwanted apps from the ‘ad-supported’ software (also known as adware) family. The undesired apps usually gets installed alongside free programs, codecs and shareware. Aside from causing redirects, the adware also can open a large amount of popup ads, slow down the PC and continually collect privacy data.
It’s not a good idea to have an undesired application like the adware responsible for redirections to Clckads.com. The reason for this is simple, it doing things you don’t know about. The worst is, the adware can be used to collect lots of confidential info about you that can be later transferred third party companies. You do not know if your home address, account names and passwords are safe. And of course you completely don’t know what will happen when you click on any Clckads.com pop up advertisements.
The malicious apps from the ad supported software family that changes the settings of internet browsers usually hijacks only the Firefox, Chrome, MS Edge and IE. However, possible situations, when any other browsers will be affected too. The adware may change the Target property of a internet browser’s shortcut, so every time you start the browser, instead of your start page, you will see the undesired Clckads.com web site.
The guide below explaining steps to remove Clckads.com redirect problem. Feel free to use it for removal of the adware that may attack Microsoft Internet Explorer, Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Edge and other popular web browsers. The steps will help you remove ad supported software and thereby clean your web browser from all annoying advertisements.
Remove Clckads.com pop-up ads
In the few simple steps below, we will try to cover the MS Edge, IE, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and provide general help to remove Clckads.com advertisements. You may find some minor differences in your MS Windows install. No matter, you should be okay if you follow the steps outlined below: uninstall all suspicious and unknown applications, reset web-browsers settings, fix web browsers shortcuts, remove malicious scheduled tasks, use free malware removal tools. Some of the steps will require you to reboot your system or shut down this web page. So, read this tutorial carefully, then bookmark or print it for later reference.
To remove Clckads.com, complete the steps below:
- How to manually remove Clckads.com
- Scan your PC system and delete Clckads.com pop up advertisements with free tools
- How to stop Clckads.com pop up advertisements
- How did Clckads.com redirect get on your PC system
- To sum up
How to manually remove Clckads.com
Read this “How to remove” section to know how to manually remove adware that causes multiple unwanted popup advertisements. Even if the few simple steps does not work for you, there are several free malware removers below that can easily handle such ad supported software that causes browsers to show undesired Clckads.com pop-up ads.
Deleting the Clckads.com, check the list of installed apps first
Some PUPs, browser hijacking programs and ad supported software can be uninstalled by uninstalling the free software they came with. If this way does not succeed, then looking them up in the list of installed software in MS Windows Control Panel. Use the “Uninstall” command in order to delete 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 click “Start” button and click “Control Panel”.
- It will open the Windows Control Panel.
- Further, press “Uninstall a program” under Programs category.
- It will display a list of all software installed on the PC.
- Scroll through the all list, and uninstall questionable and unknown software. To quickly find the latest installed apps, we recommend sort software by date.
See more details in the video instructions below.
Get rid of unwanted Scheduled Tasks
If the unwanted Clckads.com web-site opens automatically on Windows startup or at equal time intervals, then you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and remove all the tasks which have been created by ‘ad-supported’ software.
Press Windows and R keys on the keyboard at the same time. This shows 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.
In the middle part you will see a list of installed tasks. Please select the first task, its properties will be display just below automatically. Next, click the Actions tab. Pay attention to that it launches on your PC system. Found something like “explorer.exe http://site.address” or “chrome.exe http://site.address”, then remove this malicious 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’ application, then this task also should be removed.
Having defined the task that you want to get rid of, then click on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as displayed in the figure below.
Repeat this step, if you have found a few tasks that have been created by malicious software. Once is complete, close the Task Scheduler window.
Remove Clckads.com redirect from IE
If you find that Internet Explorer web browser settings like search engine by default, homepage and new tab having been changed by adware related to Clckads.com pop-up advertisements, then you may return your settings, via the reset web browser procedure.
First, launch the Microsoft Internet Explorer, then press ‘gear’ icon . It will open the Tools drop-down menu on the right part of the browser, then click the “Internet Options” like below.
In the “Internet Options” screen, select the “Advanced” tab, then press the “Reset” button. The Internet Explorer will open the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” prompt. Further, click the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. Next, click the “Reset” button as shown below.
When the procedure is finished, press “Close” button. Close the Microsoft Internet Explorer and restart your system for the changes to take effect. This step will help you to restore your internet browser’s new tab page, start page and default search engine to default state.
Remove Clckads.com pop up advertisements from Firefox
The Mozilla Firefox reset will keep your personal information such as bookmarks, passwords, web form auto-fill data, recover preferences and security settings, remove redirects to intrusive Clckads.com site and ad supported software.
Launch the Mozilla Firefox and click the menu button (it looks like three stacked lines) at the top right of the web browser screen. Next, press the question-mark icon at the bottom of the drop-down menu. It will show 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 on the image below.
Click the “Refresh Firefox” button at the top right of the Troubleshooting Information page. Select “Refresh Firefox” in the confirmation prompt. The Firefox will begin a task to fix your problems that caused by the adware that causes multiple annoying popups. Once, it’s complete, click the “Finish” button.
Remove Clckads.com pop-ups from Chrome
If your Chrome internet browser is rerouted to undesired Clckads.com page, it may be necessary to completely reset your internet browser program to its default settings.
- First run the Chrome and click Menu button (small button in the form of three dots).
- It will display the Google Chrome main menu. Choose More Tools, then click Extensions.
- You’ll see the list of installed extensions. If the list has the plugin labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guide: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
- Now open the Google Chrome menu once again, press the “Settings” menu.
- You will see the Google Chrome’s settings page. Scroll down and click “Advanced” link.
- Scroll down again and press the “Reset” button.
- The Google Chrome will display the reset profile settings page as on the image above.
- Next click the “Reset” button.
- Once this process is complete, your browser’s home page, newtab and search engine by default will be restored to their original defaults.
- To learn more, read the post How to reset Google Chrome settings to default.
Fix browser shortcuts, modified by ad-supported software
Unfortunately, the adware related to Clckads.com ads, can also hijack Windows shortcuts (mostly, your browsers shortcuts), so that the Clckads.com ad web-site will be opened when you open the FF, MS Edge, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer or another internet browser.
Right click on the internet browser’s shortcut file, click Properties option. 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 “http://site.address” which has been added here. Remove everything after .exe. An example, for Google Chrome you should remove everything after chrome.exe.
To save changes, click OK . You need to clean all web-browser’s shortcut files. So, repeat this step for the Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer.
Scan your PC system and delete Clckads.com pop up advertisements with free tools
The adware may hide its components which are difficult for you to find out and remove completely. This can lead to the fact that after some time, the ad supported software that causes internet browsers to show undesired Clckads.com pop-up advertisements again infect your PC system. Moreover, We want to note that it’s not always safe to remove ‘ad supported’ software manually, if you don’t have much experience in setting up and configuring the Microsoft Windows operating system. The best method to scan for and get rid of adware is to use free malicious software removal programs.
How to automatically remove Clckads.com popup advertisements with Zemana Anti-malware
Zemana Anti-malware highly recommended, because it can search for security threats such adware and adwares that most ‘classic’ antivirus apps fail to pick up on. Moreover, if you have any Clckads.com popup advertisements removal problems which cannot be fixed by this tool automatically, then Zemana Anti-malware provides 24X7 online assistance from the highly experienced support staff.
Please go to the following link to download Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM). Save it on your Windows desktop or in any other place.
164112 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
Once the download is done, start it and follow the prompts. Once installed, the Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) will try to update itself and when this process is finished, click the “Scan” button to detect ‘ad supported’ software which created to reroute your web-browser to various ad sites such as Clckads.com.
A system scan can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your computer. While the utility is checking, you can see count of objects and files has already scanned. Next, you need to click “Next” button.
The Zemana Anti-Malware will get rid of adware related to Clckads.com popups and move threats to the program’s quarantine.
How to automatically get rid of Clckads.com with Malwarebytes
Remove Clckads.com pop-up ads manually is difficult and often the ‘ad supported’ software is not completely removed. Therefore, we suggest you to run the Malwarebytes Free which are completely clean your computer. Moreover, the free program will help you to get rid of malicious software, potentially unwanted software, toolbars and browser hijackers that your computer can be infected too.
Installing the MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) is simple. First you’ll need to download MalwareBytes Free by clicking on the link below.
326462 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
When the download is finished, close all programs and windows on your computer. Double-click the set up file named mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” prompt pops up as shown on the screen below, click the “Yes” button.
It will open the “Setup wizard” that will help you install MalwareBytes AntiMalware on your personal computer. Follow the prompts and don’t make any changes to default settings.
Once installation is finished successfully, press Finish button. MalwareBytes AntiMalware will automatically start and you can see its main screen like below.
Now press the “Scan Now” button to search for ad-supported software related to Clckads.com pop-up advertisements. This procedure can take some time, so please be patient. When a malware, ad supported software or potentially unwanted apps are found, the number of the security threats will change accordingly. Wait until the the scanning is finished.
When MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) has finished scanning your PC, MalwareBytes Anti-Malware will produce a list of unwanted and adware apps. 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 “Quarantine Selected” button. The MalwareBytes Free will get rid of adware that cause annoying Clckads.com pop up advertisements to appear and move items to the program’s quarantine. Once the clean-up is complete, you may be prompted to restart the PC system.
We recommend you look at the following video, which completely explains the process of using the MalwareBytes Free to delete ad-supported software, browser hijacker infection and other malware.
Scan and free your computer of adware with AdwCleaner
If MalwareBytes anti malware or Zemana Free cannot remove this adware, then we suggests to run the AdwCleaner. AdwCleaner is a free removal tool for browser hijackers, PUPs, toolbars and adware responsible for redirections to Clckads.com.
Download AdwCleaner from the link below.
225300 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024
After the download is complete, open the file location and double-click the AdwCleaner icon. It will start the AdwCleaner utility. If the User Account Control dialog box will ask you want to run the program, click Yes button to continue.
Next, press “Scan” to start scanning your PC for the ad-supported software which redirects your web-browser to annoying Clckads.com web page. Depending on your computer, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. While the AdwCleaner is scanning, you can see count of objects it has identified either as being malware.
When the scan get completed, the results are displayed in the scan report as displayed on the screen below.
All detected items will be marked. You can remove them all by simply click “Clean” button. It will display a dialog box. Click “OK” button. The AdwCleaner will delete adware which cause undesired Clckads.com pop ups to appear and add threats to the Quarantine. When disinfection is done, the utility may ask you to reboot your personal computer. After reboot, the AdwCleaner will display the log file.
All the above steps are shown in detail in the following video instructions.
How to stop Clckads.com pop up advertisements
The AdGuard is a very good ad blocker program for the Edge, Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, with active user support. It does a great job by removing certain types of annoying advertisements, popunders, popups, annoying new tab pages, and even full page advertisements and web site overlay layers. Of course, the AdGuard can stop the Clckads.com ads automatically or by using a custom filter rule.
- Download AdGuard from the link below.
Adguard download
26658 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- After downloading is finished, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
- Once the install is complete, click “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 system, AdGuard will run automatically and stop pop ups, web-sites such as Clckads.com, as well as other malicious 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 icon called AdGuard, which is located on your desktop.
How did Clckads.com redirect get on your PC system
Probably adware get installed onto your machine when you’ve installed certain free applications like E-Mail checker, PDF creator, video codec, etc. Because, most often, the ad-supported software may be bundled within the installers from Softonic, Cnet, Soft32, Brothersoft or other similar web-pages which hosts free applications. So, you should start any files downloaded from the Internet with great caution! Always carefully read the ‘User agreement’, ‘Software license’ and ‘Terms of use’. In the process of installing a new application, you need to select a ‘Manual’, ‘Advanced’ or ‘Custom’ installation option to control what components and third-party programs to be installed. Nevertheless, even removing the application that contains adware, does not help you remove undesired Clckads.com popup ads from your web-browser. Therefore, you must follow the instructions above to delete adware and thereby get rid of all unwanted popup advertisements and redirects to unwanted web sites.
To sum up
Now your personal computer should be free of the adware responsible for Clckads.com redirect. Uninstall AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you block unwanted pop-up ads and undesired malicious web pages) and Zemana Anti Malware (to periodically scan your PC for new adwares and other malicious software). Probably you are running an older version of Java or Adobe Flash Player. This can be a security risk, so download and install the latest version right now.
If you are still having problems while trying to get rid of Clckads.com redirect from the Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Firefox, then ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.