How to remove Chrome.exe virus [Removal guide]

What is Chrome.exe virus? Computer security researchers has determined that Chrome.exe or Chrome.exe *32 virus is a malware from the adware (sometimes named ‘ad-supported’ software) family. It usually gets installed alongside free software, codecs and shareware. The Chrome.exe virus can redirect all installed browsers to a variety of advertising web pages, some of them can be dubious or misleading web pages. Aside from causing browser redirects, the Chrome.exe virus also can open a lot of pop up advertisements, slow down the computer and continually gather lots of your personal information.

What is more, Chrome.exe virus may show advertisements depend on a page that you are visiting. That is, it’s clear that this malicious software, without your permission, steals confidential data about you such as: your ip address, what is a web site you are viewing now, what you are looking for on the World Wide Web, which links you are clicking, and much, much more. Even worse, the Chrome.exe virus may monetize its functionality by collecting privacy information from your surfing sessions. This personal information, later, can be easily sold to third party companies. This puts your personal information at a security risk.

In addition to that, as was mentioned earlier, some variants of Chrome.exe virus to also modify all internet browsers shortcuts which located on your Desktop or Start menu. So, every infected shortcut will try to reroute your web-browser to undesired ad web sites, some of which might be harmful. It can make the whole computer more vulnerable to hacker attacks.

To find out how to delete Chrome.exe virus, we recommend to read the step-by-step tutorial added to this article below. The tutorial was prepared by experienced security researchers who discovered a method to get rid of the annoying adware out of the PC system.

How to remove Chrome.exe virus

The following steps will allow you to get rid of Chrome.exe virus from the Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows XP. Moreover, the few simple steps below will help you to get rid of malware, hijackers, potentially unwanted apps and toolbars that your PC system may be infected. Please do the guidance step by step. If you need assist or have any questions, then ask for our assistance or type a comment below. Read this manual carefully, bookmark or print it, because you may need to shut down your web-browser or restart your system.

To remove Chrome.exe virus, perform the following steps:

1. How to get rid of Chrome.exe virus without any software
   • Removing the Chrome.exe virus, check the list of installed programs first
   • Clean up the internet browsers shortcuts that have been hijacked by adware virus
   • Remove unwanted Scheduled Tasks
2. Scan your computer and delete Chrome.exe virus with free utilities
   • Use Zemana Anti-malware to remove Chrome.exe virus
   • Use HitmanPro to get rid of Chrome.exe adware virus
   • Run Malwarebytes to remove Chrome.exe adware virus
3. How to stay safe online
4. Tips to prevent Chrome.exe virus and other unwanted applications
5. Finish words

How to get rid of Chrome.exe virus without any software

Read this “How to remove” section to know how to manually delete Chrome.exe adware virus that made to reroute your browser to various ad pages. Even if the step by step guide does not work for you, there are several free malware removers below that can easily handle such Chrome.exe virus that causes tons of unwanted ads.

Removing the Chrome.exe vius, check the list of installed programs first

First of all, check the list of installed applications on your computer and uninstall all unknown and recently installed applications. If you see an unknown program with incorrect spelling or varying capital letters, it have most likely been installed by malicious software and you should clean it off first with malware removal tool like Zemana Anti-malware.

1. If you are using Windows 8, 8.1 or 10 then click Windows button, next click Search. Type “Control panel”and press Enter.
2. If you are using Windows XP, Vista, 7, then press “Start” button and click “Control Panel”.
3. It will show the Windows Control Panel.
4. Further, press “Uninstall a program” under Programs category.
5. It will show a list of all programs installed on the PC.
6. Scroll through the all list, and uninstall questionable and unknown applications. To quickly find the latest installed apps, we recommend sort software by date.

See more details in the video tutorial below.

Clean up the internet browsers shortcuts that have been hijacked by adware virus

The Chrome.exe virus that causes multiple undesired advertisements and pop-ups, can hijack various Windows shortcuts on your desktop (most often, all web browsers shortcuts), so in this step you need to check and clean them by removing the argument like http://site.address/.

Click the right mouse button to a desktop shortcut which you use to launch your internet browser. Next, select the “Properties” option. Important: necessary to click on the desktop shortcut file for the web browser that is redirected to an unwanted webpage.

Further, necessary to look at the text which is written in the “Target” field. The Chrome.exe adware that causes a large number of unwanted popup ads can rewrite the contents of this field, which describes the file to be start when you open your internet browser. Depending on the internet browser you’re 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 similar to “http://site.addres” which has been added here, then you should remove it, as displayed below.

Next, press the “OK” button to save the changes. Now, when you launch the browser from this desktop shortcut file, it does not occur automatically reroute on unwanted web-pages. Once the step is finished, we recommend to go to the next step.

Remove unwanted Scheduled Tasks

If an intrusive page opens automatically on Windows startup or at equal time intervals, then you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and get rid of all the tasks that have been created by Chrome.exe virus.

Press Windows and R keys on the keyboard together. This opens a dialog box 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 personal computer. If you are not sure that executes the task, check it through a search engine. If it is a component of the malicious apps, then this task also should be removed.

Having defined the task that you want to remove, then press on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as displayed on the image below.

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

Scan your computer and delete Chrome.exe virus with free utilities

The adware virus 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 Chrome.exe adware virus which redirects your web browser to unwanted ad pages again infect your computer. Moreover, We want to note that it’s not always safe to get rid of adware virus manually, if you do not have much experience in setting up and configuring the Microsoft Windows operating system. The best way to look for and delete virus is to use free malicious software removal programs.

Use Zemana Anti-malware to remove Chrome.exe virus

You can delete Chrome.exe virus automatically with a help of Zemana Anti-malware. We suggest this malware removal utility because it can easily remove browser hijackers, PUPs, adware with all their components such as folders, files and registry entries.

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

Once the downloading process is finished, close all software and windows on your computer. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup like below.

When the installation begins, you will see the “Setup wizard” that will allow you setup Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) on your computer.

Once install is finished, you will see window as shown in the figure below.

Now press the “Scan” button to perform a system scan for the Chrome.exe adware virus that causes multiple intrusive advertisements and pop-ups. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your machine and the speed of your personal computer. While the Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) application is checking, you can see count of objects it has identified as threat.

Once Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) completes the scan, a list of all items found is prepared. Review the scan results and then click “Next” button.

The Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) will remove Chrome.exe virus that reroutes your web browser to unwanted ad web sites.

Use HitmanPro to get rid of Chrome.exe adware virus

HitmanPro is a portable utility that detects and deletes undesired programs like hijackers, ‘ad supported’ software, toolbars, other web-browser plugins and other malicious software. It scans your personal computer for Chrome.exe adware virus that causes internet browsers to show undesired pop up advertisements and prepares a list of threats marked for removal. HitmanPro will only remove those unwanted applications that you wish to be removed.

1. HitmanPro can be downloaded from the following link. Save it directly to your MS Windows Desktop.
   
   

   HitmanPro
   12076 downloads
   Author: Sophos
   Category: Security tools
   Update: June 28, 2018
   
2. When downloading is finished, double click the Hitman Pro icon. Once this tool is started, click “Next” button to begin checking your PC system for the Chrome.exe adware that cause annoying pop up ads to appear. This process can take quite a while, so please be patient. While the Hitman Pro utility is scanning, you can see number of objects it has identified as being infected by malicious software.
3. After Hitman Pro completes the scan, HitmanPro will display a list of all items found by the scan. Next, you need to press “Next” button. Now click the “Activate free license” button to begin the free 30 days trial to remove all malicious software found.

Run Malwarebytes to remove Chrome.exe adware virus

You can delete Chrome.exe adware virus automatically with a help of Malwarebytes Free. We recommend this free malicious software removal tool because it may easily remove browser hijacker infections, adware, potentially unwanted software and toolbars with all their components such as files, folders and registry entries.

Installing the MalwareBytes Anti Malware is simple. First you’ll need to download MalwareBytes Anti-Malware from the following link. Save it on your Microsoft Windows desktop or in any other place.

Once downloading is finished, close all applications and windows on your personal computer. Double-click the setup file named mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up as displayed in the figure below, click the “Yes” button.

It will open the “Setup wizard” that will help you set up MalwareBytes on your system. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.

Once setup is finished successfully, click Finish button. MalwareBytes AntiMalware will automatically start and you can see its main screen as displayed on the screen below.

Now press the “Scan Now” button to search for Chrome.exe virus and other malware. Depending on your machine, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. While the utility is checking, you can see count of objects and files has already scanned.

After MalwareBytes has finished scanning, MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) will open a scan report. Next, you need to press “Quarantine Selected” button. The MalwareBytes AntiMalware will delete Chrome.exe virus and other malicious software and move items to the program’s quarantine. Once that process is finished, you may be prompted to reboot the computer.

We recommend you look at the following video, which completely explains the process of using the MalwareBytes Anti Malware to delete ad-supported software, hijacker infection and other malware.

How to stay safe online

The AdGuard is a very good ad-blocking application for the Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, IE and Chrome, with active user support. It does a great job by removing certain types of intrusive advertisements, popunders, popups, intrusive newtab pages, and even full page ads and web site overlay layers. Of course, the AdGuard can stop malicious, misleading web sites automatically or by using a custom filter rule.

1. Download AdGuard from the following link.
   
   

   Adguard download
   26660 downloads
   Version: 6.4
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: November 15, 2018
   
2. Once the downloading process is complete, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
3. Once the installation is finished, click “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that will help you get to know AdGuard better.
4. In most cases, the default settings are enough and you do not need to change anything. Each time, when you run your computer, AdGuard will start automatically and block pop-ups, as well as other malicious 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 called AdGuard, that is located on your desktop.

Tips to prevent Chrome.exe virus and other unwanted applications

Many adware are included in the free software installation package. Most often, a user have a chance to disable all included “offers”, but certain setup files are developed to confuse the average users, in order to trick them into installing the Chrome.exe adware that causes web browsers to open intrusive pop up advertisements. Anyway, easier to prevent the Chrome.exe virus rather than clean up your personal computer after one. So, keep the internet browser updated (turn on automatic updates), use a good antivirus apps, double check a free applications before you start it (do a google search, scan a downloaded file with VirusTotal), avoid malicious and unknown web sites.

Finish words

Now your PC should be clean of the Chrome.exe adware virus that redirects your browser to undesired ad web pages. We suggest that you keep Zemana Anti Malware (to periodically scan your personal computer for new viruss and other malware) and AdGuard (to help you block intrusive pop ups and malicious web sites). Moreover, to prevent any virus, please stay clear of unknown and third party apps, make sure that your antivirus program, turn on the option to look for potentially unwanted software.

If you need more help with Chrome.exe virus related issues, go to our Spyware/Malware removal forum.