How to remove UTab [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

The UTab is a browser extension (add-on) which falls under the category of browser hijackers. It alters the newtab page, home page and search provider by default of your installed browsers like Mozilla Firefox, MS Edge, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer. When this hijacker infection is installed, it’ll modify the browser’s settings so that they automatically being redirected to the UTab as your start page and use it for Net searches. So, every time, when your internet browser opens, it’ll open UTab site. Furthermore, when you try to search via affected browser, it’ll redirect your queries first to UTab, and then on to Bing or Yahoo or Google Custom Search.

In order to force you to use UTab as often as possible this hijacker can alter your web browsers’ search engine. You may even find that your computer’s web-browser shortcuts and Windows HOSTS file are hijacked without your knowledge and conscious permission. The developers of this hijacker do so in order to generate revenue via Google AdSense or another third-party ad network. Thus every your click on advertisements that placed on the UTab generates revenue for them.

Another reason why you need to get rid of UTab is its online data-tracking activity. It can collect user data, including:

• IP addresses;
• URLs visited;
• search queries/terms;
• clicks on links and ads;
• web-browser version information.

The browser hijacker like UTab often modify all web browser shortcuts that located on your Desktop to force you visit certain annoying sites and display annoying ads. As a result, your web-browser can still redirect you to an undesired web site despite your internet browser is actually free of browser hijacker infection.

Therefore it is very important to free your computer of hijacker as quickly as possible. Follow the guide below to get rid of UTab search, as well as other malware and ad supported software, which can be installed onto your computer along with it.

Remove UTab from Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge (removal guidance)

In order to remove UTab from the Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge and set your favorite home page and search provider, you need to reset the browser settings. Additionally, you should look up for other questionable entries, such as files, programs, web-browser addons and shortcut files. However, if you want to delete UTab easily, you should use reputable antimalware tool and let it do the job for you.

To remove UTab, execute the following steps:

1. How to manually remove UTab
   • Remove potentially unwanted applications using MS Windows Control Panel
   • Disinfect the web-browser’s shortcuts to remove UTab startpage
   • Remove UTab from Firefox
   • Remove UTab redirect from Google Chrome
   • Remove UTab homepage from IE
2. Scan your computer and delete UTab with free tools
   • Remove UTab with Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM)
   • Use Hitman Pro to delete UTab search
   • How to delete UTab with Malwarebytes
3. Run AdBlocker to stop UTab and stay safe online
4. How does your system get infected with UTab hijacker
5. Finish words

How to manually remove UTab

Most common browser hijackers may be deleted without any antivirus software. The manual browser hijacker infection removal is step-by-step guidance that will teach you how to remove the UTab search.

Remove potentially unwanted applications using MS Windows Control Panel

We recommend that you start the system cleaning procedure by checking the list of installed applications and uninstall all unknown or dubious apps. This is a very important step, as mentioned above, very often the harmful software such as adware and browser hijackers may be bundled with free programs. Delete the unwanted applications can delete the unwanted ads or browser redirect.

Carefully browse through the list of installed apps and delete all dubious and unknown programs. We recommend to click ‘Installed programs’ and even sorts all installed programs by date. Once you have found anything questionable that may be the browser hijacker which changes browser settings to replace your default search engine, newtab and homepage with UTab website or other PUP (potentially unwanted program), then select this program and click ‘Uninstall’ in the upper part of the window. If the dubious program blocked from removal, then use Revo Uninstaller Freeware to fully delete it from your computer.

Disinfect the web-browser’s shortcuts to remove UTab startpage

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

Right click on the shortcut file of hijacked web-browser as shown below.

Select the “Properties” option and it will show the shortcut file’s properties. Next, click the “Shortcut” tab and then delete the “http://site.address” string from Target field as displayed on the image below.

Then click OK to save changes. Repeat the step for all web browsers that are redirected to the UTab annoying site.

Remove UTab from Firefox

If the Mozilla Firefox settings like newtab page, home page and search engine by default have been changed by the hijacker infection, then resetting it to the default state can help. It’ll keep your personal information like browsing history, bookmarks, passwords and web form auto-fill data.

First, launch the Mozilla Firefox. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It will open the drop-down menu. Next, click the Help button ().

In the Help menu press the “Troubleshooting Information”. In the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page click on “Refresh Firefox” button as displayed on the screen below.

Confirm your action, click the “Refresh Firefox”.

Remove UTab redirect from Google Chrome

Reset Chrome settings is a simple way to get rid of the browser hijacker, harmful and ‘ad-supported’ extensions, as well as to restore the web browser’s newtab, search engine by default and startpage that have been replaced by UTab hijacker.

Open the Google Chrome menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal dotes (). It will display the drop-down menu. Select More Tools, then click Extensions.

Carefully browse through the list of installed addons. If the list has the extension 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 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 displayed below and click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.

Confirm your action, click the “Reset” button.

Remove UTab homepage from IE

The IE reset is great if your internet browser is hijacked or you have unwanted add-ons or toolbars on your web browser, which installed by a malicious software.

First, start the Microsoft Internet Explorer, then click ‘gear’ icon . It will display the Tools drop-down menu on the right part of the web browser, then press the “Internet Options” as displayed in the following example.

In the “Internet Options” screen, select the “Advanced” tab, then click the “Reset” button. The Internet Explorer will open the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” prompt. Further, press the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. Next, click the “Reset” button as displayed below.

Once the procedure is done, click “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 web-browser’s start page, new tab page and search engine by default to default state.

Scan your computer and delete UTab with free tools

The browser hijacker infection can hide its components which are difficult for you to find out and delete completely. This can lead to the fact that after some time, the browser hijacker again infect your system and alter settings of installed web-browsers to UTab. Moreover, I want to note that it’s not always safe to delete hijacker manually, if you don’t have much experience in setting up and configuring the Microsoft Windows operating system. The best solution to find and get rid of hijacker infections is to run free malicious software removal programs.

Remove UTab with Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM)

We advise using the Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) which are completely clean your computer of the browser hijacker. The utility is an advanced malware removal application created by (c) Zemana lab. It is able to help you get rid of PUPs, hijackers, ad-supported software, malware, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your computer for free.

Now you can install and run Zemana Anti Malware to remove UTab redirect from your web-browser by following the steps below:

Visit the following page to download Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) setup file named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup on your personal computer. Save it to your Desktop.

Start the installer after it has been downloaded successfully and then follow the prompts to set up this utility on your machine.

During setup you can change certain settings, but we recommend you don’t make any changes to default settings.

When installation is finished, this malware removal tool will automatically launch and update itself. You will see its main window as shown in the figure below.

Now click the “Scan” button to detect browser hijacker infection responsible for UTab . A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your computer and the speed of your PC system.

After the scan is complete, Zemana will open a list of all items found by the scan. Make sure all threats have ‘checkmark’ and click “Next” button.

The Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) will remove browser hijacker that reroutes your internet browser to annoying UTab page. Once the procedure is complete, you may be prompted to restart your system to make the change take effect.

Use Hitman Pro to delete UTab search

Hitman Pro is a free removal utility. It deletes potentially unwanted apps, adware, browser hijacker infections and undesired internet browser extensions. It’ll identify and remove browser hijacker that cause UTab web-site to appear. Hitman Pro uses very small machine resources and is a portable program. Moreover, HitmanPro does add another layer of malware protection.

Visit the following page to download the latest version of Hitman Pro for Microsoft Windows. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.

After downloading is complete, open the file location. You will see an icon like below.

Double click the Hitman Pro desktop icon. After the tool is started, you will see a screen as on the image below.

Further, click “Next” button to perform a system scan for the hijacker infection that alters web browser settings to replace your search provider, newtab and home page with UTab webpage. Depending on your system, the scan may take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. When Hitman Pro has completed scanning your machine, you can check all items detected on your machine as shown in the figure below.

Review the scan results and then press “Next” button. It will show a prompt, press the “Activate free license” button.

How to delete UTab with Malwarebytes

You can get rid of UTab automatically with a help of Malwarebytes Free. We advise this free malicious software removal tool because it can easily get rid of browser hijackers, ‘ad supported’ software, potentially unwanted apps and toolbars with all their components such as files, folders and registry entries.

1. MalwareBytes Free can be downloaded from the following link. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.
   
   

   Malwarebytes Anti-malware
   327224 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: April 15, 2020
   
2. At the download page, click on the Download button. Your web browser will open the “Save as” prompt. Please save it onto your Windows desktop.
3. Once the downloading process is finished, please close all apps and open windows on your PC. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
4. This will open the “Setup wizard” of MalwareBytes AntiMalware onto your system. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
5. When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) will start and open the main window.
6. Further, press the “Scan Now” button to begin checking your computer for the browser hijacker infection that created to reroute your browser to the UTab webpage. Depending on your computer, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. When a threat is found, the count of the security threats will change accordingly.
7. When the system scan is finished, MalwareBytes Free will display a scan report.
8. You may delete threats (move to Quarantine) by simply click the “Quarantine Selected” button. After the procedure is finished, you may be prompted to restart the computer.
9. Close the Anti-Malware and continue with the next step.

Video instruction, which reveals in detail the steps above.

Run AdBlocker to stop UTab and stay safe online

If you want to get rid of intrusive ads, web-browser redirects and popups, then install an ad-blocking program like AdGuard. It can stop UTab, advertisements, pop ups and stop websites from tracking your online activities when using the Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Edge and Chrome. So, if you like browse the Internet, but you don’t like annoying advertisements and want to protect your PC from harmful web-sites, then the AdGuard is your best choice.

Installing the AdGuard is simple. First you’ll need to download AdGuard from the link below.

When downloading is complete, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as shown on the screen below.

Follow the prompts. After the install is finished, you will see a window as on the image below.

You can click “Skip” to close the installation application and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial that will help you get to know AdGuard better.

In most cases, the default settings are enough and you don’t need to change anything. Each time, when you run your computer, AdGuard will start automatically and stop pop up ads, pages such as UTab, as well as other malicious or misleading pages. For an overview of all the features of the application, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the AdGuard icon, which is located on your desktop.

How does your system get infected with UTab hijacker

Many browser hijacker infections such as UTab come from web browser toolbars, browser extensions, BHOs (browser helper objects) and additional apps. In many cases, these items claim itself as applications that improve your experience on the Internet by providing a fast and interactive home page or a search engine that does not track you. Remember, how to avoid the unwanted applications. Be cautious, run only reputable apps which download from reputable sources. NEVER install an unknown and suspicious program.

Finish words

Now your machine should be clean of the browser hijacker related to UTab . We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you block unwanted pop-up ads and annoying harmful webpages) and Zemana (to periodically scan your PC system for new hijackers 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 delete UTab search from the Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox, then ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.