Are you seeing Sidebar ads in the Internet Explorer, MS Edge, Firefox and Google Chrome every time you use the browser to surf the World Wide Web? This might be a sign that you’ve an potentially unwanted application (PUA) from the ‘ad-supported’ software (also known as adware) category installed on your PC system. The adware looks the entire traffic generated by you and on this basis, it displays tons of unwanted ads, offers and deals. Currently, this ad-supported software are widely spread, due to the fact that most people are trying to find free applications, download and install them on the PC without proper attention to the fact that the adware can be installed onto the PC along with them.
The adware which causes intrusive Sidebar ads, is the part of the software that is used as an online promotional tool. It is created with the sole purpose to show dozens of ads, and thus to promote the goods and services in an open web-browser window. Moreover, the adware can substitute the legitimate advertising banners on misleading or even banners that can offer to visit harmful sites. The reason is simple, many advertisers agree on any ways to attract users to their web sites, so the creators of ad supported software, often forcing users to click on an ads. For each click on the ads, the creators of the ad supported software receive income.
So, if you happen to encounter annoying Sidebar ads, then be quick and take effort to remove adware sooner. This will also prevent the ‘ad supported’ software from tracking your online activities. A full Sidebar ads removal can be easily carried out using manual or automatic method listed below. Let us know how you managed by sending us your comments please.
Remove Sidebar ads
Not all undesired applications like ad supported software which developed to display annoying Sidebar ads are easily uninstallable. You might see popups, deals, text links, in-text advertisements, banners and other type of ads in the Internet Explorer, MS Edge, Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and might not be able to figure out the program responsible for this activity. The reason for this is that many undesired programs neither appear in MS Windows Control Panel. Therefore in order to fully remove Sidebar ads, you need to execute the steps below. Read this manual carefully, bookmark or print it, because you may need to close your web-browser or restart your computer.
To remove Sidebar ads, execute the following steps:
- Remove Sidebar advertisements without any utilities
- How to automatically remove Sidebar advertisements
- How to block Sidebar advertisements
- How to prevent Sidebar advertisements from getting inside your personal computer
- To sum up
Remove Sidebar advertisements without any utilities
These steps to remove Sidebar ads without any applications are presented below. Be sure to carry out the step-by-step steps completely to fully remove this ‘ad supported’ software responsible for unwanted advertisements, deals and offers.
Check the list of installed software first
The process of ad supported software removal is generally the same across all versions of Windows OS from 10 to XP. To start with, it is necessary to check the list of installed programs on your computer and delete all unused, unknown and suspicious programs.
Windows 8, 8.1, 10
First, click the Windows button
, then click Search 
. Type “Control panel”and press Enter.Windows XP, Vista, 7
First, click “Start” and select “Control Panel”.
It will open the Windows Control Panel as displayed on the screen below.
Next, click “Uninstall a program” 
It will show a list of all applications installed on your PC. Scroll through the all list, and remove any suspicious and unknown programs. To quickly find the latest installed software, we recommend sort applications by date in the Control panel.
Remove unwanted Scheduled Tasks
Once installed, the adware can add a task in to the Windows Task Scheduler Library. Due to this, every time when you boot your PC, this unwanted software will be started automatically. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and delete all harmful tasks that have been created by unwanted programs.
Press Windows and R keys on the keyboard together. This shows a prompt that titled as Run. In the text field, type “taskschd.msc” (without the quotes) and press OK. Task Scheduler window opens. In the left-hand side, click “Task Scheduler Library”, as shown on the screen below.
Task scheduler
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 suspicious, then get rid of this harmful task. If you are not sure that executes the task, check it through a search engine. If it is a component of the adware, then this task also should be removed.
Having defined the task that you want to delete, then press on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as on the image below.
Delete a task
Repeat this step, if you have found a few tasks which have been created by ‘ad-supported’ application. Once is complete, close the Task Scheduler window.
Delete Sidebar ads from Mozilla Firefox by resetting browser settings
Resetting Mozilla Firefox internet browser will reset all the settings to their default state and will remove Sidebar advertisements, malicious add-ons and extensions. It’ll save your personal information like saved passwords, bookmarks, auto-fill data and open tabs.
First, start the Firefox and press 
button. It will display the drop-down menu on the right-part of the web browser. Further, click the Help button (
) as displayed on the image below.
In the Help menu, select the “Troubleshooting Information” option. Another way to open the “Troubleshooting Information” screen – type “about:support” in the browser adress bar and press Enter. It will show the “Troubleshooting Information” page as displayed in the following example. In the upper-right corner of this screen, click the “Refresh Firefox” button.
It will display the confirmation dialog box. Further, press the “Refresh Firefox” button. The Mozilla Firefox will start a task to fix your problems that caused by the adware responsible for Sidebar ads. After, it is finished, click the “Finish” button.
Remove Sidebar ads from Google Chrome
If your Chrome web-browser opens unwanted Sidebar ads, it may be necessary to completely reset your web browser application to its default settings.
- First launch the Google 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 will see the list of installed extensions. If the list has the add-on labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following instructions: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
- Now open the Chrome menu once again, click the “Settings” menu.
- You will see the Google Chrome’s settings page. Scroll down and press “Advanced” link.
- Scroll down again and click the “Reset” button.
- The Google Chrome will open the reset profile settings page as on the image above.
- Next click the “Reset” button.
- Once this task is complete, your internet browser’s search provider, new tab and homepage will be restored to their original defaults.
- To learn more, read the blog post How to reset Chrome settings to default.
Remove Sidebar ads from Internet Explorer
The Internet Explorer reset is great if your web browser is hijacked or you have unwanted addo-ons or toolbars on your internet browser, that installed by an malicious software.
First, run the Internet Explorer, then press ‘gear’ icon 
. It will open the Tools drop-down menu on the right part of the web-browser, then press the “Internet Options” like below.
In the “Internet Options” screen, select the “Advanced” tab, then press the “Reset” button. The Internet Explorer will display the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” prompt. Further, press the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. Next, click the “Reset” button like below.
Once the procedure is finished, press “Close” button. Close the Microsoft Internet Explorer and reboot your machine for the changes to take effect. This step will help you to restore your internet browser’s new tab page, search provider by default and home page to default state.
How to automatically remove Sidebar advertisements
It’s not enough to remove Sidebar advertisements from your internet browser by completing the manual steps above to solve all problems. Some the adware related files may remain on your computer and they will recover the adware even after you get rid of it. For that reason we recommend to use free antimalware utility like Zemana Anti Malware, MalwareBytes and HitmanPro. Either of those programs should has the ability to search for and get rid of ad-supported software that responsible for the appearance of Sidebar ads.
Run Zemana Anti-malware to remove Sidebar ads
Zemana Anti-malware is a utility that can delete ad supported software, PUPs, browser hijackers and other malware from your computer easily and for free. Zemana Anti-malware is compatible with most antivirus software. It works under Windows (10 – XP, 32 and 64 bit) and uses minimum of PC resources.
Download Zemana on your computer by clicking on the following link.
164112 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
When the download is finished, close all windows on your machine. Further, run the install file named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup. If the “User Account Control” prompt pops up as displayed in the following example, click the “Yes” button.
It will show the “Setup wizard” that will assist you install Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) on the computer. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
Once installation is finished successfully, Zemana Free will automatically start and you can see its main window as shown in the following example.
Next, press the “Scan” button to search for adware responsible for Sidebar ads. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your system and the speed of your PC system.
When the system scan is finished, a list of all items detected is prepared. Make sure all items have ‘checkmark’ and click “Next” button.
The Zemana AntiMalware will start to remove ‘ad supported’ software that causes intrusive Sidebar ads. After that process is finished, you may be prompted to reboot your system.
Use HitmanPro to remove Sidebar advertisements
The Hitman Pro tool is free (30 day trial) and easy to use. It can scan and get rid of malware, PUPs and adware in Edge, Chrome, IE and Mozilla Firefox web-browsers and thereby get rid of all undesired Sidebar ads. Hitman Pro is powerful enough to find and remove harmful registry entries and files that are hidden on the personal computer.
HitmanPro can be downloaded from the following link. Save it on your Desktop.
Download and use Hitman Pro on your machine. Once started, click “Next” button to perform a system scan with this utility for the adware that causes a large amount of undesired Sidebar advertisements. This procedure may take some time, so please be patient. When a malicious software, adware or potentially unwanted programs are detected, the number of the security threats will change accordingly. .
As the scanning ends, you can check all items found on your system.
Make sure all items have ‘checkmark’ and click Next button.
It will display a dialog box, click the “Activate free license” button to begin the free 30 days trial to remove all malicious software found.
Scan and clean your machine of adware with Malwarebytes
Remove Sidebar advertisements manually is difficult and often the ad supported software 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 get rid of malicious software, potentially unwanted software, toolbars and browser hijackers that your machine may be infected too.
- MalwareBytes Free can be downloaded from the following link. Save it to your Desktop.
Malwarebytes Anti-malware
326462 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
- Once the downloading process is finished, close all programs and windows on your personal computer. Open a folder in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
- Further, press Next button and follow the prompts.
- Once setup is complete, click the “Scan Now” button to scan for ‘ad supported’ software related to Sidebar advertisements. This process can take quite a while, so please be patient.
- Once the scanning is complete, you can check all threats found on your personal computer. Make sure all threats have ‘checkmark’ and click “Quarantine Selected”. After the cleaning procedure is complete, you can be prompted to reboot your computer.
The following video offers a tutorial on how to get rid of hijackers, adware and other malware with MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM).
How to block Sidebar advertisements
It is also critical to protect your web-browsers from harmful websites and ads by using an ad-blocking application such as AdGuard. Security experts says that it’ll greatly reduce the risk of malware, and potentially save lots of money. Additionally, the AdGuard can also protect your privacy by blocking almost all trackers.
- AdGuard can be downloaded from the following link. Save it to your Desktop.
Adguard download
26658 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- After downloading it, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
- Once the installation is finished, click “Skip” to close the install application and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that will assist 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 start your PC, AdGuard will start automatically and block pop-ups, Sidebar ads, as well as other harmful 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 icon named AdGuard, that can be found on your desktop.
How to prevent Sidebar advertisements from getting inside your personal computer
Usually, adware gets into your personal computer as part of a bundle with freeware, sharing files and other unsafe applications which you downloaded from the Net. The developers of this ad supported software pays software creators for distributing adware within their software. So, third-party programs is often included as part of the setup file. In order to avoid the install of any adware related to Sidebar ads: select only Manual, Custom or Advanced installation type and uncheck all bundled software in which you are unsure.
To sum up
Now your system should be clean of the ad-supported software that causes lots of intrusive Sidebar advertisements. We suggest that you keep Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) (to periodically scan your system for new ad-supported softwares and other malicious software) and AdGuard (to help you block intrusive ads and malicious web-sites). Moreover, to prevent any ad-supported software, please stay clear of unknown and third party apps, make sure that your antivirus program, turn on the option to scan for potentially unwanted software.
If you need more help with Sidebar ads related issues, go to our Spyware/Malware removal forum.
