If your web-browser gets re-directed to unwanted website named Activetect.net or a ton of ads are displayed where they should not be then may be possible that adware (sometimes called ‘ad-supported’ software) was installed on your PC.
http://activetect.net/ …
Adware is an undesired software usually gets installed alongside free software, codecs and shareware. Aside from causing redirects, the ad supported software also can display a lot of advertisements, slow down the computer and continually gather a wide variety of marketing-type data about you.
While the computer is infected by the ad supported software that causes unwanted Activetect.net pop-ups, when you use the MS Edge, Google Chrome, IE and Firefox or open any web-site, you may see in your browser’s status bar the following messages: ‘Waiting for Activetect.net’, ‘Transferring data from Activetect.net’, ‘Looking up Activetect.net’, ‘Read Activetect.net’, ‘Connected to Activetect.net’.
The worst is, the adware be able to collect a wide variety of user info about you which can be later sold to third party companies. You don’t know if your home address, account names and passwords are safe.
The ad supported software usually hijacks only the Internet Explorer, Firefox, Edge and Chrome by modifying the web-browser’s settings or installing a malicious extensions. Moreover, possible situations, when any other web browsers will be hijacked too. The adware will perform a scan of the PC system for browser shortcuts and modify them without your permission.
We suggest you remove adware responsible for redirections to Activetect.net as quickly as possible. This will also prevent the adware from tracking your online activities. A full Activetect.net pop-ups removal can be easily carried out using manual or automatic method listed below.
Remove Activetect.net pop-ups, ads, notifications
There are several steps to removing the ad-supported software that cause undesired Activetect.net pop-ups to appear, because it installs itself so deeply into MS Windows. You need to uninstall all suspicious and unknown apps, then remove malicious addons from the Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Chrome and Microsoft Edge and other browsers you have installed. Finally, you need to reset your internet browser settings to get rid of any changes the ad supported software has made, and then scan your personal computer with Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM), MalwareBytes AntiMalware or Hitman Pro to ensure the ad-supported software is fully removed. It will take a while.
To remove Activetect.net, perform the following steps:
- How to manually remove Activetect.net
- Remove Activetect.net popup advertisements with free programs
- How to stop Activetect.net pop up advertisements
- How was adware installed on machine
- To sum up
How to manually remove Activetect.net
If you perform exactly the few simple steps below you should be able to remove the Activetect.net advertisements from the Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers.
Uninstall dubious applications using MS Windows Control Panel
Some programs are free only because their setup file contains an adware. This unwanted software generates revenue for the authors when it is installed. More often this ad-supported software can be removed by simply uninstalling it from the ‘Uninstall a Program’ that is located in Windows control panel.
Make sure you have closed all web browsers and other programs. Press CTRL, ALT, DEL keys together to open the MS Windows Task Manager.
Click on the “Processes” tab, look for something suspicious that is the adware that causes a large amount of annoying Activetect.net popup advertisements then right-click it and select “End Task” or “End Process” option. In many cases, malicious software masks itself to avoid detection by imitating legitimate Microsoft Windows processes. A process is particularly suspicious: it’s taking up a lot of memory (despite the fact that you closed all of your programs), its name is not familiar to you (if you’re in doubt, you can always check the program by doing a search for its name in Google, Yahoo or Bing).
Next, remove any undesired and suspicious apps from your Control panel.
Windows 10, 8.1, 8
Now, press the Windows button, type “Control panel” in search and press Enter. Choose “Programs and Features”, then “Uninstall a program”.
Look around the entire list of applications installed on your PC. Most likely, one of them is the ad supported software that causes multiple intrusive pop up advertisements. Choose the suspicious program or the program that name is not familiar to you and remove it.
Windows Vista, 7
From the “Start” menu in MS Windows, select “Control Panel”. Under the “Programs” icon, choose “Uninstall a program”.
Choose the suspicious or any unknown apps, then press “Uninstall/Change” button to delete this undesired program from your computer.
Windows XP
Click the “Start” button, select “Control Panel” option. Click on “Add/Remove Programs”.
Select an unwanted program, then press “Change/Remove” button. Follow the prompts.
Remove Activetect.net pop-ups from Chrome
In this step we are going to show you how to reset Chrome settings. potentially unwanted programs such as the ad-supported software can make changes to your web-browser settings, add toolbars and unwanted extensions. By resetting Chrome settings you will remove Activetect.net popup ads and reset unwanted changes caused by adware. However, your saved bookmarks and passwords will not be lost. This will not affect your history, passwords, bookmarks, and other saved data.
First run the Google Chrome. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal dots (
).
It will display the Chrome menu. Choose More Tools, then click Extensions. Carefully browse through the list of installed plugins. If the list has the extension signed with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following instructions: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
Open the Chrome menu once again. Further, click the option called “Settings”.
The browser will open the settings screen. Another solution to open the Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the browser adress bar and press Enter
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the “Reset” section is visible, as shown in the following example and click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
The Google Chrome will open the confirmation dialog box as on the image below.
You need to confirm your action, click the “Reset” button. The web browser will run the task of cleaning. Once it is complete, the web browser’s settings including search engine, newtab page and start page back to the values which have been when the Chrome was first installed on your PC system.
Delete Activetect.net redirect from IE
In order to restore all web browser new tab page, search engine and start page you need to reset the Internet Explorer to the state, that was when the MS Windows was installed on your PC system.
First, run the Internet Explorer, press 
) button. Next, click “Internet Options” as shown on the image below.
In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, press Reset button. The Microsoft Internet Explorer will open the Reset Internet Explorer settings prompt. 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 get rid of adware responsible for redirecting your web browser to Activetect.net webpage, disable malicious and ad-supported web-browser’s extensions and restore the Internet Explorer’s settings such as newtab page, homepage and search provider by default to default state.
Remove Activetect.net from Mozilla Firefox by resetting web-browser settings
The Mozilla Firefox reset will delete redirects to intrusive Activetect.net web-site, modified preferences, extensions and security settings. However, your themes, bookmarks, history, passwords, and web form auto-fill information will not be deleted.
Run the Firefox and click the menu button (it looks like three stacked lines) at the top right of the browser screen. Next, click 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’re 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 displayed below.
Click the “Refresh Firefox” button at the top right of the Troubleshooting Information page. Select “Refresh Firefox” in the confirmation dialog box. The Firefox will begin a process to fix your problems that caused by the ad-supported software that developed to redirect your internet browser to various ad web sites such as Activetect.net. After, it is done, press the “Finish” button.
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 machine, it will show Activetect.net undesired site. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and remove all harmful tasks which have been created by ‘ad-supported’ applications.
Press Windows and R keys on your keyboard at the same time. 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 shown on the screen 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 open just below automatically. Next, press the Actions tab. Necessary to look at the text which is written under Details. Found something like “explorer.exe http://site.address” or “chrome.exe http://site.address” or “firefox.exe http://site.address”, then you need remove this task. If you are not sure that executes the task, then google it. If it is a component of the adware, then this task also should be removed.
Further press on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as displayed in the figure below.
Task scheduler, delete a task
Repeat this step, if you have found a few tasks that have been created by ‘ad-supported’ applications. Once is finished, close the Task Scheduler window.
Remove Activetect.net popup advertisements with free programs
Use malicious software removal tools to get rid of Activetect.net popups automatically. The freeware utilities specially made for browser hijacker infections, ad-supported software and other potentially unwanted programs removal. These utilities can delete most of ad-supported software from MS Edge, Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer. Moreover, it can remove all components of ad supported software from Windows registry and system drives.
Run Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) to delete Activetect.net pop ups
Zemana AntiMalware highly recommended, because it can search for security threats such adware and ad supported softwares which most ‘classic’ antivirus software fail to pick up on. Moreover, if you have any Activetect.net ads removal problems which cannot be fixed by this utility automatically, then Zemana provides 24X7 online assistance from the highly experienced support staff.
- Installing the Zemana Anti Malware is simple. First you will need to download Zemana Anti-Malware by clicking on the link below. Save it to your Desktop.
Zemana AntiMalware
164114 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
- At the download page, click on the Download button. Your internet browser will open the “Save as” prompt. Please save it onto your Windows desktop.
- Once the downloading process is finished, please close all programs and open windows on your personal computer. Next, start a file named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup.
- This will run the “Setup wizard” of Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) onto your system. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
- When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the Zemana will launch and show the main window.
- Further, press the “Scan” button to start scanning your computer for the ad supported software that cause unwanted Activetect.net pop up ads to appear. During the scan Zemana will find threats present on your PC system.
- Once the scanning is done, Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) will open a scan report.
- All found threats will be marked. You can get rid of them all by simply click the “Next” button. The utility will remove ad supported software that responsible for browser redirect to the annoying Activetect.net webpage and add items to the Quarantine. Once that process is finished, you may be prompted to reboot the computer.
- Close the Zemana Anti-Malware and continue with the next step.
Remove Activetect.net pop-ups from internet browsers with HitmanPro
The HitmanPro tool is free (30 day trial) and easy to use. It can scan and remove malicious software, PUPs and ad supported software in Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge web-browsers and thereby remove all unwanted Activetect.net advertisements. Hitman Pro is powerful enough to find and remove malicious registry entries and files that are hidden on the computer.
HitmanPro can be downloaded from the following link. Save it on your Windows desktop.
Once the download is finished, open the file location and double-click the Hitman Pro icon. It will launch the HitmanPro utility. If the User Account Control prompt will ask you want to start the application, click Yes button to continue.
Next, click “Next” . HitmanPro tool will begin scanning the whole machine to find out adware that causes web browsers to display undesired Activetect.net pop-up ads. Depending on your PC, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. During the scan HitmanPro will find out threats present on your PC.
When Hitman Pro has completed scanning your PC, you may check all items detected on your machine as shown on the screen below.
You may delete items (move to Quarantine) by simply press “Next” button. It will display a dialog box, click the “Activate free license” button. The Hitman Pro will remove ad-supported software which causes annoying Activetect.net pop-up ads and add items to the Quarantine. Once that process is done, the tool may ask you to reboot your computer.
Scan and clean your system of adware with Malwarebytes
You can remove Activetect.net pop ups automatically with a help of Malwarebytes Free. We recommend this free malicious software removal tool because it may easily delete hijackers, adware, PUPs and toolbars with all their components such as files, folders and registry entries.
Visit the following page to download the latest version of MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) for Windows. Save it to your Desktop.
326466 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
Once the downloading process is finished, close all programs and windows on your PC. Double-click the install file called 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 (MBAM) on your computer. Follow the prompts and don’t make any changes to default settings.
Once installation is finished successfully, click Finish button. MalwareBytes will automatically start and you can see its main screen as shown on the image below.
Now click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan with this utility for the adware responsible for redirecting your web-browser to Activetect.net page. This process can take quite a while, so please be patient. While the MalwareBytes is scanning, you can see number of objects it has identified either as being malware.
Once the system scan is done, MalwareBytes Free will display a scan report. Once you have selected what you wish to get rid of from your system press “Quarantine Selected” button. The MalwareBytes Anti-Malware will get rid of adware that causes multiple annoying advertisements and add items to the Quarantine. When the cleaning process is complete, you may be prompted to reboot the machine.
We suggest you look at the following video, which completely explains the process of using the MalwareBytes to remove ad-supported software, browser hijacker and other malware.
How to stop Activetect.net pop up advertisements
If you want to remove undesired advertisements, web-browser redirects and pop ups, then install an ad blocker application like AdGuard. It can block Activetect.net, ads, pop ups and block pages from tracking your online activities when using the Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Firefox. So, if you like browse the Internet, but you do not like unwanted ads and want to protect your PC from harmful web-sites, then the AdGuard is your best choice.
Visit the following page to download the latest version of AdGuard for Microsoft Windows. Save it on your MS Windows desktop or in any other place.
26660 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
Once downloading is finished, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as shown below.
Follow the prompts. After the installation is done, you will see a window as shown on the image below.
You can click “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial that will assist 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 run your machine, AdGuard will start automatically and block unwanted advertisements, stop Activetect.net pop-ups, 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 AdGuard icon, that can be found on your desktop.
How was adware installed on machine
The adware usually gets on your PC system as a part of another program in the same setup package. The risk of this is especially high for the various free programs downloaded from the World Wide Web. The makers of the apps are hoping that users will run the quick installation method, that is simply to press the Next button, without paying attention to the information on the screen and don’t carefully considering every step of the installation procedure. Thus, the ad supported software can infiltrate your system without your knowledge. Therefore, it’s very important to read all the information that tells the program during setup, including the ‘Terms of Use’ and ‘Software license’. Use only the Manual, Custom or Advanced installation option. This mode will help you to disable all optional and unwanted apps and components.
To sum up
Now your computer should be free of the adware which created to redirect your web browser to the Activetect.net. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you block unwanted advertisements and annoying harmful web-sites) and Zemana (to periodically scan your PC for new malicious software, hijackers and adware). Make sure that you have all the Critical Updates recommended for Microsoft Windows operating system. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new browser hijackers, malicious apps and adware are released.
If you are still having problems while trying to get rid of Activetect.net pop-up advertisements from your internet browser, then ask for help here.
