What is App Discovery Tools?
Cyber threat analysts has determined that the App Discovery Tools is a potentially unwanted program (PUP)that belongs to the Browser hijackers family. It performs changes on popular web-browsers installed on the affected computer. Particularly, it changes the user’s default home page, new tab and search provider for their Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox and MS Edge web browsers.
When the App Discovery Tools browser hijacker is installed on a browser, it can:
- set App Discovery Tools as search engine by default, new tab, and start page;
- prevent users from replacing search provider or home page address;
- redirect your queries to sponsored websites;
- provide altered search results;
- record your search queries;
- periodically redirects to questionable web pages;
- display unwanted advertisements;
- collect Internet browsing habits and share it with third-parties.
Some hijackers also contain adware (also known as ‘adware software’) which has the ability to open undesired ads or gather lots of marketing-type data about you that can be sold to third parties. These undesired ads can be displayed as pop-unders, pop-ups, in-text ads, video ads, text links or banners or even massive full page ads. Most of the adware software is created to display advertisements, but some adware is form of spyware that often used to track users to collect lots of your user data.
Threat Summary
| Name | App Discovery Tools |
| Type | browser hijacker, search provider hijacker, startpage hijacker, toolbar, unwanted new tab, redirect virus |
| Symptoms |
|
| Removal | App Discovery Tools removal guide |
How can a browser hijacker get on your machine
Many software used to hijack a PC system’s browser. So, when you installing free programs, carefully read the disclaimers, select the Custom or Advanced installation mode to watch for additional apps that are being installed, because some of the applications are adware and potentially unwanted software.
In order to remove browser hijacker infection and revert back the Internet Explorer, MS Edge, Chrome and Firefox settings to its default state, please use the App Discovery Tools removal guide below.
How to remove App Discovery Tools (Removal guide)
The App Discovery Tools is a browser hijacker that you might have difficulty in removing it from your PC system. Luckily, you have found the effective removal instructions in this article. Both the manual removal solution and the automatic removal way will be provided below and you can just choose the one that best for you. If you have any questions or need help then type a comment below. Read this manual carefully, bookmark it or open this page on your smartphone, because you may need to shut down your browser or reboot your computer.
To remove App Discovery Tools, complete the steps below:
- Delete App Discovery Tools without any utilities
- Automatic Removal of App Discovery Tools hijacker
- Stop App Discovery Tools redirect
- Finish words
Delete App Discovery Tools without any utilities
To remove App Discovery Tools browser hijacker, adware and other unwanted programs you can try to do so manually. Unfortunately some of the hijackers won’t show up in your application list, but some hijackers may. In this case, you may be able to remove it through the uninstall function of your machine. You can do this by following the steps below.
Remove App Discovery Tools related apps through the Control Panel of your system
In order to get rid of potentially unwanted programs such as this hijacker infection, open the Microsoft Windows Control Panel and click on “Uninstall a program”. Check the list of installed applications. For the ones you do not know, run an Internet search to see if they are adware, hijacker or PUPs. If yes, remove them off. Even if they are just a software that you do not use, then deleting them off will increase your PC start up time and speed dramatically.
Windows 10, 8.1, 8
Click the Windows logo, and then click Search 
. Type ‘Control panel’and press Enter like below.
Once the ‘Control Panel’ opens, click the ‘Uninstall a program’ link under Programs category as displayed in the figure below.
Windows 7, Vista, XP
Open Start menu and choose the ‘Control Panel’ at right as shown in the following example.
Then go to ‘Add/Remove Programs’ or ‘Uninstall a program’ (Microsoft Windows 7 or Vista) as displayed on the screen below.
Carefully browse through the list of installed applications and delete all suspicious and unknown applications. We recommend to click ‘Installed programs’ and even sorts all installed software by date. After you’ve found anything suspicious that may be the App Discovery Tools hijacker or other potentially unwanted application (PUA), then select this program and press ‘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 system.
Remove App Discovery Tools from Firefox
If Firefox start page or search provider are hijacked by the App Discovery Tools, your internet browser shows annoying pop up advertisements, then ‘Reset Firefox’ could solve these problems. It will keep your personal information such as browsing history, bookmarks, passwords and web form auto-fill data.
First, run the Firefox. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (
). It will display the drop-down menu. Next, click the Help button (
).
In the Help menu click the “Troubleshooting Information”. In the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page click on “Refresh Firefox” button as displayed on the image below.
Confirm your action, click the “Refresh Firefox”.
Remove App Discovery Tools from Chrome
This step will show you how to reset Google Chrome search provider, new tab and homepage to default state. This can get rid of App Discovery Tools and fix some surfing issues, especially after hijacker infection. Essential information such as bookmarks, browsing history, passwords, cookies, auto-fill data and personal dictionaries will not be removed.
First start the Google Chrome. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal dots (
).
It will display the Google Chrome menu. Select More Tools, then press Extensions. Carefully browse through the list of installed add-ons. If the list has the add-on signed with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guide: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
Open the Chrome menu once again. Further, click the option named “Settings”.
The web browser will open the settings screen. Another way to display the Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the browser adress bar and press Enter
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and press the “Advanced” link. Now scroll down until the “Reset” section is visible, as shown below and click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
The Google Chrome will show the confirmation dialog box as shown below.
You need to confirm your action, press the “Reset” button. The web-browser will launch the procedure of cleaning. When it is complete, the browser’s settings including start page, default search engine and new tab page back to the values that have been when the Chrome was first installed on your PC system.
Delete App Discovery Tools start page from Microsoft Internet Explorer
In order to recover all web browser new tab page, homepage and default search engine you need to reset the Microsoft Internet Explorer to the state, which was when the Microsoft Windows was installed on your computer.
First, start the IE, click 
) button. Next, click “Internet Options” such as the one below.
In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, click Reset button. The 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 personal computer for the changes to take effect. It will remove hijacker infection responsible for modifying your web-browser settings to App Discovery Tools, disable malicious and ad-supported web browser’s extensions and restore the Internet Explorer’s settings like startpage, new tab page and search provider by default to default state.
Automatic Removal of App Discovery Tools hijacker
Anti-Malware programs differ from each other by many features such as performance, scheduled scans, automatic updates, virus signature database, technical support, compatibility with other antivirus programs and so on. We recommend you use the following free software: Zemana, MalwareBytes Free and Hitman Pro. Each of these applications has all of needed features, but most importantly, they can locate the hijacker and remove App Discovery Tools from the Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and MS Edge.
Remove App Discovery Tools with Zemana Free
Zemana Free is a free program for Windows operating system to look for and delete potentially unwanted applications, adware, malicious internet browser extensions, browser toolbars, and other unwanted programs like hijacker which changes browser settings to replace your new tab page, start page and search provider by default with App Discovery Tools web-site.
Download Zemana Anti Malware on your Microsoft Windows Desktop by clicking on the link below.
164101 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
Once the downloading process is finished, close all applications and windows on your system. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s called Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup similar to the one below.
When the setup starts, you will see the “Setup wizard” which will help you install Zemana on your computer.
Once setup is finished, you will see window like below.
Now click the “Scan” button . Zemana program will scan through the whole personal computer for the hijacker that designed to redirect your browser to the App Discovery Tools web-page. A system scan may take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your system. During the scan Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) will scan for threats present on your PC system.
When Zemana is complete scanning your computer, a list of all threats detected is produced. Review the scan results and then click “Next” button.
The Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) will get rid of hijacker responsible for App Discovery Tools and add threats to the Quarantine.
Run HitmanPro to delete App Discovery Tools
HitmanPro is a free removal tool. It deletes PUPs, adware, browser hijacker infections and unwanted web browser extensions. It’ll search for and get rid of hijacker infection related to App Discovery Tools homepage. Hitman Pro uses very small personal computer resources and is a portable program. Moreover, Hitman Pro does add another layer of malware protection.
- Download HitmanPro on your PC system by clicking on the following link.
- After downloading is finished, start the Hitman Pro, double-click the HitmanPro.exe file.
- If the “User Account Control” prompts, press Yes to continue.
- In the HitmanPro window, click the “Next” . Hitman Pro utility will begin scanning the whole PC to find out browser hijacker that causes browsers to display undesired App Discovery Tools website. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your PC and the speed of your PC system. While the tool is scanning, you may see how many objects and files has already scanned.
- When the scan get finished, the results are displayed in the scan report. Review the report and then click “Next”. Now, click the “Activate free license” button to start the free 30 days trial to remove all malicious software found.
Run MalwareBytes Free to remove App Discovery Tools
You can remove App Discovery Tools automatically with a help of MalwareBytes Free. We suggest this free malicious software removal tool because it can easily get rid of hijacker, adware, potentially unwanted apps and toolbars with all their components such as files, folders and registry entries.
First, visit the page linked below, then press the ‘Download’ button in order to download the latest version of MalwareBytes Free.
326454 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
Once the downloading process is done, close all windows on your personal computer. Further, launch the file called mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” prompt pops up such as the one below, press the “Yes” button.
It will show the “Setup wizard” which will allow you install MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) on the PC system. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
Once install is done successfully, click Finish button. Then MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) will automatically launch and you can see its main window as displayed below.
Next, press the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan with this utility for the browser hijacker responsible for App Discovery Tools . This process can take some time, so please be patient. When a threat is detected, the number of the security threats will change accordingly. Wait until the the checking is finished.
After the scan is finished, MalwareBytes Free will open a list of all threats found by the scan. When you’re ready, click “Quarantine Selected” button.
The MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) will get rid of browser hijacker infection that developed to redirect your internet browser to the App Discovery Tools web-site and add items to the Quarantine. After disinfection is done, you can be prompted to restart your machine. We recommend you look at the following video, which completely explains the procedure of using the MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) to get rid of browser hijackers, adware and other malware.
Stop App Discovery Tools redirect
Use ad blocker program such as AdGuard in order to block advertisements, malvertisements, pop-ups and online trackers, avoid having to install malicious and adware browser plug-ins and add-ons which affect your computer performance and impact your PC security. Browse the Internet anonymously and stay safe online!
- Please go to the link below to download the latest version of AdGuard for Windows. Save it on your MS Windows desktop or in any other place.
Adguard download
26655 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- When downloading is finished, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
- After the installation is done, press “Skip” to close the setup 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 don’t need to change anything. Each time, when you start your PC system, AdGuard will launch automatically and stop unwanted advertisements, block App Discovery Tools, as well as other harmful 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 named AdGuard, which can be found on your desktop.
Finish words
Now your machine should be clean of the browser hijacker infection which modifies internet browser settings to replace your startpage, new tab page and search provider by default with App Discovery Tools web-page. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted pop-ups and intrusive malicious web pages) and Zemana Anti-Malware (to periodically scan your personal computer for new malicious software, hijacker infections and adware). Make sure that you have all the Critical Updates recommended for MS Windows OS. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new browser hijacker infections, harmful software and adware are released.
If you are still having problems while trying to remove App Discovery Tools redirect from your browser, then ask for help here.
