What is Quick Tag?
According to experienced security specialists, Quick Tag is a potentially unwanted program (PUP) that belongs to the group of browser hijackers. Typically, browser hijackers make changes to the default homepage and search engine of user browsers, making it difficult to change them back. Browser hijackers may also include unwanted pop-ups and ads to show up in the affected web-browsers. Browser hijackers are usually installed with freeware or shareware download off from third-party web-pages; they can also be found inside legitimate web-sites and applications.
Quick Tag changes homepage to quicknewtab.com
The Quick Tag hijacker takes over your internet browser’s default search provider and controls what will be displayed to you whenever you do a searching. Other than the search results, it also provides lots of intrusive ads on the search page. Some of these ads designed to mislead you into buying certain questionable products and applications. Moreover, sometimes, those ads could redirect you to misleading or harmful websites.
In addition to the above, Quick Tag can be used to collect a wide variety of your personal data which can be later transferred third party companies. You do not know if your home address, account names and passwords are safe. And of course you completely do not know what will happen when you click on any ads on the Quick Tag webpage.
So, if you happen to encounter a browser hijacker or other such problem, then be quick and take effort to delete the browser hijacker immediately. Follow the few simple steps below to remove Quick Tag. Let us know how you managed by sending us your comments please.
How can a browser hijacker get on your computer
PUPs and browser hijackers usually are bundled with certain free software that users download off of the Net. To avoid infection, in the Setup wizard, you should be be proactive and carefully read the ‘Terms of use’, the ‘license agreement’ and other installation screens, as well as to always select the ‘Manual’ or ‘Advanced’ installation mode, when installing anything downloaded from the Internet.
Threat Summary
| Name | Quick Tag |
| Type | PUP, redirect virus, search engine hijacker, home page hijacker, browser hijacker |
| Associated domains | quicknewtab.com |
| Affected Browser Settings | newtab page URL, homepage, search provider |
| Distribution | free programs installation packages, shady pop up advertisements, fake software updaters |
| Symptoms | Popups and newtabs are loaded without your request. Every time you perform an Internet search, your web browser is redirected to another website. There is an unexpected program in the ‘App & Features’ section of MS Windows settings. New icons in your web-browser. Your web browser homepage or search provider keeps changing or is not set to Google anymor. |
| Removal | Quick Tag removal guide |
How to remove Quick Tag from Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge
In most cases browser hijackers require more than a simple uninstall through the use of Windows Control panel in order to be fully uninstalled. For that reason, our team developed several removal solutions that we’ve summarized in a detailed guide. Therefore, if you’ve the Quick Tag browser hijacker on your personal computer and are currently trying to have it removed then feel free to follow the steps below in order to resolve your problem. Read it once, after doing so, please bookmark this page (or open it on your smartphone) as you may need to close your internet browser or reboot your personal computer.
To remove Quick Tag, use the steps below:
How to manually remove Quick Tag
To delete browser hijacker, adware and other unwanted applications you can try to do so manually. Unfortunately some of the hijackers won’t show up in your program list, but some browser hijackers may. In this case, you may be able to delete it via the uninstall function of your personal computer. You can do this by following the steps below.
Delete potentially unwanted programs using Microsoft Windows Control Panel
The best way to begin the device cleanup is to delete unknown and suspicious programs. Using the MS Windows Control Panel you can do this quickly and easily. This step, in spite of its simplicity, should not be ignored, because the removing of unneeded software can clean up the Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge and Firefox from pop-up ads hijackers and so on.
Make sure you have closed all web browsers and other programs. Next, delete any unwanted and suspicious software from your Control panel.
Windows 10, 8.1, 8
Now, click 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 computer. Most likely, one of them is the Quick Tag hijacker. Choose the suspicious program or the application that name is not familiar to you and uninstall it.
Windows Vista, 7
From the “Start” menu in Windows, choose “Control Panel”. Under the “Programs” icon, select “Uninstall a program”.
Choose the dubious or any unknown programs, then press “Uninstall/Change” button to remove this undesired program from your computer.
Windows XP
Click the “Start” button, select “Control Panel” option. Click on “Add/Remove Programs”.
Choose an unwanted application, then press “Change/Remove” button. Follow the prompts.
Remove Quick Tag from Google Chrome
If Google Chrome new tab page, default search engine and startpage were hijacked by Quick Tag then ‘Reset Chrome’ is a method which allows to restore the web-browser to its factory state. To reset Chrome to the original defaults, follow the guide below.
- First start the Chrome and click Menu button (small button in the form of three dots).
- It will open the Google Chrome main menu. Choose More Tools, then press Extensions.
- You will see the list of installed extensions. If the list has the plugin labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guide: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
- Now open the Google Chrome menu once again, press the “Settings” menu.
- You will see the Chrome’s settings page. Scroll down and press “Advanced” link.
- Scroll down again and click the “Reset” button.
- The Chrome will open the reset profile settings page as shown on the image above.
- Next click the “Reset” button.
- Once this process is finished, your browser’s home page, search provider and new tab page will be restored to their original defaults.
- To learn more, read the article How to reset Google Chrome settings to default.
Remove Quick Tag hijacker from Mozilla Firefox
If the Mozilla Firefox browser search provider by default, home page and new tab are changed to quicknewtab.com and you want to restore the settings back to their default state, then you should follow the steps below. However, your saved passwords and bookmarks will not be changed, deleted or cleared.
Run the Mozilla 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 are 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 shown in the figure below.
Click the “Refresh Firefox” button at the top right of the Troubleshooting Information page. Select “Refresh Firefox” in the confirmation dialog box. The Mozilla Firefox will begin a task to fix your problems that caused by the Quick Tag browser hijacker. After, it’s complete, click the “Finish” button.
Get rid of Quick Tag hijacker from Internet Explorer
If you find that IE internet browser settings such as default search engine, new tab and home page had been hijacked, then you may revert back your settings, via the reset internet browser process.
First, open the IE. Next, click the button in the form of gear (
). It will display the Tools drop-down menu, click the “Internet Options” like below.
In the “Internet Options” window click on the Advanced tab, then click the Reset button. The Internet Explorer will open the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” window as shown in the following example. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box, then press “Reset” button.
You will now need to restart your PC system for the changes to take effect.
Automatic Removal of Quick Tag
There are not many good free antimalware programs with high detection ratio. The effectiveness of malware removal tools depends on various factors, mostly on how often their virus/malware signatures DB are updated in order to effectively detect modern malware, adware, browser hijackers and other potentially unwanted apps. We suggest to use several programs, not just one. These applications which listed below will allow you remove all components of the browser hijacker from your disk and Windows registry and thereby get rid of Quick Tag browser hijacker.
Use Zemana Anti Malware to delete Quick Tag hijacker
You can download and use the Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) for free. This anti malware tool will scan all the Windows registry entries and files in your PC system along with the system settings and web-browser addons. If it finds any malicious software, adware or malicious add-on that is responsible for redirects to quicknewtab.com then the Zemana will get rid of them from your personal computer completely.
Zemana AntiMalware can be downloaded from the following link. Save it to your Desktop.
164115 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
After the downloading process is done, close all windows on your PC. Further, open the set up file called Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up as on the image below, click the “Yes” button.
It will open the “Setup wizard” which will help you install Zemana Free on the computer. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
Once installation is complete successfully, Zemana Free will automatically launch and you may see its main window as shown below.
Next, click the “Scan” button . Zemana program will scan through the whole device for the Quick Tag browser hijacker. Depending on your device, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. While the Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) tool is checking, you may see how many objects it has identified as being affected by malicious software.
After that process is complete, Zemana Anti-Malware will display a scan report. Review the report and then press “Next” button.
The Zemana Anti Malware will get rid of Quick Tag browser hijacker and move the selected items to the Quarantine. After finished, you can be prompted to restart your computer.
Use HitmanPro to remove Quick Tag hijacker
HitmanPro is a malicious software removal utility that is created to find and remove hijackers, potentially unwanted applications, adware and suspicious processes from the infected computer. It’s a portable application that can be run instantly from USB flash drive. Hitman Pro have an advanced system monitoring utility that uses a whitelist database to block dubious processes and applications.
Download Hitman Pro on your Microsoft Windows Desktop by clicking on the link below.
When downloading is done, open the file location and double-click the HitmanPro icon. It will start the Hitman Pro tool. If the User Account Control prompt will ask you want to run the program, click Yes button to continue.
Next, press “Next” for checking your computer for the Quick Tag hijacker. Depending on your personal computer, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. When a threat is detected, the number of the security threats will change accordingly. Wait until the the scanning is done.
Once the scan get finished, HitmanPro will show a list of found threats like below.
In order to delete all threats, simply click “Next” button. It will show a dialog box, click the “Activate free license” button. The HitmanPro will remove Quick Tag hijacker. When the cleaning procedure is complete, the tool may ask you to reboot your device.
Run MalwareBytes to remove Quick Tag hijacker
Delete Quick Tag browser hijacker manually is difficult and often the hijacker is not fully removed. Therefore, we suggest you to run the MalwareBytes that are completely clean your computer. Moreover, this free program will help you to get rid of malware, potentially unwanted programs, toolbars and adware that your device can be infected too.
- First, visit the following page, then click the ‘Download’ button in order to download the latest version of MalwareBytes Free.
Malwarebytes Anti-malware
326468 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
- When the download is complete, close all applications and windows on your personal computer. Open a folder in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named MBsetup.
- Choose “Personal computer” option and press Install button. Follow the prompts.
- Once setup is finished, click the “Scan” button to perform a system scan for the Quick Tag hijacker. A system scan may take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your computer.
- After the system scan is done, it will show the Scan Results. When you are ready, click “Quarantine”. After the task is finished, you may be prompted to restart your PC system.
The following video offers a few simple steps on how to delete hijackers, adware and other malicious software with MalwareBytes AntiMalware.
How to stop Quick Tag redirect
Use an ad blocking utility such as AdGuard will protect you from harmful advertisements and content. Moreover, you can find that the AdGuard have an option to protect your privacy and block phishing and spam web-sites. Additionally, adblocker programs will allow you to avoid annoying pop-ups and unverified links that also a good way to stay safe online.
Visit the page linked below to download the latest version of AdGuard for MS Windows. Save it directly to your MS Windows Desktop.
26660 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
After downloading is finished, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as displayed in the figure below.
Follow the prompts. When the installation is done, you will see a window such as the one below.
You can press “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” button to see an quick tutorial which will help 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 start your computer, AdGuard will run automatically and stop unwanted advertisements, block quicknewtab.com, as well as other harmful or misleading websites. For an overview of all the features of the application, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the AdGuard icon, that may be found on your desktop.
Finish words
We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you block unwanted advertisements and unwanted harmful webpages) and Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) (to periodically scan your personal computer for new hijackers and other malware). 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 remove Quick Tag browser hijacker from the IE, Microsoft Edge, Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, then ask for help here here.
