Remove congratulations.absolutewinners.com [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

Are you start your favorite browser and do not see usual homepage, which is set earlier? Or, the congratulations.absolutewinners.com ads is the first thing that pop up once you start your browser? It means that your computer has become the victim of malware from the group of adware (also known as ‘ad-supported’ software). If you get it on your PC, this adware can change the web-browser’s settings such as homepage, new tab page and search engine by default and install malicious extension that will open a huge number of annoying ads within the Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Edge screen. It is important, do not click on these advertisements, as they can lead you to more malicious or misleading sites. The best option is to use the instructions posted below to clean your system and thereby get rid of congratulations.absolutewinners.com redirect.

The malicious software from the adware family that changes the settings of browsers usually affects only the Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge. However, possible situations, when any other internet browsers will be affected too. The ad supported software may change the Target property of a web-browser’s shortcut, so every time you launch the web-browser, instead of your homepage, you will see the annoying congratulations.absolutewinners.com advertisements.

While your computer is infected with the adware, the Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Edge may be redirected to congratulations.absolutewinners.com unwanted page. Of course, the ad supported software may not cause damages to your files or Windows system, but it may open a huge number of annoying ads. These advertisements will be injected within the content of web-sites that are you opening in your internet browser and can be varied: pop-up ads, in-text ads, different sized banners, offers to install an questionable software. The advertisements will appear on all sites, including web pages where previously you have never seen any ads.

Instructions, which is shown below, will allow you to clean your system from the ad supported software as well as remove congratulations.absolutewinners.com unwanted pop-up ads from the Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge and other browsers.

How does congratulations.absolutewinners.com ads get installed onto system

Disregarding the basic computer security practices such as no antivirus software installed, installation of unknown software and free programs which may be bundled with adware, as well as computer virus infection are the possible causes of a large number of ads within the screen of the Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge. Moreover, random visits to an unknown and untrusted web-pages, when you click on the search results from Google (Yahoo, Bing) or links on the Internet, when the personal computer is not protected with a program that may block access to malicious sites, it can also lead to the fact that instead of your home page, the browser will be redirected to congratulations.absolutewinners.com or other advertising web sites.

How to manually remove congratulations.absolutewinners.com ads

If you perform exactly the guide below you should be able to remove the congratulations.absolutewinners.com . Read it once, after doing so, please print this page as you may need to close your browser or reboot your PC system.

1. Uninstall suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel
2. Delete congratulations.absolutewinners.com popup ads from FF
3. Remove congratulations.absolutewinners.com pop-up ads from Chrome
4. Remove congratulations.absolutewinners.com pop-up ads from Internet Explorer
5. Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove congratulations.absolutewinners.com redirect
6. Remove unwanted Scheduled Tasks

Uninstall suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel

First, you should try to identify and remove the program that causes the appearance of unwanted ads and browser redirect to unwanted sites, using the ‘Uninstall a program’ which is located in the ‘Control panel’.

Windows 8, 8.1, 10

Press Windows key , then click Search . Type ‘Control panel’and press Enter as shown on the image below. When the ‘Control Panel’ opens, click on the ‘Uninstall a program’ link under Programs category as shown below. You will see the ‘Uninstall a program’ panel. Look on the example below. Very carefully look around the entire list of installed programs. Most likely, one or more of them are responsible for the browser redirect to the annoying congratulations.absolutewinners.com site. If you have many programs installed, you can help simplify the search of malicious software by sort the list by date of installation. Once you have found a suspicious, unwanted or unused program, right click to it and press ‘Uninstall’.

Windows XP, Vista, 7

Press ‘Start’ button and select ‘Control Panel’ at right panel as shown below. When the Windows ‘Control Panel’ opens, you need to click ‘Uninstall a program’ under ‘Programs’ as shown on the screen below. You will see a list of programs installed on your computer. We recommend to sort the list by date of installation to quickly find the programs that were installed last. Most likely they responsibility for the appearance of pop-up advertisements and web-browser redirect. If you are in doubt, you can always check the program by doing a search for her name in Google, Yahoo or Bing. When the program, you want to remove, is found, simply click on its name, and then press ‘Uninstall’ as on the example below.

Delete congratulations.absolutewinners.com popup ads from FF

Open the Firefox menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It opens the drop-down menu. Click on the Help button (). In the Help menu click on the “Troubleshooting Information”. In the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page click on “Refresh Firefox” button. Confirm your action. Click on the “Refresh Firefox”.

Remove congratulations.absolutewinners.com pop-up ads from Chrome

Reset Chrome settings is a simple way to delete the malicious and ad-supported extensions, as well as to restore the internet browser’s home page, newtab page and search provider by default that have been modified by ad supported software.

1. Open the Chrome and click on the Menu icon (icon in the form of three horizontal stripes).
2. It will display the Chrome main menu. Click the “Settings” menu.
3. Click “Show advanced settings” link, that located at the bottom of the Settings page.
4. Click the “Reset settings” button, that located at the bottom of the Advanced settings page.
5. The Chrome will open the reset settings box as shown on the image above.
6. Confirm the web-browser’s reset by clicking on the “Reset” button.
7. To learn more, read the guide How to reset Google Chrome settings to default.

Remove congratulations.absolutewinners.com pop-up ads from Internet Explorer

To remove the congratulations.absolutewinners.com ads you need to reset the Internet Explorer’s settings to the state, they were when the Windows OS was first installed on your computer.

Launch the Internet Explorer. Open the Tools menu (click ‘gear’ icon ). It shows the drop-down menu on the right part of the web-browser, then click the “Internet Options”. In the “Internet Options” dialog screen, you need to click on the “Advanced” tab, then press the “Reset” button. The IE will display the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” dialog box. Click on the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. Next press the “Reset” button. Once the task is done, click “Close” button, then close the IE. Restart your PC for the changes to take effect. This step will help you to back your browser’s settings to default state and disable ad-supported browser’s extensions.

Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove congratulations.absolutewinners.com redirect

Click the right mouse button to a desktop shortcut which you use to start your internet browser. Next, select the “Properties” option. Important: necessary to click on the desktop shortcut for the browser which is redirected to the congratulations.absolutewinners.com or other unwanted page.

Further, necessary to look at the text which is written in the “Target” field. The adware can replace the contents of this field, which describes the file to be run when you launch your internet browser. Depending on the internet browser you are using, there should be: Google Chrome: chrome.exe, Opera: opera.exe, Firefox: firefox.exe, Internet Explorer: iexplore.exe. If you are seeing an unknown text like “http://site.address” that has been added here, then you should remove it, as shown on the screen below. Click the “OK” button to save the changes. Now, when you launch the browser from this desktop shortcut, it does not occur automatically redirect on the congratulations.absolutewinners.com page or any other annoying sites that is advertised by the adware. Once the step is finished, we recommend to go to the next step.

Remove unwanted Scheduled Tasks

If the annoying congratulations.absolutewinners.com page opens automatically on Windows startup or at equal time intervals, then you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and remove all the tasks that have been created by adware.

Press Windows and R keys on the keyboard simultaneously. This displays a small window that called Run. In the text field, type “taskschd.msc” (without the quotes) and click Enter. Task Scheduler window opens. In the left-hand side, click “Task Scheduler Library”, as shown below.

Task scheduler

In the middle part you will see a list of installed tasks. Select the first task, its properties will be show just below automatically. Next, press the Actions tab. Pay attention to that it launches on your computer. Found something like “explorer.exe http://site.address” or “chrome.exe http://congratulations.absolutewinners.com”, then you need remove it. If you are not sure that executes the task, check it through a search engine. If it is a component of the malicious software, then this task also can be safely removed.

Having defined the task that you want to get rid of, then click on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as shown below.

Delete a task

Repeat this step, if you have found a few tasks that have been created by adware. Once is finished, close the Task Scheduler window.

How to get rid of congratulations.absolutewinners.com popup ads automatically

Manual removal is not always as effective as you might think. Often, even the most experienced users can not completely remove ads from the infected computer. This is because the adware can hide its components which are difficult for you to find out and get rid of completely. This may lead to the fact that after some time, the adware again infect your computer and it will begin to open annoying congratulations.absolutewinners.com ads. Moreover, I want to note that it is not always safe to remove the adware manually, if you do not have much experience in setting up and configuring the PC.

I suggest using the MalwareBytes Anti-malware Free that are completely clean your system. The Anti-malware is an advanced malware removal program developed by MalwareBytes. This application uses the world’s most popular anti-malware technology. It is able to help you remove browser hijackers, malware, adware, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your system for free.

Now, click the link below to download MalwareBytes Anti-malware Free on your personal computer. Save it on your Windows desktop or in any other place.

Malwarebytes Anti-malware
326387 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020

Once the downloading process is finished, close all applications and windows on your PC. Next, open the setup file named mbam-setup. When a “Security warning” prompt pops up as shown on the screen below, press the Run button.

It will open the “Setup wizard” dialog box that will help you install MalwareBytes Anti-malware on your computer. Follow the prompts and don’t make any changes to default settings.

Once installation is finished successfully, press Finish button. Then MalwareBytes Anti-malware will automatically start and you can see its main screen as shown in the figure below.

Now click the “Scan Now” button to begin scanning your PC system for the ad supported software that cause a redirect to congratulations.absolutewinners.com. When a malware is found, the number of the detected objects will change accordingly. Wait until the the scanning is finished. Please be patient.

As the scanning ends, you can check all threats detected on your PC. Make sure all entries have “checkmark” and click “Remove Selected” button. The MalwareBytes Anti-malware will start removing congratulations.absolutewinners.com pop-up ads and other security threats. Once disinfection is finished, you may be prompted to Restart.

I recommend you look at the following video, which completely explains the process of using the Anti-malware to remove ad supported software and other malware.

How to block congratulations.absolutewinners.com advertisements

To increase your security and protect your system against new annoying advertisements and malicious web-sites, you need to use an application that blocks access to malicious advertisements and web pages. Moreover, the software can block the open of intrusive advertising, which also leads to faster loading of web-sites and reduce the consumption of web traffic.

1. Download AdGuard program using the following link.
   
   

   Adguard download
   26627 downloads
   Version: 6.4
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: November 15, 2018
   
2. After the download is complete, run the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
3. Once the installation is finished, click “Skip” to close the installation program and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that will help you get to know AdGuard better.
4. In most cases, the default settings are enough and you do not need to change anything. Each time, when you start your PC system, AdGuard will start automatically and block pop-up ads, congratulations.absolutewinners.com redirects, as well as other dangerous or misleading web-pages. For an overview of all the features of the program, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the AdGuard icon , which is located on your Windows desktop.

If the problem with congratulations.absolutewinners.com is still remained

If MalwareBytes Anti-malware cannot remove the congratulations.absolutewinners.com , then we suggests to use the AdwCleaner. AdwCleaner is a free removal tool for adware, browser hijackers, PUPs, toolbars. Also you can ask for help our Myantispyware team below.

1. Download AdwCleaner from the link below.
   

   AdwCleaner download
   225263 downloads
   Version: 8.4.1
   Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: October 5, 2024
   
2. Double click the AdwCleaner icon. Once this tool is started, press “Scan” button to perform a system scan for the ad supported software that generates the congratulations.absolutewinners.com advertisements.
3. Once AdwCleaner has finished, it will open a scan report. Review the report and then click “Cleaning” button. It will open a prompt. Click “OK”.

How to ask for help the Myantispyware team

If you are seeking a help for congratulations.absolutewinners.com redirect removal then follow these steps.

1. Download HijackThis from the link below and save it to your Desktop.
   

   HijackThis download
   4692 downloads
   Version: 2.0.5
   Author: OpenSource
   Category: Security tools
   Update: November 7, 2015
   
2. Double-click on the HijackThis icon, and click the button labeled “Do a system scan only”.
3. Once the scan is complete, the scan button will read “Save log”, click it. Save this log to your desktop

Create a Myantispyware account here. Once you’ve registered, check your e-mail for a confirmation link, and confirm your account. After that, login.

• Copy and paste the contents of the HijackThis log into your post. If you are posting for the first time, please start a new thread by using the “New Topic” button in the Spyware Removal forum. When posting your HJT log, try to give us some details about your problems, so we can try to help you more accurately.
• Wait for one of our trained “Security Team” or Site Administrator to provide you with knowledgeable assistance tailored to your problem with the annoying congratulations.absolutewinners.com redirect.