How to remove Ads by Zwhip [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

Zwhip is an adware (sometimes called ‘ad-supported’ software), as well as a potentially unwanted program (PUP). It is called Zwhip claims to help users access geo restricted content and unblock websites and Streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer or Pandora. This functionality might seem legitimate, but in reality this PUP is created to continually monitor your’ Internet browsing activity and show a lot of unwanted ads. Once installed, it will injects a tons of ads within Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer (Edge) screen. These advertisements can be varied: ads within a browser screen signed with Zwhip, “Ads by Zwhip”, in-text ads, different sized banners, pop-ups and so on. What is more, Zwhip adware may cause your Internet connection to be slow or this adware may to freeze your browser so that the interface is not updated anymore.

The ad-supported software may insert a large number of advertisements directly to the pages that you visit, creating a sense that the advertisements has been added by the creators of the web site. Moreover, a legal advertising links may be replaced on the fake ads, that will offer to download and install various unnecessary and harmful programs. Moreover, the adware has the ability to collect lots of personal information about you (your ip address, what is a web page you are viewing now, what you are looking for on the Web, which links you are clicking), which can later transfer to third parties.

So, obviously, you need to delete the ad supported software as quickly as possible. Use the free steps below. This guide will help you clean your machine and thereby delete the Zwhip unwanted pop-up ads.

How does Zwhip ads get installed onto PC

I want to note that the ad-supported software spreads in the composition together with various free software. This means that you need to be very careful when installing software downloaded from the Internet, even from a large proven hosting. Be sure to read the Terms of Use and the Software license, select only the Manual, Advanced or Custom installation mode, switch off all additional modules and software are offered to install. So, the negligence when running unknown applications may lead to the fact that the ‘ad-supported’ software is installed.

How to manually remove Zwhip

Without a doubt, the ad-supported software is harmful to your computer. So you need to quickly and completely get rid of this dangerous software. To get rid of this ‘ad-supported’ software, you can use the manual removal which are given below, or use an anti-malware tool for removing dangerous programs, such as Malwarebytes Anti-malware and AdwCleaner (both are free). I note that we recommend that you use automatic removal, which will allow you to delete Zwhip easily and safely. Manual removal is best used only if you are well versed in computer or in the case where ‘ad-supported’ software is not removed automatically.

1. Uninstall Zwhip, suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel
2. Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to get rid of unwanted redirects
3. Reset Chrome settings
4. Reset Firefox settings
5. Reset Microsoft Internet Explorer settings
6. Get rid of unwanted Scheduled Tasks

Uninstall Zwhip, suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel

The best way to begin the system cleanup is to remove unknown and suspicious programs. Using the 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 your browser from pop-up ads, hijackers and so on.

1. If you are using Windows 8, 8.1 or 10 then press Windows key, click Search. Type “Control panel”and press Enter.
2. If you are using Windows XP, Vista, 7, then press “Start” button and click “Control Panel”.
3. It will display the Windows Control Panel.
4. Click “Uninstall a program” under Programs category.
5. You will see a list of all installed software.
6. Scroll through the all list, and delete Zwhip, suspicious and unknown programs. To quickly find the latest installed applications, we recommend sort programs by date.

See more details in the video instructions below.

Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to get rid of unwanted redirects

Click the right mouse button to a desktop shortcut which you use to run your web browser. Next, select the “Properties” option. Important: necessary to click on the desktop shortcut for the browser which is redirected to an unwanted site.

Further, necessary to look at the text which is written in the “Target” field. The adware can modify the contents of this field, which describes the file to be start when you open your web 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 similar “http://site.address” that has been added here, then you should delete it, as shown in the following image.

Next, click the “OK” button to save the changes. Now, when you run the web-browser from this desktop shortcut, it does not occur automatically redirect on an annoying web-sites that is advertised by the ‘ad-supported’ software. Once the step is complete, we recommend to go to the next step.

Reset Chrome settings

Open the Google Chrome menu by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It opens the drop-down menu. Next, press the “Settings” option.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Show advanced settings” link. Now scroll down until the Reset settings section is visible, as shown on the screen below and click the “Reset settings” button.

Confirm your action, press the “Reset” button.

Reset Firefox

If the Firefox settings have been modified by the adware, then resetting it to the default state can help you to get rid of unwanted advertisements.

First, launch the Mozilla Firefox and click button. It will open the drop-down menu on the right-part of the browser. Next, click the Help button () as shown in the following image.

In the Help menu, select the “Troubleshooting Information” option. Another way to open the “Troubleshooting Information” screen – type “about:support” in the internet browser adress bar and press Enter. It will show the “Troubleshooting Information” page like below. In the upper-right corner of this screen, press the “Refresh Firefox” button.

It will open the confirmation dialog box, click the “Refresh Firefox” button. The Firefox will start a process to fix your problems that caused by the adware. When it’s complete, click the “Finish” button

Reset Microsoft Internet Explorer settings

To remove annoying ads and pop-ups you need to reset the Microsoft Internet Explorer to the state, that was when the Windows was installed on your machine.

First, run the Internet Explorer, then click ‘gear’ icon . It will display the drop-down menu on the right part of the web browser, then click the “Internet Options” as shown on the image below.

In the “Internet Options” screen, you need to select the “Advanced” tab and click the “Reset” button. The Microsoft Internet Explorer will open the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” dialog box as on the image below. Next, press the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. After that, press the “Reset” button.

When the process is finished, click “Close” button. Close the IE and reboot your PC system for the changes to take effect. This step will help you to restore your web-browser’s settings to default state and disable ‘ad-supported’ extensions.

Get rid of unwanted Scheduled Tasks

Once installed, the ad-supported software can add a task in to the Windows Task Scheduler Library. Due to this, every time when you run your system, it will display Zwhip annoying web-site. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and remove all tasks that have been created by adware.

Press Windows and R keys on your keyboard at the same time. It will show a prompt that called 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 on the image below.

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, click the Actions tab. Necessary to look at the text which is written under Details. Found something such as “explorer.exe http://site.address” or “chrome.exe http://site.address” or “firefox.exe http://site.address”, then you need get rid of this task. If you are not sure that executes the task, then google it. If it is a component of the malicios program, then this task also should be removed.

Further click on it with the right mouse button and select Delete like below.

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

Delete Zwhip unwanted software automatically

You can remove adware and unwanted software automatically with a help of Malwarebytes Free. We recommend this free malware removal tool because it can easily remove adware, browser hijackers, potentially unwanted programs and toolbars with all their components such as files, folders and registry entries.

Download Malwarebytes Free on your system by clicking on the link below. Save it on your Desktop.

Once downloading is complete, close all windows on your system. Further, open the file named mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” prompt pops up as shown below, click the Yes button.

It will show the “Setup wizard” that will assist you install Malwarebytes on the system. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.

When the install is finished successfully, click Finish button. Then Malwarebytes will automatically start and you can see its main window like below.

Next, click the “Scan Now” button for checking your computer for the malware and adware which cause the Zwhip advertisements. When a threat is found, the number of the detected objects will change accordingly. Wait until the the checking is complete. Please be patient.

Once the scan is complete, you can check all threats detected on your computer. Make sure all entries have “checkmark” and press “Quarantine Selected” button.

The Malwarebytes will begin removing malware and adware which cause Zwhip advertisements. When the disinfection is done, you may be prompted to reboot your PC. I recommend you look at the following video, which completely explains the procedure of using the Malwarebytes to remove ‘ad-supported’ software and other malicious programs.

Stop Zwhip advertisements and other annoying web-sites

To increase your security and protect your computer against new unwanted advertisements and malicious pages, you need to use program that stops access to dangerous ads and pages. Moreover, the program can block the show of intrusive advertising, that also leads to faster loading of web-sites and reduce the consumption of web traffic.

Download AdGuard program from the following link.

After downloading is finished, start the file named adguardInstaller. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as shown in the following image.

Follow the prompts. When the installation is finished, you will see a window as shown 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 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 run your personal computer, AdGuard will start automatically and block unwanted Zwhip ads and pop-ups, as well as other malicious 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 AdGuard icon, that is located on your Windows desktop.

Scan your machine and delete Zwhip ads with AdwCleaner.

This removal application is free and easy to use. It can scan and remove adware (also known as ‘ad-supported’ software), browser hijackers, malware and unwanted toolbars in Chrome, FF, Microsoft Edge and IE internet browsers and thereby restore back their default settings (startpage, new tab page and default search engine). AdwCleaner is powerful enough to find and delete malicious registry entries and files that are hidden on the computer.

Download AdwCleaner utility by clicking on the link below. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.

When the download is done, open the directory in which you saved it and double-click the AdwCleaner icon. It will start the AdwCleaner tool and you will see a screen as shown in the figure below. If the User Account Control prompt will ask you want to show the program, press Yes button to continue.

Now, press the “Scan” to start scanning your machine for the ‘ad-supported’ software that cause the Zwhip ads.

Once the scanning is finished, it will open a list of all items detected by this tool like below.

You need to press “Clean” button. It will open a dialog box, click “OK” to start the cleaning procedure. Once the clean-up is finished, the AdwCleaner may ask you to restart your computer. After restart, the AdwCleaner will display the log file.

All the above steps are shown in detail in the following video guide.

Finish words

Once you have complete the steps outlined above, your system should be clean from malware and adware. The Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Edge will no longer display Zwhip annoying ads and redirect you to unknown web sites. Unfortunately, if the step-by-step instructions does not help you, then you have caught a new type of adware, and then the best way – ask for help.

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

   HijackThis download
   4690 downloads
   Version: 2.0.5
   Author: OpenSource
   Category: Security tools
   Update: November 7, 2015
   
2. Double-click on the HijackThis icon. Next click “Do a system scan only” button.
3. Once the scan is finished, the scan button will read “Save log”, click it. Save this log to your desktop.
4. Create a Myantispyware account here. Once you’ve registered, check your e-mail for a confirmation link, and confirm your account. After that, login.
5. 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.
6. Wait for one of our trained “Security Team” or Site Administrator to provide you with knowledgeable assistance tailored to your problem with the unwanted Zwhip pop-ups.