Remove “Press Add extension to continue” pop-up virus [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

If the Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, IE and Microsoft Edge displays the “Press Add extension to continue” annoying pop-up offering to install a questionable Chrome extension then most probably that your personal computer is infected with an adware (sometimes called ‘ad-supported’ software). This adware modifies the Chrome, FF, Microsoft Edge and IE settings to open a huge number of unwanted pop-ups on all web sites, including web pages where previously you advertisements have never seen. These ads can be varied: pop-up windows, boxes, in-text ads, different sized banners and so on. What is more, the ‘ad supported’ software, that shows the “Press Add extension to continue” pop-up ads, can cause your Internet connection to be slow or freeze your web browser so that the interface is not updated anymore.

The adware usually affects only the Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and MS Edge by changing the browser’s settings or installing a malicious extensions (addons). Moreover, possible situations, when any other browsers will be affected too. The ‘ad supported’ software will perform a scan of the PC system for browser shortcuts and modify them without your permission. When it infects the web-browser shortcuts, it’ll add the argument such as ‘http://site.address’ into Target property. So, each time you launch the web browser, you will see an unwanted “Press Add extension to continue” site.

Technically, the ad supported software is not a virus, but it does bad things, it generates a lot of pop-up ads, hindering or completely blocking the work in the web-browser. It may install other unknown and unwanted software without your permission, force you to visit dangerous web-pages. Moreover, the ‘ad supported’ software can download and install web-browser hijacker. Once installed, it’ll modify your homepage with an unwanted site.

So, obviously, you need to get rid of the ‘ad supported’ software as quickly as possible. Use the free steps below. This guide will help you clean your personal computer and thereby remove the “Press Add extension to continue” annoying ads.

How does “Press Add extension to continue” pop-ups get installed onto system

The ad-supported software actively distributed with freeware, as a part of the installer of the software. Therefore, it is very important, when installing an unknown software even downloaded from known or big hosting web-site, read the Terms of use and the Software license, as well as to choose the Manual, Advanced or Custom installation mode. In this mode, you can disable the setup of unneeded modules and applications and protect your PC from the ‘ad supported’ software infection. Unfortunately, most users when installing unknown software, simply click Next button, and do not read any information that the free programs displays them during its installation. This leads to the fact that the web-browser starts to open a large amount of the “Press Add extension to continue” ads.

How to manually remove “Press Add extension to continue” pop-up virus

If you perform exactly the step-by-step instructions below you should be able to remove the “Press Add extension to continue” pop-up ads. Read it once, after doing so, please print this page as you may need to close your web browser or reboot your personal computer.

1. Remove suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel
2. Remove “Press Add extension to continue” pop-ups from Google Chrome
3. Remove “Press Add extension to continue” pop-ups from Mozilla Firefox
4. Delete “Press Add extension to continue” ads from Internet Explorer
5. Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove “Press Add extension to continue” redirect
6. Get rid of unwanted Scheduled Tasks

Remove suspicious and unknown software by using Windows Control Panel

The best way to start the machine cleanup is to uninstall unknown and suspicious applications. 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 applications can clean up your browser from popup 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 programs.
6. Scroll through the all list, and uninstall suspicious and unknown programs. To quickly find the latest installed software, we recommend sort programs by date.

See more details in the video instructions below.

Remove “Press Add extension to continue” pop-ups from Google Chrome

Like other modern web-browsers, the Chrome has the ability to reset the settings to their default values and thereby delete the redirect to “Press Add extension to continue” annoying advertisements which is caused by the ad supported software.

At first, launch the Google Chrome. Next, click the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It will appear the main menu. Click on the option named “Settings”. Another way to show the Google Chrome’s settings – type chrome://settings in the browser adress bar and press Enter.

The web browser will show the settings screen. 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 in the figure below and press the “Reset settings” button.

The Chrome will display the confirmation prompt. You need to confirm your action, press the “Reset” button. The application will launch the task of cleaning. Once it’s finished, the internet browser settings including the ‘block pop-ups’ option back to the values that have been when the Google Chrome was first installed on your machine.

Remove “Press Add extension to continue” pop-ups from Mozilla Firefox

If the Firefox settings have been modified by the adware, then resetting it to the default state can help you to delete the redirect onto “Press Add extension to continue” page.

First, start the Mozilla Firefox and click button. It will show the drop-down menu on the right-part of the internet browser. Next, click the Help button () as shown on the screen below.

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

It will show the confirmation prompt, click the “Refresh Firefox” button. The FF will start a procedure to fix your problems that caused by the adware. When it’s complete, click the “Finish” button

Delete “Press Add extension to continue” ads from Internet Explorer

First, start the IE, then click button. Next, press “Internet Options” as shown below.

In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, click the “Reset” button. The Internet Explorer will display the “Reset Internet Explorer” settings dialog box. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and click Reset button.

You will now need to reboot your computer for the changes to take effect. It will restore the Microsoft Internet Explorer’s settings such as homepage, new tab and default search engine to default state, disable ad-supported web-browser’s extensions and thereby get rid of the reroute to “Press Add extension to continue” unwanted web-site.

Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove “Press Add extension to continue” redirect

Once the ad supported software is started, it can also modify the web browser’s shortcuts, adding an argument like “http://site.address” into the Target field. Due to this, every time you run the web browser, it will be redirected to an annoying advertisements.

To clear the web browser shortcut, right-click to it and select Properties. On the Shortcut tab, locate the Target field. Click inside, you will see a vertical line – arrow pointer, move it (using -> arrow key on your keyboard) to the right as possible. You will see a text which begins with “http://” which has been added here. You need to remove it.

When the argument is removed, click the OK button. You need to clean all shortcuts of all your web-browsers, as they may be infected too.

Get rid of unwanted Scheduled Tasks

If the unwanted “Press Add extension to continue” web 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 unwanted programs.

Press Windows and R keys on the keyboard simultaneously. This opens a prompt that titled with 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 shown in the figure below.

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, click the Actions tab. Pay attention to that it launches on your PC. Found something like “explorer.exe http://site.address” or “chrome.exe http://site.address”, then you need get rid of it. If you are not sure that executes the task, check it through a search engine. If it is a component of the malicious applications, then this task also should be removed.

Having defined the task that you want to get rid of, then 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 unwanted programs. Once is finished, close the Task Scheduler window.

How to remove “Press Add extension to continue” with free malware removal application

Manual removal “Press Add extension to continue” advertisements requires some computer skills. Some files and registry entries that created by the ‘ad supported’ software may be not completely removed. We suggest that use the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your computer. Moreover, the freeware will help you to remove malware, web-browser hijackers and toolbars that your computer may be infected too.

1. Please download Malwarebytes to your desktop from the following link.
   
   

   Malwarebytes Anti-malware
   326385 downloads
   Author: Malwarebytes
   Category: Security tools
   Update: April 15, 2020
   
2. At the download page, click the Download button. Your browser will open the “Save as” prompt. Please save it onto your desktop.
3. When the download process is complete, please close all software and open windows on your computer. Double-click on the icon that’s named mb3-setup.
4. This will launch the Setup wizard of Malwarebytes onto your personal computer. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
5. When the Setup wizard has done installing, the malware remover will start and open the main window.
6. Further, click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan for the adware which redirects your internet browser to the “Press Add extension to continue” annoying site. This task can take quite a while, so please be patient.
7. When the system scan is finished, it will open a screen which contains a list of malicious applications that has been found.
8. When you are ready, click on “Quarantine Selected” button to start cleaning your computer. Once the procedure is done, you may be prompted to restart your system.
9. Close the Anti-Malware and continue with the next step.

Video instruction, which reveals in detail the steps above.

Block “Press Add extension to continue” pop-ups and other unwanted web-pages

To increase your security and protect your PC against new unwanted ads and malicious web-sites, you need to use program that blocks access to malicious ads and pages. Moreover, the program can block the open 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.

When the download is complete, launch the file named adguardInstaller. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen like below.

Follow the prompts. Once the install is done, you will see a window as shown on the image below.

You can click “Skip” to close the install 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 PC, AdGuard will run automatically and stop advertisements, pages such as “Press Add extension to continue”, as well as other dangerous or misleading 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.

Delete “Press Add extension to continue” and malicious extensions with AdwCleaner.

If MalwareBytes cannot remove the annoying “Press Add extension to continue” pop-ups from the Google Chrome, Firefox, Edge and IE, then we suggests to use the AdwCleaner. AdwCleaner is a free removal tool for ad supported software, browser hijackers, PUPs and toolbars.

Download AdwCleaner from the link below.

Once downloading is finished, open the file location. Double click the AdwCleaner icon. Once this tool is started, you will see a screen like below.

Now, click the “Scan” button for scanning your system for the malicious extensions and adware which shows ads from “Press Add extension to continue” page. When it has finished scanning your personal computer, it will open a scan report as shown below.

Review the report and then click “Clean” button. It will show a prompt. Click “OK”. When the cleaning process is complete, AdwCleaner may ask you to reboot your machine.

Look at the following video, which completely explains the process of using the AdwCleaner to get rid of ad-supported software, browser hijackers and other dangerous software.

Finish words

Once you have complete the steps shown above, your computer should be clean from malware and adware. The Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer and Edge will no longer open “Press Add extension to continue” annoying popup ads and redirect you to unknown web sites. Unfortunately, if the guide does not help you, then you have caught a new type of ‘ad supported’ software, and then the best way – ask for help.

1. Download HijackThis by clicking on 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. Next click “Do a system scan only” button.
3. When it has finished scanning your computer, the scan button will read “Save log”, press 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 “Press Add extension to continue” pop-ups.