How to remove privacy-search.biz pop-ups [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

If you’re reading this blog post, it means that you are seeing the privacy-search.biz unknown site and your web browser began opening tons of ads. All of these problems with your computer caused by adware (sometimes called ‘ad-supported’ software), which is often installs on the PC system with the free software. You probably want to know how to remove this ‘ad supported’ software as well as remove privacy-search.biz advertisements. In the few simple steps below we will tell you about how to solve your problems.

The ad supported software usually affects only the Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer and 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 web browser shortcuts and modify them without your permission. When it infects the web browser shortcuts, it will add the argument such as ‘http://site.address’ into Target property. So, each time you open the web browser, you will see an annoying privacy-search.biz web-site.

What is more, the ‘ad supported’ software may show advertisements depend on a web-page that you are visiting. That is, it’s clear that this ‘ad supported’ software, without your permission, steals your private information such as: your ip address, what is a web page you are viewing now, what you are looking for on the Internet, which links you are clicking, and much, much more. The ad-supported software may monetize its functionality by collecting data from your browsing sessions and selling it to third party companies. This puts your personal information at a security risk.

We recommend to delete the adware, which redirects your web-browser on the privacy-search.biz unwanted site, as soon as you found this problem, as it can direct you to web-resources which may load other malicious software on your personal computer.

How can you prevent the privacy-search.biz pop-ups

The adware usually gets onto PC system by being attached to another program in the same installation package. The risk of this is especially high for the various free programs downloaded from the World Wide Web. The developers of the applications are hoping that users will use the quick installation mode, that is simply to click the Next button, without paying attention to the information on the screen and don’t carefully considering every step of the setup procedure. Thus, the adware can infiltrate your PC without your knowledge. Therefore, it is very important to read all the information that tells the application during installation, including the ‘Terms of Use’ and ‘Software license’. Use only the Manual, Custom or Advanced installation mode. This mode will allow you to disable all optional and unwanted applications and components.

How to manually remove privacy-search.biz

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the privacy-search.biz . Read it once, after doing so, please print this page as you may need to close your web-browser or reboot your system.

1. Delete suspicious and unknown applications by using Windows Control Panel
2. Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove privacy-search.biz redirect
3. Remove privacy-search.biz advertisements from Google Chrome
4. Delete privacy-search.biz pop-up ads from Firefox
5. Delete privacy-search.biz advertisements from Microsoft Internet Explorer
6. Get rid of unwanted Scheduled Tasks

Delete suspicious and unknown applications by using Windows Control Panel

Press Windows key , then click Search . Type “Control panel”and press Enter. If you using Windows XP or Windows 7, then click “Start” and select “Control Panel”. It’ll display the Windows Control Panel as on the image below.

Next, click “Uninstall a program”
It will show a list of all software. Scroll through the all list and remove any suspicious and unknown applications.

Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to remove privacy-search.biz redirect

Once the adware is started, it can also change the internet browser’s shortcuts, adding an argument like “http://site.address” into the Target field. Due to this, every time you start the web browser, it will be redirected to an unwanted 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 starts with “http://” that has been added here. You need to remove it.

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

Remove privacy-search.biz advertisements from Google Chrome

Open the 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 in the figure below and click the “Reset settings” button.

Confirm your action, click the “Reset” button.

Delete privacy-search.biz pop-up ads from Firefox

First, start the Firefox. Next, press the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). It will open the drop-down menu. Next, click the “Help” button ().

In the Help menu, press the “Troubleshooting Information”. In the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page, click “Refresh Firefox” button.

Confirm your action, press the “Refresh Firefox”.

Delete privacy-search.biz advertisements from Microsoft Internet Explorer

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

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

You will now need to restart your personal computer for the changes to take effect. It will restore the IE’s settings such as home page, newtab page and search provider by default to default state, disable ad-supported web browser’s extensions and thereby get rid of the redirect to privacy-search.biz annoying page.

Get rid of unwanted Scheduled Tasks

Once installed, the adware can add a task in to the Windows Task Scheduler Library. Due to this, every time when you start your computer, it will display privacy-search.biz annoying web site. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and delete all tasks that have been created by malicious programs.

Press Windows and R keys on your keyboard simultaneously. It will open a dialog box 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”, like 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. Necessary to look at the text which is written under Details. Found something like “explorer.exe http://site.address” or “chrome.exe http://site.address” or “firefox.exe http://site.address”, then you need delete this task. If you are not sure that executes the task, then google it. If it is a component of the ‘ad-supported’ software, then this task also should be removed.

Further click on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as shown in the figure below.

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

How to remove privacy-search.biz pop-ups automatically

Manual removal is not always as effective as you might think. Often, even the most experienced users can not completely get rid of privacy-search.biz pop-ups from the infected personal 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 system and it will start to show unwanted privacy-search.biz pop-ups. Moreover, I want to note that it is not always safe to delete ‘ad supported’ software manually, if you do not have much experience in setting up and configuring the system.

I suggest using the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your machine. It’s an advanced malware removal program developed by (c) Malwarebytes lab. This application uses the world’s most popular anti-malware technology. It is able to help you delete browser hijackers, malware, adware, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your personal computer for free.

Now, press the link below to download Malwarebytes Free on your computer. Save it on your Windows desktop or in any other place.

Once the downloading process is finished, close all applications on your computer. Next, run the setup file named mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up as on the image below, press the Yes button.

It will display the “Setup wizard” which will help you install Malwarebytes on your computer. Follow the prompts and don’t make any changes to default settings.

Once setup is finished successfully, press Finish button. Then Malwarebytes will automatically start and you can see its main screen like below.

Now click the “Scan Now” button to begin checking your PC for the ad-supported software that cause a redirect to privacy-search.biz. When the ad-supported software or malware is found, the number of the detected objects will change accordingly. Wait until the the scanning is finished. Please be patient.

Once the system scan is done, you can check all threats detected on your PC. Make sure all entries have “checkmark” and press “Quarantine Selected” button. The Malwarebytes will start removing malware and adware that cause privacy-search.biz redirect. Once disinfection is finished, you may be prompted to reboot your machine.

I suggest you look at the following video, which completely explains the procedure of using the Malwarebytes program to remove adware and other malware.

How to stop privacy-search.biz redirect

To increase your security and protect your PC against new unwanted ads and malicious web pages, you need to use an application that blocks access to malicious ads and web-sites. Moreover, the application can stop the show of intrusive advertising, that also leads to faster loading of web sites and reduce the consumption of web traffic.

1. Download AdGuard application by clicking on the following link.
   

   Adguard download
   26628 downloads
   Version: 6.4
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: November 15, 2018
   
2. When the download is complete, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” window. Follow the prompts.
3. When the install is done, click “Skip” to close it and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see a quick tutorial which will allow 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 computer, AdGuard will run automatically and stop pop-ups, privacy-search.biz redirects, as well as other malicious or misleading web sites. 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 computer and remove privacy-search.biz pop-ups with AdwCleaner.

This removal program is free and easy to use. It can scan and get rid of adware, browser hijackers, malware and unwanted toolbars in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and MS Edge browsers and thereby restore back their default settings (homepage, new tab and default search engine). AdwCleaner is powerful enough to find and remove malicious registry entries and files that are hidden on the machine.

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

After downloading is done, open the directory in which you saved it and double-click the AdwCleaner icon. It will run the AdwCleaner utility and you will see a screen like below. If the User Account Control prompt will ask you want to display the program, press Yes button to continue.

Now, press the “Scan” for checking your PC for the adware that cause a redirect to privacy-search.biz ads.

When it has finished scanning your personal computer, it will show a list of all items detected by this utility as shown on the image below.

You need to press “Clean” button. It will open a prompt, click “OK” to begin the cleaning procedure. Once the cleaning procedure is complete, the AdwCleaner may ask you to restart your system. After reboot, the AdwCleaner will display the log file.

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

Finish words

Now your system should be clean of the privacy-search.biz pop-ups. Remove AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted pop-up ads and annoying harmful web-pages) and Malwarebytes (to periodically scan your personal computer for new malware and adware). Make sure that you have all the Critical Updates recommended for Windows OS. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new malicious applications and ‘ad supported’ software are released.

If you are still having problems while trying to remove privacy-search.biz redirect from your system, then ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.