If you’re reading this article, it means that you are seeing the Click Add button to install extension popup that offers to install an questionable browser extension. The misleading popup was opened in your browser by ‘ad-supported’ software (also known as adware), which is often installs on the system with the free applications. You probably want to know how to remove this adware as well as remove “Click Add button to install extension” pop-up. In the step-by-step instructions below we will tell you about how to solve your problems.
The malicious programs from the adware family that changes the settings of web browsers usually affects only the Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer and MS Edge. However, possible situations, when any other internet browsers will be affected too. The adware may change the Target property of a web-browser’s shortcut, so every time you start the browser, instead of your home page, you will see the annoying Click Add button to install extension pop-ups.
The adware may insert a large number of advertisements directly to the sites that you visit, creating a sense that the advertising banners has been added by the creators of the web-site. Moreover, a legal advertising links may be replaced on the fake advertisements, that will offer to download and install various unnecessary and harmful programs. Moreover, the adware has the ability to collect tons of personal information about you (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), which can later transfer to third parties.
Instructions, which is shown below, will allow you to clean your personal computer from the “Click Add button to install extension” virus as well as remove all unwanted popup ads from the Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, FF and Microsoft Edge and other browsers.
How to manually remove Click Add button to install extension popup
Without a doubt, the adware is harmful to your PC. So you need to quickly and completely remove this dangerous software. To delete this ‘ad supported’ software, you can use the manual removal which are given below, or use an anti-malware utility for removing harmful applications, such as Malwarebytes Anti-malware and AdwCleaner (both are free). I note that we recommend that you use automatic removal, which will assist you to delete Click Add button to install extension pop-ups easily and safely. Manual removal is best used only if you are well versed in computer or in the case where adware is not removed automatically.
- Remove suspicious and unknown applications by using Windows Control Panel
- Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts
- Get rid of Click Add button to install extension popup from Mozilla Firefox
- Remove Click Add button to install extension pop-up from Google Chrome
- Remove Click Add button to install extension pop up from Internet Explorer
- Get rid of unwanted Scheduled Tasks
Remove suspicious and unknown applications by using Windows Control Panel
First, you should try to identify and delete the program that causes the appearance of annoying ads and browser redirect to unwanted web-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 in the figure below.
When the ‘Control Panel’ opens, press the ‘Uninstall a program’ under Programs category as shown on the screen below.
You will see the ‘Uninstall a program’ panel as shown in the figure below.
Very carefully look around the entire list of installed applications. Most likely, one or more of them are responsible for the unwanted “Click Add button to install extension” popup. If you have many programs installed, you can help simplify the search of malicious applications 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
First, press ‘Start’ button and select ‘Control Panel’ at right panel as shown on the image 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 software installed on your machine. We recommend to sort the list by date of installation to quickly find the software that were installed last. Most likely they responsibility for the appearance of unwanted pop-up ads 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 application, you need to remove, is found, simply click on its name, and then click ‘Uninstall’ as on the image below.
Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts
Once the adware is started, it can also change the web browser’s shortcuts, adding an argument similar “http://site.address” into the Target field. Due to this, every time you start the browser, it will be redirected to an unwanted advertisements.
To clear the internet 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://” 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 browsers, as they may be infected too.
Get rid of Click Add button to install extension popup from Mozilla Firefox
If the Firefox settings have been modified by the ad supported software, then resetting it to the default state can help you to get rid of Click Add button to install extension popup.
First, run the Firefox and click button. It will show the drop-down menu on the right-part of the browser. Next, click the Help button () as on the image below.
In the Help menu, select the “Troubleshooting Information” option. Another way to open the “Troubleshooting Information” screen – type “about:support” in the browser address bar and press Enter. It will display the “Troubleshooting Information” page as shown on the screen below. In the upper-right corner of this screen, click the “Refresh Firefox” button.
It will open the confirmation dialog box, press the “Refresh Firefox” button. The Firefox will start a task to fix your problems that caused by the adware. When it is done, click the “Finish” button
Remove Click Add button to install extension pop-up from Google Chrome
Like other modern browsers, the Google Chrome has the ability to reset the settings to their default values and thereby get rid of misleading Click Add button to install extension annoying popup which is caused by the adware.
At first, start the Chrome. Next, press 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 web-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 on the image below and press the “Reset settings” button.
The Google Chrome will display the confirmation dialog box. You need to confirm your action, press the “Reset” button. The program will start the task of cleaning. Once it is 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 personal computer.
Remove Click Add button to install extension pop up from Internet Explorer
First, run the Internet Explorer, then press 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 open the “Reset Internet Explorer” settings prompt. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and click Reset button.
You will now need to reboot your machine for the changes to take effect. It will restore the IE’s settings like start page and search provider by default to default state, disable ad-supported web-browser’s extensions and thereby get rid of Click Add button to install extension pop up.
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 open your personal computer, it will start your web browser and open “Click Add button to install extension” popup. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and get rid of all tasks that have been created by ‘ad-supported’ programs.
Press Windows and R keys on your keyboard simultaneously. It will display 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, press “Task Scheduler Library”, as shown on the screen 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 such as “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 malicious programs, then this task also should be removed.
Further click on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as on the image below.
Repeat this step, if you have found a few tasks that have been created by adware. Once is done, close the Task Scheduler window.
Delete Click Add button to install extension pop-up virus automatically
You can delete Click Add button to install extension popup automatically with a help of Malwarebytes Free. We recommend this free malware removal utility because it can easily remove adware, browser hijackers, potentially unwanted software and toolbars with all their components such as files, folders and registry entries.
Download Malwarebytes Free on your personal computer by clicking on the link below. Save it on your Desktop.
326385 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
When downloading is complete, close all windows on your system. Further, run the file named mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up as on the image below, press the Yes button.
It will show the “Setup wizard” which will assist you install Malwarebytes on the PC. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
Once the install is finished successfully, click Finish button. Then Malwarebytes will automatically start and you can see its main window as shown below.
Next, press the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan for the malware and adware which cause the “Click Add button to install extension” pop-up. When a threat 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 finished, you can check all threats detected on your personal computer. Make sure all entries have “checkmark” and click “Quarantine Selected” button.
The Malwarebytes will start removing malware and ‘ad supported’ software which cause Click Add button to install extension popup. Once the disinfection is finished, you may be prompted to restart your PC. I recommend you look at the following video, which completely explains the process of using the Malwarebytes to remove ad supported software and other dangerous software.
Block Click Add button to install extension pop-up and other unwanted pop-up ads
To increase your security and protect your system against new unwanted ads and malicious web-pages, you need to use program that blocks access to harmful advertisements and pages. Moreover, the program can stop the display of intrusive advertising, that also leads to faster loading of web sites and reduce the consumption of web traffic.
Download AdGuard program by clicking on the following link.
26627 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
When the download is complete, run the file named adguardInstaller. You will see the “Setup Wizard” screen as on the image below.
Follow the prompts. When the setup is finished, you will see a window like below.
You can press “Skip” to close the install application 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 start your machine, AdGuard will start automatically and stop pop-ups, as well as other harmful 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.
Scan your machine and remove Click Add button to install extension pop-up with AdwCleaner.
This removal program is free and easy to use. It can scan and remove ad-supported software, browser hijackers, malware and unwanted toolbars in Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and MS Edge internet browsers and thereby restore back their default settings (homepage, new tab page and search engine by default). AdwCleaner is powerful enough to find and remove malicious registry entries and files that are hidden on the system.
Download AdwCleaner utility by clicking on the link below. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.
225261 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024
After downloading is complete, open the directory in which you saved it and double-click the AdwCleaner icon. It will start the AdwCleaner utility and you will see a screen as shown in the figure below. If the User Account Control dialog box will ask you want to open the program, click Yes button to continue.
Now, click the “Scan” to start scanning your computer for the adware that open misleading “Click Add button to install extension” popup.
When it has finished scanning your computer, it will display a list of all items detected by this tool as shown on the image below.
You need to press “Clean” button. It will display a dialog box, click “OK” to start the cleaning procedure. Once the cleaning process is finished, the AdwCleaner may ask you to restart your PC. After restart, the AdwCleaner will display the log file.
All the above steps are shown in detail in the following video guide.
How can you prevent your PC system from the attack of Click Add button to install extension popup virus
Most often, the free programs installer includes the optional potentially unwanted applications like this adware. So, be very careful when you agree to install anything. The best way is to choose the Custom, Advanced or Manual setup mode. Here disable (uncheck) all optional programs in which you are unsure or that causes even a slightest suspicion. The main thing you should remember, you don’t need to install the optional software which you don’t trust! The only thing I want to add. Once the free applications is installed, if you uninstall this software, the ‘ad supported’ software will not be removed. This must be done by yourself. Just follow the few simple steps above.
Finish words
After completing the few simple steps outlined above, your personal computer should be clean from malware and adware. The Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge will no longer show Click Add button to install extension annoying pop-ups and redirect you to unknown web-sites. Unfortunately, if the few simple steps does not help you, then you have caught a new type of adware, and then the best way – ask for help.
- 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
- Double-click on the HijackThis icon. Next press “Do a system scan only” button.
- Once the system scan is complete, the scan button will read “Save log”, press 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 Click Add button to install extension virus.