The Firefox Defender is a malicious browser extension from the adware (also known as ‘ad-supported’ software) category. The adware is a form of unwanted software that can open a large count of pop up ads without a user’s permission. Moreover, it can redirect the Mozilla Firefox web-browser on harmful and misleading pages. So, if you seeing that the Firefox tries to load an unknown web page, when you try to open a long-known web-site, then you do not need to wait! Press the stop button in browser’s address bar. You need to follow the step-by-step guide below and clean your machine from this malicious addon immediately. It will allow you to remove the Firefox Defender add-on and other malicious software for free.
Technically, the Firefox Defender plugin is not a virus, but it does bad things, it generates a large amount of pop-up advertisements. It may download and install on to your personal computer other malicious and unwanted apps without your permission, force you to visit misleading or harmful sites. Moreover, the extension can install web browser hijacker. Once installed, it’ll rewrite your internet browser setting such as startpage, default search provider and newtab with an unwanted web site.
We recommend to remove the Firefox Defender virus that causes lots of unwanted pop up ads, as soon as you found this problem, as it can redirect your browser to web-resources that may load other malicious software on your computer.
Remove Firefox Defender (removal tutorial)
As with deleting ad-supported software, malicious software or potentially unwanted programs, there are few steps you can do. We recommend trying them all. If you do only one part of the guide, then it should be use malware removal tool, because it should remove malicious add-on and stop any further infection. But to completely delete Firefox Defender add-on you will have to at least reset your web-browser settings including a newtab, home page and search provider by default to default state, uninstall all unwanted and suspicious apps, and delete harmful add-on by malicious software removal utilities. Read it once, after doing so, please print this page as you may need to shut down your web browser or reboot your computer.
To remove Firefox Defender, complete the steps below:
- How to remove Firefox Defender harmful extension without any software
- Scan your personal computer and get rid of Firefox Defender virus with free tools
- How to stay safe online
- To sum up
How to remove Firefox Defender harmful extension without any software
Read this “How to remove” section to know how to manually remove Firefox Defender harmful extension that causes lots of unwanted popup advertisements. Even if the step by step tutorial does not work for you, there are several free malicious software removers below that can easily handle such Firefox Defender malicious plugin that cause unwanted advertisements to appear.
Delete Firefox Defender related programs through the Control Panel of your computer
First method for manual virus removal is to go into the Windows “Control Panel”, then “Uninstall a program” console. Take a look at the list of programs on your computer and see if there are any suspicious and unknown apps. If you see any, you need to uninstall them. Of course, before doing so, you can do an World Wide Web search to find details on the program. If it is a potentially unwanted program, extension or malware, you will likely find information that says so.
- If you are using Windows 8, 8.1 or 10 then click Windows button, next click Search. Type “Control panel”and press Enter.
- If you are using Windows XP, Vista, 7, then click “Start” button and press “Control Panel”.
- It will display the Windows Control Panel.
- Further, press “Uninstall a program” under Programs category.
- It will open a list of all software installed on the system.
- Scroll through the all list, and remove questionable and unknown applications. To quickly find the latest installed apps, we recommend sort programs by date.
See more details in the video guidance below.
Remove Firefox Defender from Mozilla Firefox by resetting web browser settings
If the Mozilla Firefox settings including newtab page, search provider by default and startpage have been modified by the harmful extension, then resetting it to the default state can help.
Press the Menu button (looks like three horizontal lines), and click the blue Help icon located at the bottom of the drop down menu as shown on the image below.
A small menu will appear, press the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, press “Refresh Firefox” button like below.
Follow the onscreen procedure to restore your Firefox web-browser settings to its original state.
Scan your personal computer and get rid of Firefox Defender virus with free tools
The virus may hide its components which are difficult for you to find out and remove completely. This can lead to the fact that after some time, the Firefox Defender virus that reroutes your internet browser to undesired ad web sites again infect your PC system. Moreover, We want to note that it’s not always safe to get rid of extension manually, if you don’t have much experience in setting up and configuring the Microsoft Windows operating system. The best method to find out and delete add-on is to run free malware removal software.
Automatically remove Firefox Defender with Zemana Anti-malware
We recommend using the Zemana Anti-malware. You can download and install Zemana Anti-malware to search for and get rid of Firefox Defender extension from the Mozilla Firefox web-browsers. When installed and updated, the malware remover will automatically scan and detect all threats exist on your system.
Installing the Zemana Anti-Malware (ZAM) is simple. First you’ll need to download Zemana on your Windows Desktop from the link below.
164032 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
After downloading is finished, close all programs and windows on your computer. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s called Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup as displayed in the figure below.
When the installation begins, you will see the “Setup wizard” that will help you install Zemana AntiMalware (ZAM) on your PC.
Once installation is done, you will see window as on the image below.
Now click the “Scan” button to perform a system scan for the Firefox Defender virus that reroutes your web browser to annoying ad web pages. While the Zemana AntiMalware program is checking, you can see number of objects it has identified as threat.
After that process is finished, Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM) will open a list of detected threats. Review the scan results and then press “Next” button.
The Zemana Free will remove Firefox Defender extension that causes a large number of intrusive popup ads.
Get rid of Firefox Defender and harmful extensions with HitmanPro
HitmanPro frees your PC from browser hijackers, potentially unwanted apps, unwanted toolbars, internet browser addons and other unwanted programs such as the Firefox Defender malicious addon. The free removal utility will help you enjoy your computer to its fullest. Hitman Pro uses advanced behavioral detection technologies to search for if there are unwanted software in your PC. You can review the scan results, and choose the items you want to delete.
HitmanPro can be downloaded from the following link. Save it on your Desktop.
When the download is done, open the file location and double-click the HitmanPro icon. It will start the Hitman Pro tool. If the User Account Control dialog box will ask you want to run the application, press Yes button to continue.
Next, click “Next” to perform a system scan with this utility for the Firefox Defender add-on that causes web-browsers to show intrusive pop up advertisements. During the scan HitmanPro will find threats present on your personal computer.
After HitmanPro completes the scan, Hitman Pro will open a screen that contains a list of malicious software that has been found as shown below.
Review the results once the utility has done the system scan. If you think an entry should not be quarantined, then uncheck it. Otherwise, simply click “Next” button. It will open a dialog box, press the “Activate free license” button. The Hitman Pro will remove Firefox Defender extension that causes undesired popup ads. After disinfection is done, the utility may ask you to restart your computer.
Get rid of Firefox Defender virus with Malwarebytes
We suggest using the Malwarebytes Free which are completely clean your computer of the malicious extension. The free tool is an advanced malicious software removal program developed by (c) Malwarebytes lab. This application uses the world’s most popular anti malware technology. It’s able to help you remove unwanted Firefox Defender virus from your web browsers, potentially unwanted programs, malicious software, browser hijackers, toolbars, ransomware and other security threats from your computer for free.
Download MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) by clicking on the following link. Save it directly to your Microsoft Windows Desktop.
326385 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
When the downloading process is finished, run it and follow the prompts. Once installed, the MalwareBytes Free will try to update itself and when this process is finished, press the “Scan Now” button to start checking your system for the Firefox Defender malicious extension that causes annoying pop-up ads. Depending on your system, the scan can take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. While the MalwareBytes is checking, you may see count of objects it has identified either as being malware. Next, you need to press “Quarantine Selected” button.
The MalwareBytes Free is a free program that you can use to delete all detected folders, files, services, registry entries and so on. To learn more about this malicious software removal utility, we suggest you to read and follow the tutorial or the video guide below.
How to stay safe online
To put it simply, you need to use an ad-blocking tool (AdGuard, for example). It will stop and protect you from all intrusive webpages including advertisements and popups. To be able to do that, the ad-blocking program uses a list of filters. Each filter is a rule that describes a malicious website, an advertising content, a banner and others. The adblocker program automatically uses these filters, depending on the web sites you’re visiting.
- Visit the following page to download the latest version of AdGuard for Windows. Save it on your Windows desktop or in any other place.
Adguard download
26627 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- Once downloading is finished, start the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
- Once the installation is complete, press “Skip” to close the install application and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial that will allow 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 launch your PC system, AdGuard will start automatically and block ads, 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 icon named AdGuard, which is located on your desktop.
To sum up
Now your personal computer should be free of the Firefox Defender malicious extension that causes tons of intrusive popup ads. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted popup ads and intrusive malicious sites) and Zemana Free (to periodically scan your computer for new malware, hijackers and adware). Make sure that you have all the Critical Updates recommended for Windows operating system. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new hijackers, harmful apps and adware are released.
If you are still having problems while trying to remove Firefox Defender malicious extension from your web-browser, then ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.
