How to remove Spreadshark.com pop-up ads [Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge]

If you keep receiving the Spreadshark.com popup advertisements, when you surf the Internet with the IE, Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge, then this might be a sign that you accidentally installed ‘ad-supported’ software (also known as adware) on your PC. Once started, it may install a harmful web browser’s add-on that generates a large count of pop up advertisements or modify the web-browser’s settings to show ads on all web-pages that you are opening in the browser, even on those web sites where before you did not see any ads. We recommend you to clean you computer from ‘ad supported’ software and thus get rid of Spreadshark.com pop ups. Perform the few simple steps below without a wait. It will get rid of all annoying popup ads and protect your PC system from more malicious programs and trojans.

Technically, the ‘ad supported’ software is not a virus, but it does bad things, it generates tons of pop-ups. It may download and install on to your computer other harmful and undesired programs without your permission, force you to visit misleading or malicious pages. Moreover, the adware can install internet browser hijacker. Once installed, it’ll replace your web-browser setting such as newtab page, start page and search provider by default with an undesired page.

Most often, the ‘ad supported’ software infects the most common web browsers like the Mozilla Firefox, Edge, IE and Chrome. But such the malicious software as well may affect another internet browsers by changing its shortcuts (adding an argument like ‘http://site.address’ into Target field of a internet browser’s shortcut). So every time you launch the browser, it will reroute to the intrusive Spreadshark.com website. Even if you setup a new start page, an annoying page will be the first thing you see when you open the IE, Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome.

Thus, it’s clear that the presence of ad-supported software on your personal computer is not desirable, and you need to clean up your machine without a wait. Follow the steps below in order to delete Spreadshark.com pop-up ads.

Remove Spreadshark.com pop-up ads

In many cases ad-supported software requires more than a simple uninstall through the use of Microsoft Windows Control panel in order to be fully deleted. For that reason, our team created several removal methods which we have summarized in a detailed guide. Therefore, if you have the unwanted Spreadshark.com popup advertisements on your computer and are currently trying to have it removed then feel free to follow the steps below in order to resolve your problem. Read it once, after doing so, please print this page as you may need to exit your web-browser or restart your machine.

To remove Spreadshark.com, use the following steps:

1. Manual Spreadshark.com ads removal
   • Remove Spreadshark.com related apps through the Control Panel of your computer
   • Remove unwanted Scheduled Tasks
   • Remove Spreadshark.com pop-up advertisements from Internet Explorer
   • Get rid of Spreadshark.com from Firefox by resetting web browser settings
   • Remove Spreadshark.com pop ups from Chrome
   • Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to get rid of Spreadshark.com redirect
2. Use free malware removal tools to completely get rid of Spreadshark.com pop ups
   • Remove Spreadshark.com popup advertisements with Zemana Anti-malware
   • Scan and free your personal computer of adware with Hitman Pro
   • Get rid of Spreadshark.com redirect with Malwarebytes
3. Stop Spreadshark.com popup advertisements and other intrusive websites
4. How to avoid setup of Spreadshark.com ads
5. To sum up

Manual Spreadshark.com ads removal

To remove Spreadshark.com redirect, ad supported software and other unwanted applications you can try to do so manually. Unfortunately some of the ad-supported software won’t show up in your program list, but some ad-supported software may. In this case, you may be able to delete it through the uninstall function of your Windows computer. You can do this by following the steps below.

Remove Spreadshark.com related apps through the Control Panel of your computer

Some PUPs, browser hijacking applications and ad-supported software can be removed by uninstalling the free applications they came with. If this way does not succeed, then looking them up in the list of installed software in Microsoft Windows Control Panel. Use the “Uninstall” command in order to remove them.

Press Windows button , then press Search . Type “Control panel”and press Enter. If you using Windows XP or Windows 7, then click “Start” and select “Control Panel”. It will display the Windows Control Panel as shown in the following example.

Further, click “Uninstall a program”
It will open a list of all programs installed on your machine. Scroll through the all list, and delete any questionable and unknown apps.

Remove 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 run your personal computer, it will show Spreadshark.com unwanted web site. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and get rid of all harmful tasks which have been created by adware.

Press Windows and R keys on your keyboard at the same time. It will show a dialog box that called Run. In the text field, type “taskschd.msc” (without the quotes) and click OK. Task Scheduler window opens. In the left-hand side, click “Task Scheduler Library”, as displayed 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. 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’s a component of the adware, then this task also should be removed.

Further press on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as shown below.

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

Remove Spreadshark.com pop-up advertisements from Internet Explorer

The Microsoft Internet Explorer reset is great if your internet browser is hijacked or you have unwanted addo-ons or toolbars on your web-browser, which installed by an malicious software.

First, launch the IE, then click ‘gear’ icon . It will display the Tools drop-down menu on the right part of the web browser, then press the “Internet Options” as displayed on the image below.

In the “Internet Options” screen, select the “Advanced” tab, then click the “Reset” button. The Microsoft Internet Explorer will display the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” dialog box. Further, click the “Delete personal settings” check box to select it. Next, click the “Reset” button like below.

After the task is done, click “Close” button. Close the Microsoft Internet Explorer and restart your personal computer for the changes to take effect. This step will help you to restore your web-browser’s search provider, start page and newtab to default state.

Get rid of Spreadshark.com from Firefox by resetting web browser settings

The Firefox reset will delete redirections to annoying Spreadshark.com web page, modified preferences, extensions and security settings. When using the reset feature, your personal information such as passwords, bookmarks, browsing history and web form auto-fill data will be saved.

First, launch 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 press on “Refresh Firefox” button as displayed in the figure below.

Confirm your action, click the “Refresh Firefox”.

Remove Spreadshark.com pop ups from Chrome

If your Chrome browser is redirected to intrusive Spreadshark.com page, it may be necessary to completely reset your internet browser application to its default settings.

1. First launch the Chrome and click Menu button (small button in the form of three dots).
2. It will show the Chrome main menu. Choose More Tools, then click Extensions.
3. You will see the list of installed plugins. If the list has the plugin labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following instructions: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
4. Now open the Chrome menu once again, click the “Settings” menu.
5. You will see the Google Chrome’s settings page. Scroll down and click “Advanced” link.
6. Scroll down again and click the “Reset” button.
7. The Google Chrome will display the reset profile settings page as shown on the image above.
8. Next click the “Reset” button.
9. Once this process is finished, your web-browser’s default search provider, newtab and start page will be restored to their original defaults.
10. To learn more, read the blog post How to reset Google Chrome settings to default.

Disinfect the browser’s shortcuts to get rid of Spreadshark.com redirect

Once installed, this ‘ad supported’ software responsible for Spreadshark.com ads, may add an argument similar to “http://site.address” into the Target property of the desktop shortcut file for the Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and MS Edge. Due to this, every time you open the browser, it will show an unwanted ad webpage.

Right click on the web-browser’s shortcut, click Properties option. 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 “http://site.address” which has been added here. Remove everything after .exe. An example, for Google Chrome you should remove everything after chrome.exe.

To save changes, click OK . You need to clean all internet browser’s shortcut files. So, repeat this step for the Chrome, IE, Edge and Mozilla Firefox.

Use free malware removal tools to completely get rid of Spreadshark.com pop ups

The adware can hide its components which are difficult for you to find out and delete completely. This can lead to the fact that after some time, the ‘ad supported’ software which cause unwanted Spreadshark.com pop-ups to appear once again infect your PC. Moreover, We want to note that it is not always safe to remove ad-supported software manually, if you don’t have much experience in setting up and configuring the Microsoft Windows operating system. The best way to search for and delete ad supported software is to use free malicious software removal applications.

Remove Spreadshark.com popup advertisements with Zemana Anti-malware

You can remove Spreadshark.com redirect automatically with a help of Zemana Anti-malware. We recommend this malicious software removal tool because it can easily remove hijackers, potentially unwanted software, adware which redirects your web-browser to Spreadshark.com web site with all their components such as folders, files and registry entries.

Download Zemana by clicking on the link below.

When downloading is finished, close all windows on your PC system. Further, run the setup file named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up as shown on the screen below, press the “Yes” button.

It will open the “Setup wizard” that will assist you install Zemana Free on the PC. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.

Once installation is finished successfully, Zemana will automatically start and you may see its main window as shown on the screen below.

Next, press the “Scan” button for checking your personal computer for the ad-supported software which made to reroute your internet browser to various ad web-sites such as Spreadshark.com. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the count of files on your personal computer and the speed of your PC system. When a threat is detected, the number of the security threats will change accordingly.

Once finished, the results are displayed in the scan report. When you’re ready, click “Next” button.

The Zemana Free will delete adware that causes a lot of annoying Spreadshark.com pop-up ads. After disinfection is finished, you can be prompted to restart your personal computer.

Scan and free your personal computer of adware with Hitman Pro

Hitman Pro is a free removal tool that can scan your personal computer for a wide range of security threats such as malware, adwares, PUPs as well as adware that responsible for internet browser reroute to the unwanted Spreadshark.com site. It will perform a deep scan of your PC including hard drives and Windows registry. After a malware is detected, it will allow you to delete all detected threats from your PC system by a simple click.

Installing the Hitman Pro is simple. First you’ll need to download HitmanPro from the link below. Save it to your Desktop so that you can access the file easily.

After the downloading process is finished, open the file location. You will see an icon like below.

Double click the HitmanPro desktop icon. After the utility is started, you will see a screen as shown in the figure below.

Further, click “Next” button to perform a system scan with this tool for the adware that responsible for the appearance of Spreadshark.com pop-up advertisements. Once finished, HitmanPro will create a list of undesired programs ‘ad supported’ software like below.

In order to delete all items, simply click “Next” button. It will display a prompt, click the “Activate free license” button.

Get rid of Spreadshark.com redirect with Malwarebytes

You can get rid of Spreadshark.com pop up ads automatically with a help of Malwarebytes Free. We suggest this free malicious software removal utility because it can easily delete hijackers, ad-supported software, PUPs and toolbars with all their components such as files, folders and registry entries.

Installing the MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) is simple. First you’ll need to download MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) on your Microsoft Windows Desktop from the link below.

After downloading is finished, run it and follow the prompts. Once installed, the MalwareBytes Anti-Malware will try to update itself and when this process is finished, press the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan with this tool for the ad-supported software which causes annoying Spreadshark.com pop-up advertisements. This task can take quite a while, so please be patient. While the MalwareBytes is checking, you may see how many objects it has identified either as being malware. You may remove threats (move to Quarantine) by simply click “Quarantine Selected” button.

The MalwareBytes Free is a free program that you can use to get rid of all detected folders, files, services, registry entries and so on. To learn more about this malicious software removal tool, we suggest you to read and follow the steps or the video guide below.

Stop Spreadshark.com popup advertisements and other intrusive websites

If you surf the Internet, you cannot avoid malicious advertising. But you can protect your internet browser against it. Download and use an ad blocking program. AdGuard is an adblocker that can filter out a large number of of the malicious advertising, blocking dynamic scripts from loading harmful content.

1. Please go to the following link to download the latest version of AdGuard for Windows. Save it on your Microsoft Windows desktop.
   
   

   Adguard download
   26627 downloads
   Version: 6.4
   Author: © Adguard
   Category: Security tools
   Update: November 15, 2018
   
2. After downloading it, run the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
3. When the install is finished, click “Skip” to close the install application and use the default settings, or click “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will assist you get to know AdGuard better.
4. In most cases, the default settings are enough and you don’t need to change anything. Each time, when you start your computer, AdGuard will run automatically and block pop up ads, Spreadshark.com redirect, as well as other harmful or misleading web-sites. For an overview of all the features of the program, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the icon named AdGuard, that is located on your desktop.

How to avoid setup of Spreadshark.com ads

It’s very important to pay attention to additional checkboxes during the install of freeware to avoid installing of potentially unwanted software, ‘ad supported’ software, browser hijacker infections or other unwanted programs. Never install the optional applications that the application wants to set up with it. Inattentive free software download can result in install of undesired application like this adware that causes unwanted Spreadshark.com pop up ads.

To sum up

After completing the guidance shown above, your PC should be clean from ‘ad supported’ software that causes intrusive Spreadshark.com popup advertisements and other malware. The Google Chrome, Edge, IE and Firefox will no longer redirect you to various intrusive web-sites like Spreadshark.com. Unfortunately, if the steps does not help you, then you have caught a new adware, and then the best way – ask for help here.