How to uninstall Remain Dark extension from Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge

What is Remain Dark?

Remain Dark is supposed to be a browser extension that will improve the browsing experience, but according to security specialists, this extension acts as Browser hijacker. Browser hijackers are created to take over the browser and control user’s surfing preferences. Remain Dark commonly aims at Google Chrome web-browser, but it’s possible that it can hijack other web browser too. Browser hijackers can sneak into the computer unnoticed due to the fact that it’s actively being promoted in free software. We advise that you remove Remain Dark as soon as you notice the changes it has made to your search provider by default, start page and new tab.

When you are performing searches using the web-browser that has been affected with Remain Dark, the search results will be returned from Bing, Yahoo or Google Custom Search. The devs behind the browser hijacker are most probably doing this to make advertisement profit from the ads shown in the search results.

As well as unwanted web browser redirects, Remain Dark can collect your Internet browsing activity by recording internet browser version and type, IP addresses, URLs visited, cookie information, web-pages visited and Internet Service Provider (ISP). Such kind of behavior can lead to serious security problems or user information theft. This is another reason why the browser hijacker should be uninstalled as soon as possible.

How can a browser hijacker get on your personal computer

Browser hijackers and PUPs come bundled with certain free software. So always read carefully the setup screens, disclaimers, ‘Terms of Use’ and ‘Software license’ appearing during the install process. Additionally pay attention for third-party apps which are being installed along with the main program. Ensure that you unchecked all of them! Also, run an ad-blocker program that will help to stop malicious, misleading, illegitimate or untrustworthy web-pages.

Threat Summary

Name	Remain Dark
Type	search provider hijacker, homepage hijacker, PUP, browser hijacker, redirect virus
Affected Browser Settings	start page, search engine, new tab URL
Distribution	freeware install packages, fake updaters, suspicious popup advertisements
Symptoms	Advertising popups won’t go away. When you go to a web page, you are occasionally redirected to another web-page that you do not intend to visit. New entries appear in your Programs folder. Unwanted browser toolbar(s) Your PC settings are being altered without your request.
Removal	Remain Dark removal guide

How to remove Remain Dark from Windows 10 (8, 7, XP)

Fortunately, we’ve an effective solution which will help you manually or/and automatically uninstall Remain Dark from your computer and bring your web-browser settings, including home page, newtab and search engine, back to normal. Below you will find a removal instructions with all the steps you may need to successfully get rid of this hijacker and its components. Read this manual carefully, bookmark it or open this page on your smartphone, because you may need to close your browser or restart your personal computer.

To remove Remain Dark, execute the following steps:

1. How to manually remove Remain Dark
   • Deleting the Remain Dark, check the list of installed programs first
   • Get rid of Remain Dark from Mozilla Firefox by resetting web browser settings
   • Remove Remain Dark from Chrome
   • Remove Remain Dark browser hijacker from Microsoft Internet Explorer
2. Automatic Removal of Remain Dark
3. How to stop Remain Dark redirect

How to manually remove Remain Dark

Manually uninstalling Remain Dark is also possible, although this approach takes time and technical prowess. You can sometimes identify browser hijacker in your computer’s list of installed apps and uninstall it as you would any other unwanted application.

Deleting the Remain Dark, check the list of installed programs first

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

Press Windows button , 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 will display the Windows Control Panel as on the image below.

Further, click “Uninstall a program”
It will display a list of all software installed on your computer. Scroll through the all list, and delete any dubious and unknown software.

Get rid of Remain Dark from Mozilla Firefox by resetting web browser settings

If the Mozilla Firefox internet browser default search provider, newtab page and startpage are hijacked by Remain Dark and you want to restore the settings back to their original state, then you should follow the step-by-step tutorial below. Essential information such as bookmarks, browsing history, passwords, cookies, auto-fill data and personal dictionaries will not be removed.

Press the Menu button (looks like three horizontal lines), and press the blue Help icon located at the bottom of the drop down menu similar to the one below.

A small menu will appear, press the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, click “Refresh Firefox” button as displayed below.

Follow the onscreen procedure to restore your Firefox web-browser settings to their default state.

Remove Remain Dark from Chrome

In order to be sure that there is nothing left behind, we suggest you to reset Google Chrome web browser. It’ll revert back Chrome settings including newtab page, search provider by default and start page to defaults.

1. First run 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’ll see the list of installed plugins. If the list has the extension labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following guidance: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
4. Now open the Chrome menu once again, press the “Settings” menu.
5. You will see the 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 press the “Reset” button.
9. Once this procedure is complete, your web browser’s newtab, search provider by default and home page will be restored to their original defaults.
10. To learn more, read the post How to reset Chrome settings to default.

Remove Remain Dark browser hijacker from Microsoft Internet Explorer

First, launch the Microsoft Internet Explorer, click ) button. Next, click “Internet Options” as shown on the image below.

In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, click Reset button. The Internet Explorer will show the Reset Internet Explorer settings prompt. 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 remove Remain Dark browser hijacker, disable malicious and ad-supported browser’s extensions and restore the Internet Explorer’s settings such as search provider by default, new tab page and start page to default state.

Automatic Removal of Remain Dark

If you are not expert at computer technology, then all your attempts to get rid of the browser hijacker by following the manual steps above might result in failure. To find and remove all of the Remain Dark related files and registry entries that keep this hijacker on your personal computer, use free anti malware software such as Zemana Free, MalwareBytes Free and HitmanPro from our list below.

Remove Remain Dark browser hijacker with Zemana Anti Malware (ZAM)

Download Zemana to delete Remain Dark automatically from all of your internet browsers. This is a freeware utility specially developed for malware removal. This tool can delete adware, browser hijacker from Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer and MS Windows registry automatically.

1. Please go to the following link to download the latest version of Zemana Anti-Malware for Microsoft Windows. Save it to your Desktop.
   
   

   Zemana AntiMalware
   164027 downloads
   Author: Zemana Ltd
   Category: Security tools
   Update: July 16, 2019
   
2. At the download page, click on the Download button. Your web-browser will open the “Save as” prompt. Please save it onto your Windows desktop.
3. When the downloading process is complete, please close all software and open windows on your computer. Next, start a file called Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup.
4. This will launch the “Setup wizard” of Zemana Free onto your computer. Follow the prompts and don’t make any changes to default settings.
5. When the Setup wizard has finished installing, the Zemana will launch and display the main window.
6. Further, press the “Scan” button to start scanning your computer for the Remain Dark hijacker. This task can take quite a while, so please be patient.
7. When that process is finished, the results are displayed in the scan report.
8. Review the scan results and then click the “Next” button. The tool will delete Remain Dark browser hijacker. After that process is finished, you may be prompted to reboot the PC.
9. Close the Zemana and continue with the next step.

Run Hitman Pro to delete Remain Dark browser hijacker

Hitman Pro is one of the most useful tools for removing browser hijackers, adware, potentially unwanted applications and other malware. It can detect hidden malware in your PC system and remove all harmful folders and files linked to hijacker. Hitman Pro will help you to remove Remain Dark from your PC and Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. We strongly recommend you to download this tool as the developers are working hard to make it better.

Please go to the link below to download the latest version of HitmanPro for MS Windows. Save it directly to your Windows Desktop.

Once downloading is finished, open the file location and double-click the HitmanPro icon. It will start the HitmanPro tool. If the User Account Control prompt will ask you want to start the application, click Yes button to continue.

Next, click “Next” to perform a system scan for the Remain Dark browser hijacker. Depending on your device, the scan may take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. When a threat is found, the number of the security threats will change accordingly. Wait until the the scanning is finished.

Once finished, HitmanPro will open a screen that contains a list of malicious software that has been detected as shown on the image below.

Next, you need to press “Next” button. It will open a prompt, click the “Activate free license” button. The Hitman Pro will begin to remove Remain Dark browser hijacker. After finished, the tool may ask you to reboot your device.

Use MalwareBytes Anti Malware to remove Remain Dark hijacker

We suggest using the MalwareBytes. You can download and install MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) to look for and remove Remain Dark browser hijacker from your PC. When installed and updated, this free malware remover automatically identifies and removes all threats exist on the computer.

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

After downloading is finished, close all apps and windows on your personal computer. Double-click the install file named MBSetup. If the “User Account Control” dialog box pops up as on the image below, click the “Yes” button.

It will open the Setup wizard that will help you setup MalwareBytes on your device. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.

Once setup is complete successfully, click “Get Started” button. MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) will automatically start and you can see its main screen as shown in the figure below.

Now click the “Scan” button to begin scanning your computer for the Remain Dark browser hijacker. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of files on your device and the speed of your device. While the MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) program is scanning, you can see how many objects it has identified as threat.

When MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) is complete scanning your computer, MalwareBytes Anti-Malware will open a scan report. Make sure all items have ‘checkmark’ and press “Quarantine” button. The MalwareBytes Free will get rid of Remain Dark hijacker and move the selected threats to the program’s quarantine. When the cleaning procedure is finished, you may be prompted to reboot the PC.

We suggest you look at the following video, which completely explains the procedure of using the MalwareBytes Anti Malware to remove adware software, browser hijacker and other malicious software.

How to stop Remain Dark redirect

To put it simply, you need to use an adblocker utility (AdGuard, for example). It’ll block and protect you from any malicious websites, unwanted ads and popups. To be able to do that, the adblocker application uses a list of filters. Each filter is a rule that describes a malicious webpage, an advertising content, a banner and others. The ad-blocking program automatically uses these filters, depending on the web pages you are visiting.

First, visit the following page, then click the ‘Download’ button in order to download the latest version of AdGuard.

After downloading it, double-click the downloaded file to run it. The “Setup Wizard” window will show up on the computer screen as on the image below.

Follow the prompts. AdGuard will then be installed and an icon will be placed on your desktop. A window will show up asking you to confirm that you want to see a quick guidance like below.

Click “Skip” button to close the window and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see an quick instructions which will assist you get to know AdGuard better.

Each time, when you start your PC, AdGuard will start automatically and stop unwanted ads, block malicious and misleading webpages. 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 desktop.

To sum up

We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you block unwanted pop up advertisements and unwanted harmful webpages) and Zemana (to periodically scan your PC system for new malicious software, browser hijackers and adware software). Make sure that you have all the Critical Updates recommended for Microsoft Windows operating system. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new browser hijackers, harmful programs and adware are released.

If you are still having problems while trying to get rid of Remain Dark from your browser, then ask for help here.