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  • Active
  • Severity: Medium
  • Adware
  • Windows, Mac
  • Verified · May 2021

How to remove WebEnhance

A step-by-step removal guide for affected devices. Follow the verified procedure below — most readers complete it in under 10 minutes.

Lucia Danes · Virus researcher

WebEnhance – a potentially unwanted program that installed BHOs into Internet Explorer

WebEnhance is a browser add-on that specializes in advertisements and user information tracking activities. While it is not considered malware, its distribution, operation, and monetization practices landed it in the adware category. Thus, many antivirus programs can detect and delete this app from your system for good.

Even though this PUP mainly affects Internet Explorer (it installs a Browser Helper Object under the name of webenhance.dll), Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or another browser. In order to eliminate it for good, you should clean your web browsers thoroughly. 

Name WebEnhance
Type Adware
Distribution Freeware/shareware bundles, official website
Operation Hijacks web browsers and displays ads
Removal Scan your PC with anti-malware software and use manual guide
Browser clean Use below instructions or employ FortectIntego for a quick solution

In most cases, the app usually travels within software bundles, which results in an unintentional installation by the users. In other words, they simply do not notice how it enters their computers. Nonetheless, this can be easily avoided by carefully analyzing the installation steps of free programs — more about that in the second part of this post.

This app, as well as WebCheck and WinGuard, is supposed to protect the browser from phishing websites and other online security-related issues. Unfortunately, it works in a quite different way and with rather opposite intentions. Immediately after installation, the app hijacks every web browser and generates various pop-ups, pop-unders, banners, inline texts, and other notifications.

This seemingly useful program is sponsored by third parties, which means that it displays advertisements that are labeled as 'Ads by WebEnhance' in order to drive traffic to affiliate and predetermined websites.

Beware that this may redirect you to websites that are full of fake links, downloads, and similar applications. It was also reported by users that it mostly displays German advertisements on German shopping websites, including amazon.de and ebay.de.

If you read its End-user license agreement, you would find out that its developers accept no responsibility for those commercial offers because they claim that they are not associated with them. That's the main thing why we recommend you avoid 'Ads by WebEnhance' adware. If you have already installed it on your machine, we recommend removing this application from the system right away.

Adware installation techniques explained

Although this PUP  is promoted through its official site, more commonly, it enters users' computers unnoticed. To be more precise, it is installed in a bundle when users download it and do not check the installation steps properly. Distributors of ad-supported software commonly use this method to transmit potentially unwanted programs to users' computers without their approval.

Our security experts have found out that this app may be bundled with Cyclon Gems, FlowSurf, and other questionable applications. In order to prevent their appearance on your computer, you should use a couple of useful tips. You should equip your system with powerful anti-malware software that would warn you about incoming threats.

Also, select the Advanced or Custom installation option and closely follow the entire installation process and the instructions provided in each of the steps.

Delete adware from your system

If you want to remove 'Ads by WebEnhance' manually, use our removal guide provided below. Keep in mind that resetting or cleaning your web browsers is an important part of the removal process, as the PUP leaves BHOs, cookies, and other items that could be used for further data gathering and other unwanted activities.

However, we still recommend you use reputable anti-spyware to eliminate this adware without leaving its leftovers on the system. It will also help you to prevent the entrance of other intrusive programs in the future.

Uninstall from Windows

Uninstall from Windows 10/8:

  1. Type Control Panel into the Windows search box and open the result.
  2. Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.Uninstall from Windows 10/8

Uninstall from Windows 7/XP:

  1. Click on Windows Start > Control Panel (Windows XP users should click on Add/Remove Programs).
  2. In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program.Uninstall from Windows 7/XP

Remove the unwanted program:

  1. In the Programs and Features window, look for any recently installed suspicious entries, select them, and click Uninstall.
  2. If User Account Control appears, click Yes to confirm, then complete the removal.Uninstall the unwanted program from Windows

Delete from macOS

Remove the unwanted application:

  1. From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
  2. In the Applications folder, look for any suspicious entries, then drag them to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash).Uninstall from Mac

Delete leftover files and folders:

  1. Select Go > Go to Folder.
  2. Enter /Library/Application Support and remove any suspicious folders related to the unwanted program.
  3. Repeat the same check in the /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders, deleting any suspicious entries.Delete leftover files from Mac
  4. Finally, empty the Trash to permanently remove the leftovers.

Remove from Microsoft Edge

Delete unwanted extensions from MS Edge:

  1. Select Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and pick Extensions.
  2. From the list, pick the extension and click on the Gear icon.
  3. Click Remove.Remove extensions from Edge

Clear cookies and other browser data:

  1. Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Settings > Privacy, search, and services..
  2. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
  3. Select Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files. (apart from passwords, although you might want to include Media licenses as well, if applicable) and click on Clear.Clear Edge browsing data

Restore new tab and homepage settings:

  1. Click the menu icon and choose Settings.
  2. Then find On startup section.
  3. Click Remove next to any suspicious startup page.

Reset MS Edge if the above steps did not work:

  1. Press on Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
  2. Click on More details arrow at the bottom of the window.
  3. Select Details tab.
  4. Now scroll down and locate every entry with Microsoft Edge name in it. Right-click on each of them and select End Task to stop MS Edge from running.Reset MS Edge

Instructions for Chromium-based Edge

Delete extensions from MS Edge (Chromium):

  1. Open Edge and click select Settings > Extensions.
  2. Delete unwanted extensions by clicking Remove.Remove extensions from Chromium Edge

Clear cache and site data:

  1. Click on Menu and go to Settings.
  2. Select Privacy, search and services.
  3. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
  4. Under Time range, pick All time.
  5. Select Clear now.Clear browser data from Chroum Edge

Reset Chromium-based MS Edge:

  1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
  2. On the left side, pick Reset settings.
  3. Select Restore settings to their default values.
  4. Confirm with Reset.
  5. This will disable extensions and reset startup pages but will not delete bookmarks, saved passwords, or browsing history.Reset Chromium Edge

Remove from Mozilla Firefox (FF)

Remove dangerous extensions:

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click on the Menu (three horizontal lines at the top-right of the window).
  2. Select Add-ons.
  3. In here, select the unwanted extension and click Remove.Remove extensions from Firefox

Reset the homepage:

  1. Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
  2. Choose Settings.
  3. Under Home, set your preferred homepage and new tab settings.

Clear cookies and site data:

  1. Click Menu and pick Settings.
  2. Go to Privacy & Security section.
  3. Scroll down to locate Cookies and Site Data.
  4. Click on Clear Data...
  5. Select Cookies and Site Data and Temporary cached files and pages, then click Clear.Clear cookies and site data from Firefox

Reset Mozilla Firefox

If clearing the browser as explained above did not help, reset Mozilla Firefox:

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click the Menu.
  2. Go to Help and then choose Troubleshooting Information.Reset Firefox 1
  3. Under Give Firefox a tune up section, click on Refresh Firefox...
  4. Once the pop-up shows up, confirm the action by pressing on Refresh Firefox.Reset Firefox 2

Remove from Google Chrome

Delete malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

  1. Open Google Chrome, click on the Menu (three vertical dots at the top-right corner) and select More tools > Extensions.
  2. In the newly opened window, you will see all the installed extensions. Uninstall all suspicious extensions related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.Remove extensions from Chrome

Clear cache and web data from Chrome:

  1. Click on Menu and pick Settings.
  2. Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
  3. Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
  4. Click Clear data.Clear cache and web data from Chrome

Change your homepage:

  1. Click menu and choose Settings.
  2. Look for a suspicious site in the On startup section.
  3. Click on Open a specific or set of pages and click on three dots to find the Remove option.

Reset Google Chrome:

If the previous methods did not help you, reset Google Chrome to eliminate all the unwanted components:

  1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
  2. In the Settings, scroll down and click Advanced.
  3. Scroll down and locate Reset and clean up section.
  4. Now click Restore settings to their original defaults.
  5. Confirm with Reset settings.Reset Chrome 2

Delete from Safari

Remove dangerous extensions:

  1. Open Safari, click Safari in the menu at the top-left of the screen, and select Preferences.
  2. Go to the Extensions tab, look for any suspicious entries, and click Uninstall to remove them.Remove extensions from Safari

Clear history and website data:

  1. Click Safari in the menu and pick Clear History.
  2. Set Clear to all history and confirm with Clear History.Clear history from Safari

Reset Safari:

  1. Click Safari in the menu and select Preferences > Advanced.
  2. Enable Show Develop menu in menu bar.
  3. From the menu bar, click Develop and select Empty Caches.Reset Safari

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