Protected Browsing. How to remove? (Uninstall guide)
What is Protected Browsing?
If your browser is flooded by commercial advertisements that are marked as 'Ads by Protected Browing' or 'Delivered by Protected Browsing', there is no doubt that an adware and potentially unwanted program has infiltrated your computer. As its name signals, this plug-in should make people's surfing more secure by protecting it from phishing attacks and infected websites. Unfortunately, in reality this program works in a slightly different way. It may implement certain activities that may lead you to the infiltration of virus or the loss of your private information. Once installed, this rogue security tool may block certain websites notifying that they are infected. However, such and similar operations may be fake and websites that are blocked may be completely safe to enter. In addition, you may notice that your browser displays various advertisements that were not generated before installation of Protected Browsing. In most of the cases these advertisements appear as pop-ups and banners and disrupt browsing sessions heavily. They appear all of a sudden and stays on web page for a while. These ads diminish browsing performance as you are forced to wait until they disappear in order to continue browsing. Never trust advertisements that are displayed online, especially those that look suspiciously and non-professional. Clicking on them may redirect to sponsored websites with questionable content. It is very likely that Ads by Protected Browsing will display various offers related to the websites that you have recently visited. That's because this browser add-on acts as a tracking cookie and monitors your browsing activities. It installs tracking software alongside and records information, such as top visited websites, search queries, browser type and language, IP and email address and so on. This data is used by third parties in order to adjust those ads and expose you more personalized ads. This way third parties try to increase their income because the more people click on those advertisements, the more revenue they generate. It is obvious that this program cannot offer anything useful to you. Therefore it is better to remove it until it causes serious computer problems.
How can Protected Browsing hijack my computer?
You may find official site of Protected Browsing online; however, download button is inactive. That means that this suspicious program is distributed via other sources. Many users complain that they haven't downloaded this program and it appeared on their browser out of nowhere. That's because it is distributed using unfair method called 'bundling', which allows entrance of such and similar programs without user noticing it. It cannot be stated that Protected Browsing integrates system without users consent. It might rather be said that the consent was given by an inaccurate user. Notifications about additional programs that come in a bundle with free software are included in the check boxes but usually hidden under Quick installation modes or written in a very small font. Therefore, even if you have downloaded a well-known program from a reliable looking website, do not rely on it fully and make sure that you choose Advanced or Custom installation mode. It allows to follow the entire installation process and discloses all check boxes; therefore, you will be able to deselect unfamiliar attachments. If Protected Browsing virus has already infiltrated your system and initiates various inconveniences, it goes without saying that you need to remove this program immediately.
How to remove Protected Browsing from my computer?
In order to avoid intrusive ads, you should be more attentive when installing free programs programs. If you are experiencing constant Protected Browsing redirects, act now and remove this PUP from your system with the help of the guidelines that are provided below.
You can remove virus damage automatically with a help of one of these programs: Reimage, Malwarebytes MalwarebytesCombo Cleaner, Plumbytes Anti-MalwareMalwarebytes Malwarebytes. We recommend these applications because they detect potentially unwanted programs and viruses with all their files and registry entries that are related to them.

To remove Protected Browsing, follow these steps:
Remove Protected Browsing from Windows systems
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Click Start → Control Panel → Programs and Features (if you are Windows XP user, click on Add/Remove Programs).
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If you are Windows 10 / Windows 8 user, then right-click in the lower left corner of the screen. Once Quick Access Menu shows up, select Control Panel and Uninstall a Program.
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Uninstall Protected Browsing and related programs
Here, look for Protected Browsing or any other recently installed suspicious programs. -
Uninstall them and click OK to save these changes.
Get rid of Protected Browsing from Mac OS X system
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If you are using OS X, click Go button at the top left of the screen and select Applications.
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Wait until you see Applications folder and look for Protected Browsing or any other suspicious programs on it. Now right click on every of such entries and select Move to Trash.
Delete Protected Browsing from Internet Explorer (IE)
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Remove dangerous add-ons
Open Internet Explorer, click on the Gear icon (IE menu) on the top right corner of the browser and choose Manage Add-ons. -
You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for Protected Browsing and other suspicious plugins. Disable these entries by clicking Disable:
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Change your homepage if it was altered by virus:
Click on the gear icon (menu) on the top right corner of the browser and select Internet Options. Stay in General tab. -
Here, remove malicious URL and enter preferable domain name. Click Apply to save changes.
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Reset Internet Explorer
Click on the gear icon (menu) again and select Internet options. Go to Advanced tab. - Here, select Reset.
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When in the new window, check Delete personal settings and select Reset again to complete Protected Browsing removal.
Eliminate Protected Browsing from Microsoft Edge
Reset Microsoft Edge settings (Method 1):
- Launch Microsoft Edge app and click More (three dots at the top right corner of the screen).
- Click Settings to open more options.
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Once Settings window shows up, click Choose what to clear button under Clear browsing data option.
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Here, select all what you want to remove and click Clear.
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Now you should right-click on the Start button (Windows logo). Here, select Task Manager.
- When in Processes tab, search for Microsoft Edge.
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Right-click on it and choose Go to details option. If can’t see Go to details option, click More details and repeat previous steps.
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When Details tab shows up, find every entry with Microsoft Edge name in it. Right click on each of them and select End Task to end these entries.
Resetting Microsoft Edge browser (Method 2):
If Method 1 failed to help you, you need to use an advanced Edge reset method.
- Note: you need to backup your data before using this method.
- Find this folder on your computer:
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe.
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Select every entry which is saved on it and right click with your mouse. Then Delete option.
- Click the Start button (Windows logo) and type in window power in Search my stuff line.
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Right-click the Windows PowerShell entry and choose Run as administrator.
- Once Administrator: Windows PowerShell window shows up, paste this command line after PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> and press Enter:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml -Verbose}
Once these steps are finished, Protected Browsing should be removed from your Microsoft Edge browser.
WindowsMac OS XInternet ExplorerMicrosoft EdgeFirefoxGoogle ChromeSafariUninstall Protected Browsing from Mozilla Firefox (FF)
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Remove dangerous extensions
Open Mozilla Firefox, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Add-ons → Extensions. -
Here, select Protected Browsing and other questionable plugins. Click Remove to delete these entries.
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Reset Mozilla Firefox
Click on the Firefox menu on the top left and click on the question mark. Here, choose Troubleshooting Information. -
Now you will see Reset Firefox to its default state message with Reset Firefox button. Click this button for several times and complete Protected Browsing removal.
Erase Protected Browsing from Google Chrome
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Delete malicious plugins
Open Google Chrome, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Tools → Extensions. -
Here, select Protected Browsing and other malicious plugins and select trash icon to delete these entries.
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Click on menu icon again and choose Settings → Manage Search engines under the Search section.
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When in Search Engines..., remove malicious search sites. You should leave only Google or your preferred domain name.
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Reset Google Chrome
Click on menu icon on the top right of your Google Chrome and select Settings. -
Scroll down to the end of the page and click on Reset browser settings.
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Click Reset to confirm this action and complete Protected Browsing removal.
Remove Protected Browsing from Safari
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Remove dangerous extensions
Open Safari web browser and click on Safari in menu at the top left of the screen. Once you do this, select Preferences. -
Here, select Extensions and look for Protected Browsing or other suspicious entries. Click on the Uninstall button to get rid each of them.
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Reset Safari
Open Safari browser and click on Safari in menu section at the top left of the screen. Here, select Reset Safari.... -
Now you will see a detailed dialog window filled with reset options. All of those options are usually checked, but you can specify which of them you want to reset. Click the Reset button to complete Protected Browsing removal process.