Remove Quiclean Adware (Chrome Extension Scam)

Can’t Remove Quiclean ads? This page includes detailed ads by Quiclean Removal instructions!

Quiclean has been classified as an adware-type infection. This program is anything but trustworthy so the minute you spot it, take action. There is no reason to be keeping a virus of any kind on your PC system. Even the most harmless-looking programs pose a threat to your security. The Quiclean virus also lies to your face. It promises to clean your browsing history and get rid of browser cookies as well. In reality, though, Quiclean doesn’t deliver. It takes over your default browser settings and makes modifications. Unauthorized modifications, as you could imagine. Not a single change in your browser settings involves your permission in any way. The parasite simply serves its developers’ purposes. Hackers’ goals greatly mismatch your own. Hence, instead of wasting time, locate and uninstall this pest. Quiclean adds a certain extension to your browsers. Did you try to remove this plugin? If you did, you already know the add-on is stubborn. Clicking the “Remove” option that’s provided only displays the bizarre “Installed by your administrator” messages. Another message you might come across is the “Installed by enterprise policy”. Either way, you’re unable to remove the malicious extension that you’re stuck with. The way to regain control over your hijacked browsers is by removing the adware. Note that the Quiclean virus might also serve as a back door to more infections. Its very presence on board leads to a poor PC performance and slows down your machine. In addition, your once trusty browsers now crash and freeze like nobody’s business. Your Internet connection might become unstable all of a sudden too. Apart from that, keep in mind your browsers are injected with sponsored pop-up ads. The Quiclean commercials come in various shapes and colors. These nasty advertisements cover your PC screen on a daily basis. We’re talking sponsored pop-ups, pop-unders, interstitials, banners, video ads. In this endless pile of commercials, surfing the Internet becomes problematic. So does finding what you search for online as the ads are everywhere. Make sure you avoid all commercials generated by the pesky Quiclean parasite. Clicking a sponsored ad could worsen your already bad situation as you might land on harmful websites.

How did I get infected with?

The most popular technique is called freeware or shareware bundling. Do you often download bundled programs off of the Internet? There you go. All kinds of infections you could think of use this method. That gives Trojans horses and ransomware a quick and easy way to get installed. It all depends on you, though. If you rush the installation process, you practically leave your device vulnerable to malware. You see, hackers could attach various infections to a single program bundle. To prevent virus infiltration, you have to spot and deselect the virus. Make sure you pay attention in advance. You don’t want to give green light to some vicious cyber parasite, do you? Then opt for the Custom option in the Setup Wizard and be cautious. Watch out for potential intruders that might be hiding in the bundle. Always keep an eye out for malicious bonuses in the freeware or shareware bundles you download. Also, check out the Terms and Conditions of the programs. The same thing goes for the EULA (End User License Agreement). Make an effort to protect your device and it will pay off. Last but not least, stay away from unverified software and illegitimate websites.

Why is this dangerous?

The Quiclean infection is intrusive, irritating and dangerous. Quite a solid reason to remove this program, isn’t it? Such infections could eventually get out of hand and cause you irreversible damage. In the meanwhile, they help hackers gain profit through the pay-per-click mechanism. The parasite floods your PC screen with sponsored, potentially corrupted pop-up ads. If you believe these commercials and click any of them open, crooks gain profit. It’s just that simple. In order not to become a sponsor of hackers, avoid their sponsored commercials. The Quiclean ads might turn out to be fake and advertise non-existent products. These commercials are a complete cyber plague and ruin your entire online experience. To make the mess complete, Quiclean could spy on some of your browsing-related data. This nuisance could collect browsing history, usernames, passwords, email addresses. It goes without saying stealing private information is very dangerous. To delete the parasite for good, please follow our detailed manual removal guide down below.

How to Remove Quiclean virus

The Quiclean infection is specifically designed to make money to its creators one way or another. The specialists from various antivirus companies like Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton, Avast, ESET, etc. advise that there is no harmless virus.

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the Quiclean infection. Please, follow the procedures in the exact order. Please, consider to print this guide or have another computer at your disposal. You will NOT need any USB sticks or CDs.

STEP 1: Track down Quiclean in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Quiclean startup location

STEP 3: Delete Quiclean traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Quiclean in the computer memory

• Open your Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys simultaneously
• Carefully review all processes and stop the suspicious ones.

• Write down the file location for later reference.

Step 2: Locate Quiclean startup location

Reveal Hidden Files

• Open any folder
• Click on “Organize” button
  
• Choose “Folder and Search Options”
• Select the “View” tab
• Select “Show hidden files and folders” option
• Uncheck “Hide protected operating system files”
• Click “Apply” and “OK” button

Clean Quiclean virus from the windows registry

• Once the operating system loads press simultaneously the Windows Logo Button and the R key.

• A dialog box should open. Type “Regedit”

• WARNING! be very careful when editing the Microsoft Windows Registry as this may render the system broken.

Depending on your OS (x86 or x64) navigate to:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

• and delete the display Name: [RANDOM]

• Then open your explorer and navigate to: %appdata% folder and delete the malicious executable.

Clean your HOSTS file to avoid unwanted browser redirection

Navigate to %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/host

If you are hacked, there will be foreign IPs addresses connected to you at the bottom. Take a look below:

STEP 3 : Clean Quiclean traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the Quiclean by clicking on the little recycle bin
• Reset Google Chrome by Deleting the current user to make sure nothing is left behind

• Open Mozilla Firefox

• Press simultaneously Ctrl+Shift+A
• Disable the unwanted Extension
• Go to Help
• Then Troubleshoot information
• Click on Reset Firefox

• Open Internet Explorer

• On the Upper Right Corner Click on the Gear Icon
• Click on Internet options
• go to Toolbars and Extensions and disable the unknown extensions
• Select the Advanced tab and click on Reset

• Restart Internet Explorer

Step 4: Undo the damage done by Quiclean

This particular Virus may alter your DNS settings.

Attention! this can break your internet connection. Before you change your DNS settings to use Google Public DNS for Quiclean, be sure to write down the current server addresses on a piece of paper.

To fix the damage done by the virus you need to do the following.

• Click the Windows Start button to open the Start Menu, type control panel in the search box and select Control Panel in the results displayed above.
• go to Network and Internet
• then Network and Sharing Center
• then Change Adapter Settings
• Right-click on your active internet connection and click properties. Under the Networking tab, find Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). Left click on it and then click on properties. Both options should be automatic! By default it should be set to “Obtain an IP address automatically” and the second one to “Obtain DNS server address automatically!” If they are not just change them, however if you are part of a domain network you should contact your Domain Administrator to set these settings, otherwise the internet connection will break!!!

You must clean all your browser shortcuts as well. To do that you need to

• Right click on the shortcut of your favorite browser and then select properties.

• in the target field remove Quiclean argument and then apply the changes.
• Repeat that with the shortcuts of your other browsers.
• Check your scheduled tasks to make sure the virus will not download itself again.

How to Permanently Remove Quiclean Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

Please, have in mind that once you are infected with a single virus, it compromises your system and let all doors wide open for many other infections. To make sure manual removal is successful, we recommend to use a free scanner of any professional antimalware program to identify possible registry leftovers or temporary files.