How to remove Cosmic Plutone

What is Cosmic Plutone

Cosmic Plutone is a malicious browser extension that operates as a browser hijacker, primarily targeting popular web browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari. Once installed, it stealthily modifies browser settings without user consent, leading to unwanted redirects to dubious search engines and the injection of intrusive advertisements on web pages. Users may experience a significant decline in browsing performance, as the extension can slow down their systems and clutter their online experience with excessive pop-up ads and misleading links. Often bundled with free software downloads or deceptive pop-ups, the installation process typically occurs without clear notifications, making it easy for unsuspecting users to inadvertently accept its presence. This extension not only disrupts normal browsing activities but also poses a serious risk to privacy, as it can collect sensitive information, including search queries, IP addresses, and other identifiable data. Removal can be particularly challenging, as it may reinstall itself or leave behind hidden files that continue to affect the browser even after attempts to uninstall it. Therefore, users are strongly advised to employ comprehensive anti-malware solutions to effectively eliminate the threat and restore their browser settings to a secure state.

How Cosmic Plutone infects computers

Cosmic Plutone typically infects computers through deceptive software bundling, where it is packaged alongside legitimate applications during downloads from third-party websites. Users often unwittingly install the browser hijacker by failing to deselect it in the installation process, as it may not be prominently displayed. Additionally, Cosmic Plutone can be distributed via phishing techniques, where users are lured into clicking on malicious links or pop-up ads that prompt them to download the extension. Once installed, it modifies browser settings, reroutes search queries, and injects unwanted advertisements, creating a frustrating browsing experience. The persistence of Cosmic Plutone makes it particularly troublesome, as it can reinstall itself even after users think they have removed it. To avoid such infections, users should exercise caution when downloading software and maintain updated anti-malware tools.

1. Download Cosmic Plutone Removal Tool
2. Remove Cosmic Plutone from Control Panel and Applications
3. Remove Cosmic Plutone extensions from browsers
4. Reset browser search and homepage settings
5. Alternative way to remove Cosmic Plutone search redirects
6. Clean browser shortcuts from Cosmic Plutone
7. How to protect from threats like Cosmic Plutone

Remove Cosmic Plutone manually for free

Here is a manual step-by-step tutorial for full Cosmic Plutone removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of the Cosmic Plutone an installer on operating systems with the latest updates and browser versions.

Note: Cosmic Plutone can be installed as Google Chrome extension as Administrator (you may see Installed by enterprise policy or Your browser is managed by your organization inscription near it), and this will not allow removal. Therefore, before starting removal process, perform these actions:

1. Start the Command Prompt by clicking the Start menu button and typing command prompt (or just searching for “command prompt” in Windows 10 search field). Right click on the Command Prompt result and choose Run as Administrator.



2. Type in and execute the following commands:

   
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers"
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy"
gpupdate /force

Remove Cosmic Plutone from Control Panel or Applications

To start removing Cosmic Plutone you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “Cosmic Plutone”. It should uninstall correctly, however, we recommend you to use IObit Uninstaller to clean leftover items after uninstalling. Here are instructions for Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows 11, or Mac.

Remove Cosmic Plutone from Windows XP:

1. Click on Start button.
2. Choose Control Panel.
3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find Cosmic Plutone-related or other suspicious program.
5. Click Uninstall.

Remove Cosmic Plutone from Windows 7:

1. Click Start button.
2. Then go to Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find Cosmic Plutone-related or other suspicious program and click Uninstall.

Remove Cosmic Plutone from Windows 8:

1. Hover mouse pointer to the bottom-right corner to see Menu.
2. Click Search.
3. After that click Apps.
4. Then Control Panel.
5. Click Uninstall a Program under Programs.
6. Find Cosmic Plutone-related or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove Cosmic Plutone from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Cosmic Plutone from Windows 10

Way one

1. Click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Settings.
3. Click on the System tile.
4. Click Apps & features and locate Cosmic Plutone-related or other suspicious program in the list.
5. Click on it and then click Uninstall button near it.

Way two (classic)

1. Right-click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Programs and Features.
3. Locate Cosmic Plutone-related or other suspicious program in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Remove Cosmic Plutone from Windows 11:

1. Right-click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Settings.
3. Click on the Apps tab on the left side.
4. Click Apps & features and locate Cosmic Plutone-related or other recently installed suspicious program in the list.
5. Click on 3-dots icon near it and then click Uninstall button near it.
6. Depending on the type of application (Windows Store app or classic Win32 app) it will be removed immediately or you will need to confirm the action and go through standard uninstall procedure.

Remove Cosmic Plutone from Mac:

1. In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
2. Cosmic Plutone might have an Uninstaller.
3. Otherwise, drag Cosmic Plutone from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
4. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.

Cannot uninstall Cosmic Plutone in Windows

In some cases, Cosmic Plutone won’t uninstall and gives you the message, that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Cosmic Plutone. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing the Cosmic Plutone folder and files. This happens because the process or service does not allow you to do it. In this case, I will recommend you to use SpyHunter 5 or Malwarebytes or uninstall Cosmic Plutone in Safe Mode. To boot in Safe Mode do the following:

1. Reboot your computer.
2. While it starts booting press F8 button.
3. This will open Advanced Boot Options menu.
4. Choose Safe Mode and wait until Windows loads.
5. Go to Control Panel > Uninstall a program and remove Cosmic Plutone or other suspicious program

>> See detailed instructions and video tutorial on how to boot in Safe Mode

Cannot uninstall Cosmic Plutone in MacOS

If you can’t uninstall Cosmic Plutone using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of Cosmic Plutone. Follow instructions below:

1. Download free AppCleaner.
2. Drag Cosmic Plutone from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
3. Choose files and folders you want to remove along with Cosmic Plutone.
4. Click Delete button.

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Cosmic Plutone from Control Panel or Applications often does not bring the desired effect. It sometimes has a browser extension and it may still be active in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove Cosmic Plutone extension from your browsers manually.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions.
3. Find Cosmic Plutone extension.
4. Click the Remove button to remove them.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:addons.
3. Find Cosmic Plutone extension.
4. Click three-dots icon near it and choose Remove in the menu.
5. In opened dialog window click Remove button to confirm the action.
6. Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.

Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Click Extensions tab.
3. Find Cosmic Plutone extension.
4. Click Uninstall button to remove it.

Microsoft Edge:

1. Start Microsoft Edge browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) edge://extensions.
3. Find Cosmic Plutone extension.
4. Click Remove link under the name of extension.
5. In opened dialog window click Remove button to confirm the action.
6. Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

Note: There is no feature to remove browser extensions from browser in latest version of Internet Explorer. To remove Cosmic Plutone from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable Cosmic Plutone, please, do the following:

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu Manage Add-ons.
4. Select Toolbars and Extensions.
5. Click Disable Cosmic Plutone or other suspicious extensions.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, Cosmic Plutone does not install in Opera browser however you can always double check. Do the following:

1. Start Opera browser.
2. Go to Tools > Extensions > Manage Extensions.
3. Find Cosmic Plutone or other suspicious extensions.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Cosmic Plutone installs a search engine, that hijacks your browsers. Here is the instruction to reset your browser’s homepage, new tab, and search engine to default values.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://settings.
3. On the left panel expand Advanced options.
4. Choose Reset and clean up.
5. Click on Restore settings to their original defaults link and confirm by clicking Reset button.

Google Chrome > Settings > Advanced

Reset and clean up

Reset Google Chrome

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:support.
3. Click Refresh Firefox… button.
4. Click Refresh Firefox button in opened dialog window to confirm.

Reset Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Go to the Privacy section of Safari’s preferences.
3. Click Remove All Website Data button.
4. In opened window click Remove Now button to remove data stored by websites in Safari.
5. Go to the Advanced section of Safari’s preferences.
6. Click the Show Develop menu in menu bar option.
7. In the menu click Develop and select Empty Caches from this menu.
8. Again, go to Safari menu and choose Clear History….
9. Choose to clear all history and click Clear History button.

Microsoft Edge:

1. Start Microsoft Edge browser
2. Click on 3-dots icon in the top-right corner and choose Settings.
3. On the left panel find and click Reset settings option.
4. Click on Restore settings to their default values link and confirm by clicking Reset button.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu choose Internet options.
4. Click Advanced tab.
5. Click Reset button.
6. Choose Delete personal settings and click Reset.

Opera Browser:

1. Start Opera browser and click on Opera icon in the top-left corner.
2. Choose Settings and click Advanced on the left side and choose Browser.
3. Scroll down to the very bottom and click on Restore settings to their original defaults link.
4. Confirm by clicking Reset button.

How to block ads and pop-ups, promoting Cosmic Plutone


AdGuard main window

AdGuard general settings

AdGuard browser assistant

Cosmic Plutone, in most cases, is promoted by ads and pop-ups on doubtful websites. These sites can redirect users’ browsers to Cosmic Plutone ads, generating advertising revenue for the attackers. The malware is often offered through these ads, leaving users puzzled about the origin of the software. In some cases, users may unknowingly install the Cosmic Plutone extension, which then injects advertisements into the websites they visit and redirects their search queries. Additionally, the malware can be distributed through other channels such as peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, misleading ads, and compromised or shady websites that trigger automatic downloads To protect your PC and browsers from phishing websites, pop-up ads, banners, malicious scripts it is recommended to use AdGuard. Download free trial here:

Download AdGuard for Windows

Download AdGuard for Mac

How to protect from threats, like Cosmic Plutone, in future


SpyHunter 5 Dashboard

SpyHunter 5 Results

SpyHunter 5 System Guard

Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs like Cosmic Plutone may become a real headache as they are hard to remove and break your privacy. To keep safe from such threats we recommend you always use antivirus and one of the anti-malware programs available on the market. One of the best anti-virus programs is SpyHunter 5. It can protect your PC from threats like Cosmic Plutone.

Download SpyHunter for Windows

Download SpyHunter for Mac