What is NebulaFractica
NebulaFractica is a pernicious browser hijacker extension that targets popular Chromium-based browsers such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera GX, and Brave. It leverages the “Managed by your organization” feature to gain persistence and enforce unauthorized changes on the infected browsers. Users afflicted by this hijacker report experiencing automatic redirects to dubious websites and having their default search engine altered without consent. Searches conducted under the hijacker’s influence are rerouted through a deceptive search engine that ultimately lands on a Yahoo page. Notably, removing NebulaFractica via the standard extensions manager is typically ineffective due to the imposed third-party policies. The hijacker can be particularly stubborn, often requiring advanced steps such as editing the Group Policy and Registry Editor to fully eradicate its presence. This extension is commonly distributed through file bundling with legitimate-looking applications, making it a stealthy threat that often goes unnoticed until significant browser disruptions occur.
How NebulaFractica infects computers
NebulaFractica, like many other browser hijackers, typically infiltrates computers through deceptive software bundling practices. Users often download free software from the internet, unaware that additional unwanted programs, like NebulaFractica, are packaged with the legitimate application. Once installed, NebulaFractica leverages the “Managed by your organization” feature in Chromium-based browsers to gain persistence, making it difficult to remove through standard methods. This hijacker changes browser settings, redirects search queries to questionable sites, and can even install additional malicious extensions. To avoid such infections, users should be vigilant about downloading software from reputable sources and always opt for custom installation to deselect any unwanted add-ons.
- Download NebulaFractica Removal Tool
- Remove NebulaFractica from Control Panel and Applications
- Remove NebulaFractica extensions from browsers
- Reset browser search and homepage settings
- Alternative way to remove NebulaFractica search redirects
- Clean browser shortcuts from NebulaFractica
- How to protect from threats like NebulaFractica
Download Removal Tool for Windows
To remove NebulaFractica completely, we recommend you to use SpyHunter 5. It detects and removes all files, folders, and registry keys of NebulaFractica and several millions of other adware, hijackers, toolbars. The trial version of SpyHunter 5 offers virus scan and 1-time removal for FREE.
Download Removal Tool for Mac
To remove NebulaFractica completely, we recommend you to use SpyHunter for Mac. It can help you remove files, folders, and registry keys of NebulaFractica and uninstall hijackers, toolbars, and unwanted add-ons from the Safari browser. The trial version of SpyHunter for Mac offers virus scan and 1-time removal for FREE.
Remove NebulaFractica manually for free
Here is a manual step-by-step tutorial for full NebulaFractica removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of the NebulaFractica an installer on operating systems with the latest updates and browser versions.
Note: NebulaFractica 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:
- 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.
- Type in and execute the following commands:
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers"
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy"
gpupdate /force
Remove NebulaFractica from Control Panel or Applications
To start removing NebulaFractica you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “NebulaFractica”. 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 NebulaFractica from Windows XP:
- Click on Start button.
- Choose Control Panel.
- Click Add or Remove Programs.
- Find NebulaFractica-related or other suspicious program.
- Click Uninstall.
Remove NebulaFractica from Windows 7:
- Click Start button.
- Then go to Control Panel.
- Click Uninstall a Program.
- Find NebulaFractica-related or other suspicious program and click Uninstall.
Remove NebulaFractica from Windows 8:
- Hover mouse pointer to the bottom-right corner to see Menu.
- Click Search.
- After that click Apps.
- Then Control Panel.
- Click Uninstall a Program under Programs.
- Find NebulaFractica-related or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.
Remove NebulaFractica from Windows 10:
There are 2 ways to uninstall NebulaFractica from Windows 10
Way one
- Click on the Start button.
- In opened menu choose Settings.
- Click on the System tile.
- Click Apps & features and locate NebulaFractica-related or other suspicious program in the list.
- Click on it and then click Uninstall button near it.
Way two (classic)
- Right-click on the Start button.
- In opened menu choose Programs and Features.
- Locate NebulaFractica-related or other suspicious program in the list.
- Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.
Remove NebulaFractica from Windows 11:
- Right-click on the Start button.
- In opened menu choose Settings.
- Click on the Apps tab on the left side.
- Click Apps & features and locate NebulaFractica-related or other recently installed suspicious program in the list.
- Click on 3-dots icon near it and then click Uninstall button near it.
- 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.
- In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
- NebulaFractica might have an Uninstaller.
- Otherwise, drag NebulaFractica from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
- Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.
- Reboot your computer.
- While it starts booting press F8 button.
- This will open Advanced Boot Options menu.
- Choose Safe Mode and wait until Windows loads.
- Go to Control Panel > Uninstall a program and remove NebulaFractica or other suspicious program
- Download free AppCleaner.
- Drag NebulaFractica from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
- Choose files and folders you want to remove along with NebulaFractica.
- Click Delete button.
- Start Google Chrome browser
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
chrome://extensions
. - Find NebulaFractica extension.
- Click the Remove button to remove them.
- Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.
- Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
about:addons
. - Find NebulaFractica extension.
- Click three-dots icon near it and choose Remove in the menu.
- In opened dialog window click Remove button to confirm the action.
- Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.
- Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
- Click Extensions tab.
- Find NebulaFractica extension.
- Click Uninstall button to remove it.
- Start Microsoft Edge browser.
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
edge://extensions
. - Find NebulaFractica extension.
- Click Remove link under the name of extension.
- In opened dialog window click Remove button to confirm the action.
- Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.
- Open Internet Explorer.
- Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
- In opened menu Manage Add-ons.
- Select Toolbars and Extensions.
- Click Disable NebulaFractica or other suspicious extensions.
- Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.
- Start Opera browser.
- Go to Tools > Extensions > Manage Extensions.
- Find NebulaFractica or other suspicious extensions.
- Click Uninstall button.
- Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.
- Start Google Chrome browser
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
chrome://settings
. - On the left panel expand Advanced options.
- Choose Reset and clean up.
- Click on Restore settings to their original defaults link and confirm by clicking Reset button.
- Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
about:support
. - Click Refresh Firefox… button.
- Click Refresh Firefox button in opened dialog window to confirm.
- Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
- Go to the Privacy section of Safari’s preferences.
- Click Remove All Website Data button.
- In opened window click Remove Now button to remove data stored by websites in Safari.
- Go to the Advanced section of Safari’s preferences.
- Click the Show Develop menu in menu bar option.
- In the menu click Develop and select Empty Caches from this menu.
- Again, go to Safari menu and choose Clear History….
- Choose to clear all history and click Clear History button.
- Start Microsoft Edge browser
- Click on 3-dots icon in the top-right corner and choose Settings.
- On the left panel find and click Reset settings option.
- Click on Restore settings to their default values link and confirm by clicking Reset button.
- Start Internet Explorer.
- Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
- In opened menu choose Internet options.
- Click Advanced tab.
- Click Reset button.
- Choose Delete personal settings and click Reset.
- Start Opera browser and click on Opera icon in the top-left corner.
- Choose Settings and click Advanced on the left side and choose Browser.
- Scroll down to the very bottom and click on Restore settings to their original defaults link.
- Confirm by clicking Reset button.
Remove NebulaFractica from Mac:
Cannot uninstall NebulaFractica in Windows
In some cases, NebulaFractica won’t uninstall and gives you the message, that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall NebulaFractica. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing the NebulaFractica 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 NebulaFractica in Safe Mode. To boot in Safe Mode do the following:
>> See detailed instructions and video tutorial on how to boot in Safe Mode
Cannot uninstall NebulaFractica in MacOS
If you can’t uninstall NebulaFractica using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of NebulaFractica. Follow instructions below:
Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers
Uninstalling NebulaFractica 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 NebulaFractica extension from your browsers manually.
Google Chrome:
Mozilla Firefox:
Safari:
Microsoft Edge:
Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):
Note: There is no feature to remove browser extensions from browser in latest version of Internet Explorer. To remove NebulaFractica from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable NebulaFractica, please, do the following:
Opera Browser:
Generally, NebulaFractica does not install in Opera browser however you can always double check. Do the following:
Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)
NebulaFractica 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:
Mozilla Firefox:
Reset Safari:
Microsoft Edge:
Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):
Opera Browser:
How to block ads and pop-ups, promoting NebulaFractica
NebulaFractica, in most cases, is promoted by ads and pop-ups on doubtful websites. These sites can redirect users’ browsers to NebulaFractica 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 NebulaFractica 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:
How to protect from threats, like NebulaFractica, in future
Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs like NebulaFractica 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 NebulaFractica.