What is Plusnetwork.com
Plusnetwork.com is minimalistic search engine similar to Google, Yahoo or Bing. It was developed by Zone Media LTD and is distributed along with product of this company: Messenger Plus! Skype Add-on. It is used to hijack search engine and homepage settings in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer. Finally, all users search queries are redirected to Plusnetwork.com. Sometimes malware infects browser shortcuts, and when users click on shortcuts, they get Plusnetwork.com opened in browsers. This search is not malicious, but can be classified as “potentially unwanted”. In this tutorial we will explain how to remove Plusnetwork.com from browsers and restore browser settings.
How Plusnetwork.com infected your PC
Plusnetwork.com, as we said, installs with Messenger Plus! software, however, can be distributed separately along with freeware and shareware. This is called “bundled” installation. Usually, free utilities may offer users to install additional program, browser toolbar or search engine. If user do not decline such offers, hijacker can be installed automatically. Antivirus software cannot detect threats like Plusnetwork.com. We recommend you to use WiperSoft Antispyware to remove Plusnetwork.com.
Download Removal Tool
To remove Plusnetwork.com completely we recommend you to use SpyHunter 5. It detects and removes all files, folders and registry keys of Plusnetwork.com and several millions of other adware, hijackers, toolbars.
Remove Plusnetwork.com manually for free
Here is manual step-by-step tutorial for full Plusnetwork.com removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of Plusnetwork.com installer on operating systems with latest updates and browser versions.
Remove Plusnetwork.com from Control Panel
To start removing Plusnetwork.com you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “Messenger Plus!” or “Plusnetwork Toolbar”. 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 and Windows 8.
Remove Plusnetwork.com from Windows XP:
- Click on Start button.
- Choose Control Panel.
- Click Add or Remove Programs.
- Find Plusnetwork.com.
- Click Uninstall.
Remove Plusnetwork.com from Windows 7:
- Click Start button.
- Then go to Control Panel.
- Click Uninstall a Program.
- Find Plusnetwork.com and click Uninstall.
Remove Plusnetwork.com 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 Plusnetwork.com, click Uninstall.
Remove Plusnetwork.com from Windows 10:
There are 2 ways to uninstall Plusnetwork.com 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 Plusnetwork.com 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 Plusnetwork.com in the list.
- Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.
Cannot uninstall Plusnetwork.com
In some cases Plusnetwork.com won’t uninstall and gives you message that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Plusnetwork.com. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing Plusnetwork.com folder and files. This happens, because 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 Plusnetwork.com in Safe Mode. To boot in Safe Mode do the following:
- 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 “Plusnetwork.com”
>> See detailed instructions and video tutorial on how to boot in Safe Mode
Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers
Uninstalling Plusnetwork.com from Control Panel often does not bring desired effect. It sometimes have browser extension and it may still be active in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove Plusnetwork.com related extension from your browsers manually.
Google Chrome:
- Start Google Chrome browser
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
chrome://extensions/
. - Find Plusnetwork.com.
- Click the trash can icon to remove them.
- Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.
Mozilla Firefox:
- Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
about:addons
. - Choose Plusnetwork.com.
- Click Disable or Remove button.
- 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 Plusnetwork.com from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable Plusnetwork.com, please, do the following:
- 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 Plusnetwork.com.
- Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.
Opera Browser:
Generally, Plusnetwork.com does not install in Opera browser however you can always double check. Do the following:
- Start Opera browser.
- Go to Tools > Extensions > Manage Extensions.
- Find Plusnetwork.com extension.
- Click Uninstall button.
- Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.
Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)
Plusnetwork.com installs search engine that hijacks your browsers. Here is instruction to reset your browsers homepage, newtab and search engine to default values.
Google Chrome:
- Start Google Chrome browser
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
chrome://settings/
. - Scroll down and find Show advanced settings link.
- Click on it and scroll down to the bottom again.
- Click Reset browser settings button and click Reset to confirm.
Mozilla Firefox:
- Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
- In address box type (or copy-paste)
about:support
. - Click Reset Firefox… button.
- Click Reset Firefox to confirm.
Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):
- 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.
Opera Browser:
- Close Opera and open command prompt from the start menu.
- Type following command
del %AppData%\Opera\Opera\operaprefs.ini
- Start Opera.
Alternative way to remove adware browser extensions and reset browser settings
For safe and effective browser extension removal use avast! Browser Cleanup utility. Run it with administrator privileges and remove all extensions with bad rating including related to Plusnetwork.com. You can also reset your browser settings for each of your browsers: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.
Cleaning browsers shortcuts
You can clean your browser shortcuts manually right-clicking on your browser icon, choosing “Properties” and removing hijacker address from “Target” field (leave just the path to your browser). However it is easier to use free Shortcut Cleaner from BleepingComputer. Download it here – its FREE:
Final tips
Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs like Plusnetwork.com 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 antimalware programs available on the market. One of the best anti-spyware and antimalware programs is SpyHunter 5. It can protect your PC from threats like Plusnetwork.com.