How to remove Scan-defender.pro notifications

What is Scan-defender.pro

Scan-defender.pro is a malicious website that exploits browser notifications to inundate users with intrusive and potentially harmful advertisements. By employing deceptive tactics, such as fake “anti-bot verification” prompts, it tricks users into enabling push notifications. Once granted, these notifications bombard the user with spammy ads, including phishing attempts, fake giveaways, and misleading alerts about system infections. This adware primarily targets popular browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Opera, affecting both desktop and mobile devices. The ultimate goal behind these pop-ups is often to generate revenue through fraudulent clicks or to lure users into visiting malicious websites. Such activities can significantly degrade system performance and compromise user privacy. Consequently, addressing and removing this threat promptly is crucial to maintaining a secure and smooth browsing experience. To avoid falling victim to these tactics, users should be cautious about enabling notifications from unfamiliar websites and consider employing reliable anti-malware solutions.

How Scan-defender.pro infects devices

Scan-defender.pro typically infects computers through deceptive advertising and the exploitation of user behavior, often via malicious websites that promote pirated content or dubious software. When users visit these sites, they may be prompted to enable notifications, unknowingly allowing Scan-defender.pro to inject unwanted advertisements into their browsers. Additionally, adware bundled with free software downloads can install Scan-defender.pro without the user’s consent, altering browser settings to facilitate continuous pop-up spam. The malware can also propagate through phishing schemes, where users are tricked into clicking on malicious links or downloading compromised files. Once embedded, Scan-defender.pro can significantly disrupt the user experience by flooding the browser with irrelevant ads, potentially leading to further security risks if users click on these malicious prompts. Regularly updating security software and practicing caution when navigating the web are essential to avoid such infections.

1. Download Scan-defender.pro Removal Tool
2. Stop Scan-defender.pro notifications in browsers
3. Remove/Uninstall Scan-defender.pro from Control Panel and Applications
4. Remove Scan-defender.pro extensions from browsers
5. Reset browser search and homepage settings
6. Block Scan-defender.pro search redirects
7. How to protect from threats like Scan-defender.pro

Remove Scan-defender.pro manually for free

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

Disable push notifications from Scan-defender.pro in browsers

Remove Scan-defender.pro from websites, allowed to show push-notifications in Google Chrome

1. Go to Google Chrome settings, by clicking 3-dots icon in the top-right corner and choosing Settings.
2. On the left side choose Privacy and security menu.
3. Under opened Privacy and security tab, choose Site Settings.
4. Scroll down to Permissions section and click on Notifications (with the bell icon).
5. Go to the bottom list of sites named Allowed to send notifications.
6. Find Scan-defender.pro in the list and click 3-dots icon near it. Click Remove button to delete the website permission.

Remove Scan-defender.pro from websites, allowed to show push-notifications in Mozilla Firefox

1. Go to Mozilla Firefox options, by clicking 3-bars icon in the top-right corner and choosing Settings.
2. On the left panel choose Privacy & Security menu.
3. Scroll down to Permissions section.
4. Near Notifications click Settings… button.
5. Find Scan-defender.pro in the list and click Remove Website to remove it.
6. Click Save Changes button to confirm the action.

Remove Scan-defender.pro from websites, allowed to show push-notifications in Safari

1. Open Safari, and in the top menu click Safari, choose Preferences.
2. In the Preferences window, click on Websites tab.
3. On the left side, choose Notifications. You will see the list of websites and their settings for showing notifications.
4. Find Scan-defender.pro in the list and click Remove button.

Remove Scan-defender.pro from websites, allowed to show push-notifications in Microsoft Edge

1. Open Microsoft Edge, and click on the three-dots menu, in the top-right corner.
2. In the drop-down menu choose Settings.
3. In the menu click Cookies and site permissions section, and scroll down to All permissions section.
4. Click on Notifications.
5. Find Scan-defender.pro in the list under Allow, click on 3-dots icon and choose Remove.

Remove Scan-defender.pro from websites, allowed to show push-notifications in Android (Chrome)

1. Open Google Chrome app on Android, and tap on three dots to open main menu.
2. In the drop-down menu choose Settings, scroll down and under Advanced section tap on Site Settings.
3. In the Site Settings menu tap on Notifications.
4. In the Allowed list of websites allowed to show notifications find Scan-defender.pro, tap on it and in the bottom of the window tap on Clean & Reset button.
5. Confirm your action by tapping on Clean & Reset again in opened dialog box.

Remove Scan-defender.pro from websites, allowed to show push-notifications in iOS (Safari)

1. Find and tap the Settings app icon on your home screen.
2. Swipe up or down and select Safari from the list.
3. In Safari settings, find and tap on Websites near the bottom.
4. Find Notifications in the list and tap on it.
5. You’ll see a list of websites. Tap on Scan-defender.pro to allow or deny notifications.

Remove Scan-defender.pro from Control Panel or Applications

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

Remove Scan-defender.pro from Windows 7:

1. Click Start button.
2. Then go to Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find recently installed suspicious program and click Uninstall.

Remove Scan-defender.pro 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 recently installed suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove Scan-defender.pro from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Scan-defender.pro 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 recently installed 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 recently installed suspicious program in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Remove Scan-defender.pro 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 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 Scan-defender.pro from Mac:

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

Cannot uninstall Scan-defender.pro in Windows

In some cases, program related to Scan-defender.pro won’t uninstall and gives you a message that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Scan-defender.pro. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing the Scan-defender.pro 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 AntiMalware or uninstall Scan-defender.pro in Safe Mode. To boot in Safe Mode do the following:

1. Reboot your computer.
2. While it starts booting type 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 recently installed suspicious program

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

Cannot uninstall Scan-defender.pro in MacOS

If you can’t uninstall apps related to Scan-defender.pro from MacOS using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of Scan-defender.pro. Follow instructions below:

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

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Scan-defender.pro from Control Panel often does not bring the desired effect. It sometimes has a browser extension and it may still be active in Safari, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove Scan-defender.pro related extension from your browsers manually.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions.
3. Find Scan-defender.pro related 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 Scan-defender.pro related 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 Scan-defender.pro 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 Scan-defender.pro related 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 Scan-defender.pro from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable Scan-defender.pro, 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 or Scan-defender.pro related extension.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, Scan-defender.pro does not install in Opera browser however you can always double check. Do the following:

1. Start Opera browser and click on Opera icon in the top-left corner.
2. Choose Extensions > Extensions.
3. Find Scan-defender.pro related extension.
4. Click Details button and scroll down to the bottom.
5. Click Remove extension link and confirm the action by clicking Remove button on opened dialog window.
6. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Scan-defender.pro may install a search engine that hijacks your browsers. Here is an 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.

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 from Scan-defender.pro

Scan-defender.pro push-notifications, in most cases, are caused by a program installed on your PC or an add-on installed in browsers. However, sometimes it can appear on a clean computer when visiting a malicious website, using an advertising script. Also, apps that generate “Scan-defender.pro” ads and banners are themselves installed from pop-ups. 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

Final tips

Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs, like Scan-defender.pro, 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-spyware and anti-malware programs is SpyHunter 5. It can protect your PC from threats, like Scan-defender.pro.