How to remove Ads X (Windows and Mac)

What is “Ads X”

If you see “Ads X” ads in Google Search, there is high possibility, that your PC is infected with adware. These ads resemble native Google ads, however they belong to low-quality advertising networks. Usually, such ads, pop-ups and banners are generated by SearchAwesome (in Windows), MacPerformance, MacVX (in MacOS) extensions, however, advertising add-on can be named differently. Extensions can be installed in Safari, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and, sometimes, in Internet Explorer, Opera and Edge browsers. Links in such ads often lead to potentially unwanted downloads, malicious pages and doubtful online services. We do not recommend you to click on such advertisements, for your safety, privacy and PC security. Please, use instructions on this page to remove adware causing “Ads X” and get rid of annoying advertising in search results.

“Ads X” in Google Chrome

“Ads X” in Google in Internet Explorer

How “Ads X” infected your PC

Adware uses Layered Service Provider (LSP) to implement third-party ads into Google.com, Yahoo.com or Bing.com search engines. To be able to do this, malware installs extensions in all affected browsers or installs malicious Windows or Mac application. Sometimes, it simply creates active process and hides it in system folders. In most cases, users get infected while installing third-party apps, where adware is bundled with the installer. See the pictures below:

Remove “Ads X” manually for free

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

Remove “Ads X”-related software from Control Panel or Applications

To start removing “Ads X” you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “”Ads X””. 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 and Mac.

Remove “Ads X” from Mac:

1. In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
2. “Ads X” might have an Uninstaller.
3. Otherwise, drag MacPerformance, MacVX or other suspicious application from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
4. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.

Remove “Ads X” from Windows XP:

1. Click on Start button.
2. Choose Control Panel.
3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find SearchAwesome or other recently installed suspicious program.
5. Click Uninstall.

Remove “Ads X” from Windows 7:

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

Remove “Ads X” 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 SearchAwesome or other recently installed suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove “Ads X” from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall “Ads X” 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 SearchAwesome or other 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 SearchAwesome or other recently installed suspicious program in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Cannot uninstall “Ads X”

In some cases “Ads X” won’t uninstall and gives you message that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall “Ads X”. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing “Ads X” 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 “Ads X” 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 SearchAwesome or other recently installed suspicious program

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

and for Mac:

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

1. Download free AppCleaner.
2. Drag MacPerformance, MacVX or other suspicious application from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
3. Choose files and folders you want to remove along with “Ads X”.
4. Click Delete button.

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling “Ads X” from Control Panel often does not bring desired effect. It sometimes have browser extension and it may still be active in Safari, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove “Ads X” related extension from your browsers manually.

Safari:

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

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions.
3. Find SearchAwesome or other suspicious extension.
4. Click the trash can icon 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. Choose SearchAwesome or other suspicious extension.
4. Click Disable or Remove button.
5. 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 “Ads X” from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable “Ads X”, 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 SearchAwesome or other suspicious extension.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, “Ads X” 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 SearchAwesome or other suspicious extension.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

How to block “Ads X” ads and pop-ups

AdGuard main window

AdGuard general settings

AdGuard browser assistant

“Ads X” advertisements, in most cases, are caused by a program installed on your PC or 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 “Ads X” 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:

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 “Ads X”. You can also reset your browser settings for each of your browsers: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.

Final tips

Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs like “Ads X” 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 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 “Ads X”.