How to remove Web Companion

What is Web Companion

Web Companion is legal security application from Lavasoft. It was developed to promote Lavasoft products and services by installing browser add-ons such as Ad-aware Security Search, Ad-aware Ad Block, Ad-aware Web Protection and Ad-aware Smart Shopper in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer. Although, Lavasoft is considered reputable vendor and applications may be useful, there are some side effects and undesirable consequences for inexperienced users. This extensions modify browser search and homepage to either Bing.com, Yahoo.com or Yandex.ru, depending on your location. Those are not most wide-spread search engines and novice users complain of unexpected browser modifications. Ad-aware Smart Shopper can display ads, pop-ups and discount coupons on shopping sites. Finally, Web Companion often installs without user intent using bundled installations, and we will cover this in the next paragraph. We prepared this tutorial on how to remove Web Companion from different versions of Windows, remove residual data and restore browser settings.

Warning: Sometimes Web Companion by Lavasoft can be can be confused with malicious applications with similar names. However, removal methods will be very similar and you can still follow this guide.

Web Companion GUI

Web Companion browser modification

How Web Companion infected your PC

Web Companion uses doubtful distribution methods. Bundled installations is a known way for hijackers and adware to get installed on users computers. As you can see on the picture below Web Companion is offered during installation of a program downloaded from untrusted website. The only way to avoid unwanted infiltrations is being attentive when installing third-party software on your PC.

Remove Web Companion manually for free

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

Note: Web Companion can be installed as Google Chrome extension as Administrator (you may see Installed by enterprise policy 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 Web Companion from Control Panel

To start removing Web Companion you should remove it using Control Panel. 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 Web Companion from Windows XP:

1. Click on Start button.
2. Choose Control Panel.
3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find Web Companion.
5. Click Uninstall.

Remove Web Companion from Windows 7:

1. Click Start button.
2. Then go to Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find Web Companion and click Uninstall.

Remove Web Companion 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 Web Companion, click Uninstall.

Remove Web Companion from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Web Companion 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 Web Companion 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 Web Companion in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Cannot uninstall Web Companion

In some cases Web Companion won’t uninstall and gives you message that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Web Companion. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing Web Companion folder and files. This happens, because some 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 Web Companion 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 Web Companion

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

Remove Web Companion add-on from your browsers

Removing Web Companion from Control Panel often does not bring desired effect. It is browser extension and it may still be active in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove Web Companion extension from your browsers manually.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions.
3. Find Web Companion extension.
4. Click the trash can icon to remove it.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:addons.
3. Choose Web Companion extension.
4. Click Disable or Remove button.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

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

Opera Browser:

Generally, Web Companion 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 Web Companion extension.
4. Click Uninstall button.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Here are instructions to reset your browsers homepage, newtab and search engine to default values.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://settings.
3. Scroll down and find Show advanced settings link.
4. Click on it and scroll down to the bottom again.
5. Click Reset browser settings button and click Reset to confirm.

Mozilla Firefox:

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

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. Close Opera and open command prompt from the start menu.
2. Type following command del %AppData%\Opera\Opera\operaprefs.ini
3. Start Opera.

Remove following files and folders

Web Companion files:

Installer.exe
AASearchCompanion.exe
WebCompanion.exe
WebCompanionExtensionIE.dll
WebCompanionInstaller.exe
WebCompanionWebUI.exe
Interop.LavasoftTcpServiceLib.dll
Interop.IWshRuntimeLibrary.dll
Interop.SHDocVw.dll
Interop.Shell32.dll
Lavasoft.SearchProtect.Repositories.dll
Lavasoft.CSharp.Utilities.dll
Lavasoft.PUP.Management.dll
Lavasoft.SearchProtect.Business.dll
Lavasoft.adblocker.dll
Lavasoft.SearchProtect.WinService.exe
Lavasoft.SysInfo.dll
Lavasoft.SearchProtect.Service.Logger.dll
Lavasoft.Utils.SqlLite.dll
ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.dll
Lavasoft.Automation.dll
Lavasoft.SearchProtect.WcfService.dll
Lavasoft.AdAware.dll
log4net.dll
Lavasoft.Utils.dll
Lavasoft.IEController.dll

Web Companion folders:

C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Web Companion\

Web Companion registry keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Web Companion" "C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Web Companion\Application\WebCompanion.exe --minimize"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Ad-Aware Search Companion" "C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Web Companion\Application\AASearchCompanion.exe"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Web Companion" "C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Web Companion\Application\WebCompanion.exe --minimize"

Alternative way to remove adware browser extension Web Companion

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 Web Companion. You can also reset your browser settings for each of your browsers: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.