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Sometimes, online ads can get annoying, especially when they block the content that you want to see. One of the funniest cold opens of NBC’s Parks & Recreation showed how Ron Swanson dealt with intrusive and infuriating ads. He decided to take his PC out and throw it into the rubbish bin. Of course, we’re talking about a comedy show here. Needless to say, Ron Swanson does not offer the best solution for the scenario. When you encounter the irritating ‘Ads by unTabs’, you can refer to this article and follow the easy steps we’ll share.

Is the unTabs Extension Issue a Virus?

Initially available for download from the Google web store, unTabs is a browser extension developed for Chrome. Users were also free to visit the extension’s official website to download the app from there. However, those sources are no longer available. These days, the developer spreads the unTabs extension by bundling it with other software programs.

In a way, you can consider unTabs a common browser hijacker. It gives a false promise of functionality, ensuring that Chrome’s clutter will be kept at bay. It is supposed to help Chrome perform faster by organizing and grouping the tabs.

However, this product was removed from Google’s web store because of the numerous security risks that come with it. unTabs demonstrates various dangerous behaviors. It modifies the landing page for the homepage, search engine, and new tabs. Aside from that, it makes the browser perform poorly, causing long loading times for the web pages. Some affected users even complained that the overall performance of their computers had declined. In certain instances, new tabs even lead to malicious websites.

Indeed, using unTabs comes with security risks. So, it is crucial that you learn how to delete the unTabs Chrome extension immediately after you start noticing it. Keep in mind that the process of removing the app can be a bit challenging. That said, we are here to help you.

We have put together this article to show you how to remove unTabs easily. We have performed our research, basing this guide on the experiences of hundreds of users who went through the same problem. So, if you want to know how to delete the unTabs Chrome extension, proceed to the steps below.

First Step: Booting into Safe Mode

Before, removing potentially dangerous apps was not as challenging. However, these days, developers use complex tricks to make the process a lot more difficult. For instance, the malicious program might prevent your anti-virus from functioning properly. It may even terminate some of the essential Windows processes for keeping your system secure. As such, we recommend that you boot into Safe Mode with Networking to resolve the problem. Doing so will allow you to start your system with only the basic processes and drivers. Here are the steps:

  1. Go to your taskbar, then click the Windows icon.
  2. Now, click the Power button.
  3. Press and hold the Shift key, then select Restart from the options.
  4. Once Windows boots into the Startup screen, choose Troubleshoot from the choices.
  5. Select Advanced Options, then click Startup Settings.
  6. Click Restart, then press F5 on your keyboard to select Safe Mode with Networking.

Second Step: Modifying the Windows Group Policy Settings

  1. Press Windows Key+S on your keyboard to open the Search box.
  2. Type “Command Prompt” (no quotes) in the Search box.
  3. Right-click Command Prompt from the results, then select Run as Administrator.
  4. Once Command Prompt is up, run the following commands one by one:

rd /S /Q “%WinDir%\\System32\\GroupPolicyUsers”

rd /S /Q “%WinDir%\\System32\\GroupPolicy”

gpupdate /force

Note: Remember to press Enter after every command line.

By performing these steps, you will be able to bring back the Group Policy settings to the defaults. Consequently, you’ll be able to remove unTabs without any hindrance.

Third Step: Removing the unTabs Extension

One of the ways to get rid of the unTabs Chrome extension is by going through the Control Panel. Here are the steps:

  1. Click the Windows icon on your taskbar, then select Control Panel from the menu.
  2. Now, click Programs and Features.
  3. Look for unTabs, then select it.
  4. Click Uninstall from the context menu.
  5. You should also skim through the apps to see if there are other malicious programs in the list. There may be other suspicious apps that have been installed along with unTabs. Make sure you uninstall them as well.

Pro Tip: The easiest and most reliable way to get rid of unTabs is by using a trusted anti-virus program. There are many security software apps out there, but Auslogics Anti-Malware is among the few that can detect even the most complex threats. It will recognize unTabs as a malicious program and get rid of it efficiently.

Fourth Step: Resetting Google Chrome

To ensure that unTabs is completely removed from Chrome, we recommend that you bring back your browser to its default settings. To do that, follow the steps below:

  1. Open Chrome, then click the Settings icon at the top-right portion of the browser. It should look like three vertically aligned dots.
  2. Select Settings, then click Advanced.
  3. Now, go to the Reset and Clean Up section.
  4. Click the ‘Restore settings to their original defaults’ option.
  5. Click Reset Settings.

After resetting Chrome, restart your computer. Once your system boots, check if unTabs is no longer haunting your browser. Now, if your PC is still running slow, we recommend that you use Auslogics BoostSpeed. Other factors may contribute to the poor performance of your computer. By using BoostSpeed, you will be able to identify and address speed-reducing issues and causes of any application or system glitches and crashes. After the process, you will notice a considerable improvement in the speed and performance of your PC.

Are there other Chrome-related problems you’d like us to solve?

Let us know in the comments below!