ProtectWindowsManager.exe is a malicious process related to one or even several browser hijackers, such as WebsSearches. In case your browser has been hijacked by it you will see ProtectWindowsManager.exe as an active process when you open your Task Manager application. This process is malicious and needs to be deal with, either through manual removal, of by means of scanning of your PC with a powerful anti-malware tool like Plumbytes Anti-Malware.
The purpose of ProtectWindowsManager.exe application is to prevent you from removing WebsSearches browser hijacker in an easy way. This is why some users can’t remove istart.webssearches.com in an easy way from their browser. This malicious application with its ProtectWindowsManager.exe process actually prevents you from removing this hijacker in an easy way.
Some blogs devoted to online security and malware removal explain ways of manual removal of browser hijackers. If you prefer to do it manually without downloading any antimalware tool, then you surely may do it without any other program, provided that you know computers well enough to investigate where exactly this malware is located. Briefly, you will need to stop ProtectWindowsManager.exe process through Task Manager (to end its task), and then to go to the Control Panel of your computer and uninstall ProtectWindowsManager, WindowsMangerProtect, or any other malware with similar name. Then you will be able to go to the next step in removal of WebsSearches hijacker, i.e. through changing the home page of your browser to its initial parameters which were set before the attack of this hijacker.
On the other hand, we do recommend that you scan your PC with Plumbytes Anti-Malware, which will help you to identify all other files and registry entries related to this nasty hijacker, and to remove them effectively with its full registered version. Finally, you will need to reset your browser with its help, and this automatic removal method is explained in the guidelines below.
Example of removing ProtectWindowsManager.exe, WindowsMangerProtect20.0.0.722, HpUI.exe (Search Protect) and related malware manually (for free) in this similar YouTube video:
Manual instructions to get rid of HpUI.exe, WindowsMangerProtect20.0.0.722, Search Protect and Sup Tab PUPs (potentially unwanted programs) from your PC
- Shut down all your open affected browsers.
- Right-click on Task Bar with the PC mouse and click on Task Manager.
- Find the active (running) processes like HpUI.exe, IePlugin Service, Loader32.exe, Loader64.exe and all running processes of your browsers (if active). Right-click on them and select “End task“.
- Go to the Program Files folder on your system drive.
- Find “Sup Tab” folder there, delete it.
- Remove Sup Tab folder from the Recycle Bin.
- Proceed with removal of WindowsMangerProtect20.0.0.722 malware (as instructed below).
Automatic tool to delete WindowsMangerProtect20.0.0.722:
Detailed instructions to disable WindowsMangerProtect20.0.0.722 and reset your browser settings:
- Uninstall any suspicious programs from the Control Panel of your computer and remove any suspicious add-ons or extensions from your infected browsers (related to similar browser hijackers).
- Via your browser download Plumbytes Anti-Malware via https://www.system-tips.net/download.php or directly via the download button above.
- Scan your system and delete all detected infected files and registry entries by clicking “Apply” at the end of scan.
- Important! Shut down all your infected browsers.
- In Plumbytes Anti-Malware click on “Tools” tab and select “Reset browser settings“:
- Select which particular browsers you want to be reset and choose the reset options.
- Click on “Reset” button.
- You will receive the confirmation windows about browser settings reset successfully. When you reset your browsers through restarting them you will see that browser hijacker has been successfully removed.
- Finally, right-click the Desktop icons and Start menu items related to your hijacked browsers. Click “Properties” and check their destination path in the “Target” section of the shortcut tab. Make sure there’s nothing related to any browser hijacker in this destination path. If you see the website of any browser hijacker set there by default, remove it completely and leave only the clear destination path that leads to the executable of your browser.
Example of fixing the Desktop shortcuts and Start menu items related to your browser infected by this hijacker:
Additional removal tips for Mozilla Firefox browser (if the above-said steps didn’t help).
- Open your Mozilla Firefox browser.
- Type “about:config” in the address bar and press “Enter” on your keyboard.
- Click “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button.
- This will reveal the Settings page of Mozilla Firefox browser.
- Type “Keyword.url” in the search box, then right-click and reset it.
- Type “browser.search.defaultengine” in the search box, then right-click and reset it.
- Type “browser.search.selectedengine” in the search box, then right-click and reset it.
- Search for “browser.newtab.url“. Right-click and reset it. This is a very important step that will prevent the search page of this hijacker from opening in each new tab of your Firefox browser.
