AdBlock Now - How to remove

AdBlock Now is a browser add-on that promises to block ads and pop-ups. In my experience, it doesn’t do a good job. But beyond that, there are things about AdBlock Now that are suspicious, such as an inconsistent privacy policy and similarities to adware extensions.

It might be best to avoid AdBlock Now (Adblock-pro-now.com).

AdBlock Now in short:

Threat type	Potentially unwanted program.
Problems with AdBlock Now	It doesn’t block ads effectively, it has no reputation, it might not respect the privacy of its users.
Alternatives	Use ad blockers that are somewhat popular, know how an extension makes money.
How to remove AdBlock Now	Uninstall it manually, use anti-malware apps (Spyhunter for Mac, Spyhunter for PC, Malwarebytes) to protect your device.

What is AdBlock Now?

AdBlock Now is not good at blocking ads

AdBlock Now is an ad blocker that can be installed as a browser add-on. It’s associated with the website Adblock-pro-now.com.

The extension is extremely simple and lacks any settings. For example, you can’t choose what kinds of ads you want to block or allow.

In its blocklist, AdBlock Now has more than 13,000 domains that deliver ads. It promises to block ads and pop-ups that come from any of these 13,000 domains and it says that it won’t be detected by websites that block ad blockers.

In my experience, though, AdBlock Now didn’t work as described. It didn’t block ads on the websites that I visited, apart from Google.com. It also didn’t block pop-ups like those that plague illegal streaming sites, such as 123movies. Even though AdBlock Now claimed that it blocked a few ads for me, it wasn’t good enough.

And this is despite AdBlock Now showing that it was most recently updated on 8 July, only a couple of weeks before writing this post.

It’s not very trustworthy

It’s not clear who made AdBlock Now. The extension has an email address associated with it, but that’s it.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be anonymous online, but users who come across AdBlock Now might make the mistake of thinking that this add-on is as trustworthy as a more reputable ad blocker, such as uBlock Origin, AdBlock, Adblocker Ultimate, AdBlock Plus, AdGuard, and others.

AdBlock Now is closer to extensions like AD&POP Block, AdBlock Stream, AdBlock Shield (which seems to have been removed from online stores), and AdBlock Doctor.

Despite all the problems, AdBlock Now doesn’t seem to do anything shady. Still, it might be best to avoid this extension for now.

AdBlock Now might be bad for privacy

AdBlock Now’s privacy policy is strange. It’s not original, it is very close to AdBlock’s. It must have been copied and only had minimal changes made to it.

It’s difficult to trust a privacy policy like that. Especially when AdBlock Now’s description on the Chrome Web Store says this:

Is this a joke? AdBlock Now’s privacy policy that makes no mention of any sensitive data beyond the user’s IP and language preferences, while the Chrome privacy description (which is provided by the developer) includes website content and payment information. I’ve never seen an ad blocker that collects this much information! And it seems like the author of AdBlock Now doesn’t really care about consistent privacy disclosure.

Should you remove AdBlock Now?

Be careful when installing an ad blocker:

• It’s easy to make an extremely basic ad blocker, anyone can do it.
• It’s simple to add malicious or unethical features to an extension.

Even though I don’t see AdBlock Now doing anything shady, it doesn’t appear trustworthy. When you’re installing a browser add-on, pay attention to its permissions. AdBlock Now, for instance, gets access to the content of the sites that you visit, which can include your personal information. Ad blockers need this to work, so it’s important to make sure they don’t abuse it. Using a reputable, popular ad blocker that has a lot of eyes watching it is one way to be safe.

To remove AdBlock Now, just uninstall it as described in the instructions below.

To protect your device, you can use anti-malware apps, such as Spyhunter for Mac, Spyhunter for PC, Malwarebytes, and others. Mild threats like browser hijackers aren’t always flagged by antivirus programs, but anti-malware apps like Malwarebytes are good at catching them.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Manually remove unwanted extensions

TopRemoving AdBlock Now from Chrome

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Google Chrome window. Select “Settings”.
  
• Click “Extensions” on the left menu bar.
• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to AdBlock Now. Click on the trash bin icon next to AdBlock Now or other add-ons you want to remove.
  
• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.
  
• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.
  
• Restart Chrome.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to AdBlock Now, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
  
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on the Reset settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove AdBlock Now from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to AdBlock Now. Click on the "Remove" icon next to AdBlock Now or other add-ons you want to remove.

• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.

• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.

• Restart Microsoft Edge.

TopRemoving AdBlock Now from Firefox

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything AdBlock Now related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to AdBlock Now, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• Choose Troubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.