Please do the following:

• Install Malwarebytes from www.malwarebytes.com, install it, and run a full scan. Remove anything it finds.
• Refresh Firefox, Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings
• Make sure Windows has all updates, uninstall any anti-virus, and make sure that Windows Defender is running.

Let me know if this helps!

Thank you so much for the fast response Mr.Tyler! I tried refreshing and removing the add-on from Firefox but when open a new session it has the adaware hime page set as default. I have reset that option to Mozilla's default home page and I don't seem to notice the add-on anywhere on the browser. Could it still be hidden in my system somewhere or is it really gone? I'm asking this because I have read other forums which said that even after doing the above there were suspiciously named files located in other folders indirectly causing the add-on to still appear. For now , I don't see it anywhere in the main Mozilla's folder. Once again, the help was greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot!

The company that publishes AdAware, Lavasoft, also has a product called Web Companion. Could you check whether you have that installed and if so, remove it from the Windows Control Panel?

The Web Companion installer has been reported to create a couple of files in the Firefox program folder which take global effect in Firefox even if you Refresh. They have been associated with changing your default search engine to Bing; I don't know if they affect your home page.

The simplest thing to do to disable those is:

Clean Reinstall

This takes about 5 minutes. It's not about your settings, it's about making sure the program files are clean (no inconsistent or alien code files). As described below, this process does not disturb your existing settings. It's not essential to uninstall Firefox, but you can if you like, saying No to any request about removing personal data.

It only takes a few minutes.

(A) Download a fresh installer for Firefox to a convenient location:

https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/

(B) Exit out of Firefox (if applicable).

If you use Microsoft Office, please change your default browser to Internet Explorer temporarily before the next step.

(C) Using Windows Explorer/My Computer (hold down the Windows key and press E to launch it), right-click > rename the program folder as follows (you might have one or both):

C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox =to=> C:\Program Files (x86)\OldFirefox

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox =to=> C:\Program Files\OldFirefox

(D) Run the installer you downloaded in step (A). It should automatically connect to your existing settings.

Any improvement?

Thank you so much for the reply!

I did as you said - removed the Web Companion and renamed the folder but only in ProgramFiles. I could not find a folder called Mozilla Firefox in ProgramFiles(x86) except for a Mozilla Maintenance Service which I renamed to OldMozillaMS.Is this normal ?

When I ran the installer it did do as you said and I didn't find any sign of Adaware in my system or on my browser. So I guess this means its solved and its gone forever? Or is there any chance it might still be hidden someplace else and can escalate into a bigger problem in the future? If not , I'm really grateful for this help and can finally bring peace to my distressed soul.

P.S. - What do I do with the renamed folder(s)?

Hi MosesRaj, it's common to only have one of the two program folders. It depends on whether you had both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Firefox.

I don't think you need the OldFirefox folder. If you want to use it for research, you can look in here:

C:\Program Files\OldFirefox\defaults\pref\

Firefox normally places a file here named channel-prefs.js

Any other file here is suspicious and could be responsible for changing Firefox settings. Don't double-click .js files ("JScript" files) because then Windows will execute them as system scripts. If you want to view their contents, you can right-click>Edit the file.

Or if you're not that interested, you can just delete it!

Thanks for the heads-up! I'm probably gonna delete them both I think.Thank you once again for helping to solve my problem!