Smartsearch Browser Hijack

[jobert]

Any of you folks had your browser
taken over by the Smartsearch scumbags?

This is a truly insidious hijack,
and none of the popular adware programs
recognize it.

I can't seem to locate the startup prog
that repeatedly messes with my registry.

Thanks for your help!

 

[mpitts]

Try CWShredder.

 

[conjur]

Download and run Hijack This

 

[jobert]

CWShredder removes the registry entries,
but does not find the program itself,
so all the junk is reinstalled at next bootup.
After you run CWShredder,
the Smartsearch variant of CoolWebSearch
changes its coding to shut down CWShredder
after it runs for a few seconds (!).

It does the same thing to HijackThis...
shuts it down.

Any other suggestions
(besides wiping the disk)?

 

[Zenmervolt]

Run MSCONFIG and see what programs are loading with every startup. Then find it, end its process, and delete it.

ZV

 

[nebula]

My friend had this the other day. I ran Spybot on it and the search bar is now gone. After reading this, maybe there still are remnants of it still around, but the bar is gone.

Now he has another very stange pop up box come up everytime Windows loads, the box is titled "Proxy" and it asks for his proxy settings, this is his work computer. I tried to Google for this but the words are so generic that it was hard to pin down. I'm going to get a screenshot of it, I've never seen that before so it's strange.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Ugh, I had some stupid thing called Dot Com Toolbar on my machine, it kept reappearing every couple of days even if I didn't reboot. I think SpyBot finally got rid of it. AdAware didn't even acknowledge it was there, whereas SpyBot zapped a ton of entries for it.

 

[SelinnaXu]

Many computer users got infected with Smartsearch Browser Hijack, and they complained that they have no clue on how to remove it from the compromised computer. I hope that the removal steps below would work:

Step 1: Remove add-ons and Extensions from infected browsers.

Internet Explorer:

Start Internet Explorer.
Click on setting icon at the upper right and select Manage add-ons.
Click Toolbars and Extensions on the left side, search for and remove any suspicious add-ons.


Mozilla Firefox:

Run Firefox browser.
Click on Tools and select Add-ons.
Click Extensions on the left side, find out and disable any suspicious add-ons.


Google Chrome:

Run Google Chrome.
Click on wrench icon at the upper right corner, click on Tools and select Extensions option.
Find out the malicious add-ons and remove them from Chrome.

Step 2: End relevant processes

Press Ctrl+Alt+Del or Ctrl+Shift+Esc keys together to open Widows Task Manager. While Widows Task Manager opens, click on Processes tab. Select the related processes and click End Process button to cease them.


Step 3: Show Hidden Files and folders

Click Start menu and Control Panel from the list. Click Appearance and Personalization link, and then double-click Folder Options.
In the Folder Option, click its View tab. Check Show hidden files and folders and uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) under the Advanced settings, and then hit OK button.


Step 4: Delete registry entries

Attention: Be always to back up registry entries before deleting any of them.

Press Windows+R keys together, while a command box pops up, type “regedit” into the Run box, and then hit OK button to continue.
In the Registry Editor, locate and delete all related registry entries.


Step 5: Find out and remove the following vicious files.

Step 6: Restart your machine


If you have any doubt, you can refer to this article:[ link removed ]

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I don't know if you're spamming for the company at the link, but I locked the thread because the previous reply was eleven years ago.

Harvey
Senior AnandTech Moderator/Administrator