Before anybody asks, I have done a search using Ad-Aware and Spybot and they both come up empty.
Then why have I still got this virus of a toolbar at the top of my browser? I certainly did not click to have it there, though onlike other toolbar trojans I have had in the past (Xupiter and Gator - Shudder) it seems to be a bitch to remove.
I guess even though I am extremely cautious about anything that I let through my computer, something can still get through.
Can somebody help?
Also, on an semi-related note. I notice several of my shared work computers have either the Google or Yahoo! toolbar on them. Is this just as bad and should I get them removed?
I removed it from my father’s computer several hours ago by going to the Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs and selecting Uninstall.
Dad has the Yahoo toolbar installed by choice, and I have the Google one. I don’t think they’re evil like that mywebsearch toolbar that installs itself. YMMV.
Sounds like some program has planted this on your system. I had something similar, my web browser was hijacked; my start page was changed to one that was “planted” by some program. If you changed it back, It would revert back when you restarted the computer. It was a pain to get rid of it.
Anyway, there’s two freeware programs I have used to rid my system of this type of thing. You may have to use both of them. They are: cwshredder and Hijack this!
Use caution when using these programs, you will be given a list of possible problem programs, and the option to remove them. If you are not careful, you may remove a program you want, or need, or remove customizations from other programs. Good Luck!
Oddly no. A couple of other computers in the household cough have KaZaA, but this one is completely free of P2P programs, which is why this perplexes me.
Though thanks for the suggestions folks, the simple add/removed worked, though I think I will download thoses other programs (cwshredder and hijack this!) to check if there isn’t anything else similar to this on my computer.
I am liking the Google toolbar because it blocks pop-ups, and while I think Google is a good company, I am still rather fishy about those toolbars period.
If that doesn’t work (and it usually does, but recently I’ve managed to get a bitch of homepage hijacker on my system), what you can do is this:
Reboot your system in safe mode, command prompt. Run AdAware, run SpyBot, and run CWShredder just to make sure everything is off your system. Delete your Temp folder and Temporary Internet Files folder. Do a “rmdir /s” on those folders to wipe out all the directories and subdirectories.
Type “regedit” at the command prompt. Delete any entries in your registry that reference the offending hijack page. Run Hijack This and remove any entries that reference mywebsearch.com.
Reboot and you should be okay. I have a feeling, though, that CWShredder should be able to do the job for you.
I’ve had a similar problem like you. I was able to trace it back to a website that offers screensavers and wallpaper. When you execute to apply the screensaver the program also executes the mysearch toolbar and some weatherbug software without asking permission.
It was a bitch to get rid of, but I finally did. I too have the Google Toolbar, but the computer i use at work is shared by other people as well. I had to track down the person who actually downloaded the screensaver, because it wouldn’t let me deleted it.
If you are not the only person who uses that computer, you may have to find the person who downloaded it and have them delete it. Trying to delete what someone downloaded on your profile won’t work. Unless you get someone with admin rights to do it.
It will show a window with all the “Browser Help Objects” that have their hooks into IE. Some will be legit, like Adobe Acrobat’s helper object or the Google toolbar.
It will allow you to enable/disable these BHOs on an individual basis without actually uninstalling them.