# How to get rid of CommonName?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-commonname/167930>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 11, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-commonname/167930 "2003-04-11T00:50:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-commonname/167930/1 "2003-04-11T00:50:00Z")

</div>

Something installed CommonName without my permission.

CommonName is an IE add-on that intercepts what you type in the URL box and tries to interpret it as a search string so it can try to take you directly to a web site based on a string like “United Airlines”. Trouble is it’s a piece of sh\*t. It is listed for uninstall but when you try to uninstall it, it takes you to their web site, and requires a download. Well, they’ve already screwed up my computer enough, I’ll be damned if I’m going to download more crap from them. I am running a trial version of MemTurbo, a memory cleanup utility recommended by CNET. That is the only thing I can think of that might have installed this junk.

Is there any way out of this without downloading their stuff?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-commonname/167930/2 "2003-04-11T00:55:17Z")

</div>

Adaware or Spybot might be able to handle it. If not, and if you have no other third-party browser extensions in use, you can go to Tools \> Internet Opetions \> Advanced Tab in IE and uncheck “Allow third-party browser extensions”. This will require you to reboot before it takes effect, but should get rid of it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-commonname/167930/3 "2003-04-11T01:12:48Z")

</div>

[Some more info.](http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/CommonName.html)

> [@](#):
>
> Spybot S&D update 2002-09-08 and later, and Ad-Aware can remove the Toolbar and Agent variants; Spybot update 2002-11-30 and HijackThis 1.8 can remove the Mib variant.

Uninstalling it manually is rather more intricate.