Search.certified-toolbar.com – an Irritating Hijacker

Search.certified-toolbar.com is an irritating hijacker that causes many unwanted changes to your Internet Browser once installed. These are replacement of your homepage, New Tab page and search engine with search.certified-toolbar.com. Whenever you open Internet and try to search for anything you will get redirected to this unwanted page. Search.certified-toolbar.com can also add its promoted websites to your bookmark list. Alas, a computer user having this browser hijacker has no control over the changes made.

The toolbar itself does not add any additional value when having it installed therefore it is not likely that many would get it from the company’s official website. Since search.certified-toolbar.com generates money from advertisements displayed on the page and it needs to have as much traffic as possible, it is not surprising that unfair toolbar‘s distribution methods are applied. Many victims do not have a clue how they got search.certified-toolbar.com on their Internet browsers. Most likely they installed some shareware or freeware. Search.certified-toolbar.com came bundled with it. Many adware applications are installed using this trick. Additional programs are marked to be installed by default and if you do not take a checkbox off which many don‘t, you end up with annoying changes that are particularly difficult to get rid of.

Although the toolbar itself is not related to malware, the advertisements it displays might have malicious code in them and cause damage to your computer. Moreover, the toolbar uses cookies and other tracking techniques to monitor and record your Internet browsing behavior. The data collected might be used for many purposes, one of which is to display more advertisements selected according to your likes.

In many cases a manual search.certified-toolbar.com hijacker removal is very complicated. The toolbar is programmed to hide itself from being deleted because its developers are motivated to have as many users as possible. Moreover, not all of legitimate antivirus programs identify it as malicious. There are only few tools that are capable of detecting and removing search.certified-toolbar.com completely. It is quite often that more than one unwanted application might be installed therefore you should check if there are no other unknown programs added on the same day as search.certified-toolbar.com.

How to Remove SearchYa

SearchYa is a toolbar that can be added to any of Internet browsers. As the official its developers’ site states, it allows to quickly accessing your favorite websites and web services. The add-on is related to Funmoods and Facemoods browser plug ins and includes some of their features. If one reads SearchYa End User License Agreement, it talks about additional changes caused by the toolbar:

  1. New Tab Page: SearchYa may change your new tab page on any of your browsers to add the SearchYa new tab application or page. The new tab application or page uses some of your original preferences and access your last visited pages, bookmarks, most viewed pages and installed browser apps. Please note that none of this information is retained by SearchYa on its servers.
  2. Changes In Default Search: SearchYa may change your default search engine to add SearchYa’s (or any of SearchYa’s affiliates) search engine; SearchYa’s search engine is provided free of charge, and provides you with great search results.
  3. Changes to your homepage: SearchYa may change your homepage in any of your browsers to allow the SearchYa’s homepage application to provide you with better services.
  4. Installing Browser Add-ons: In order to provide you with the services, SearchYa may install browser add-ons, plugins or widgets to any and all of your browsers.

Let’s have a look at these changes. After you install SearchYa toolbar, your New Tab page, Default Search Engine, Home page will be changed to SearchYa.com or any other site promoted by the company. These changes are made without you being able to choose to have them or not. Moreover, you will not be able to undo the changes unless you remove SearchYa from your computer completely. As if this is not enough, the document clearly states that other applications will be installed together with the latter toolbar and again there is no word about a computer user being able to control the process.

It is not strange that SearchYa developers try to make computer users use SearchYa.com at any means. Even though the toolbar itself is free of charge, money is earned from the search engine promoted. The website uses a customized Google search engine and the results seem to be legitimate but it also displays deceptive ads. Once you click on them, you may be taken to malicious websites. The company behind SearchYa does not take any responsibility for the content of the 3rd parties it shows.

While it is possible to install SearchYa from its official web site, this is not the widest used way of its distribution. Many times computer users do not know where the toolbar came from. Usually it is bundled with other software and gets installed by default when choosing an automatic installation option.

Although the toolbar itself is not related to malware or viruses, it is recommended to remove it, especially if you did not choose to install it. A simple uninstall procedure will not be enough in many cases because adware like this one is programmed to be resistant to removal. The quickest and easiest way to remove SearchYa is by using special tools that are known to be effective in adware identification and elimination. Spyhunter can detect the add-on and all its related files, remove them automatically and restore your computer settings to those before infection. Moreover, if there was more than one unwanted application installed, it will remove them as well.

MapsGalaxy Should Be Removed without Hesitation

MapsGalaxy is a browser hijacker that redirects all of search inquiries to home.mywebsearch.com. Toolbar‘s developers Mindspark Interactive Network, Inc. use it to get more traffic to the site they promote. It all works according to a scheme widely used among adware developers. Even though the add-on is free of charge, the company earns money from other revenues.

First of all a toolbar needs to be installed to as many computer users as possible. One can download it from an official site due to the functionality it offers, such as quick access to map search; check of the traffic info; easy access to yellow pages, facebook and other tools. The truth is, this browser extension does not add that much of a value therefore it is much more likely that other methods of its distribution will be applied. One of the most common ones is bundling MapsGalaxy together with other freeware or shareware. Once a computer user installs this software automatically, she does not pay attention to the fact that other applications will be added by default. This is why many say they do not know how MapsGalaxy got into their computer.

Once the toolbar is added to Internet browser, it changes home page and search engine to its own. This is done without a user’s agreement. Moreover, you will not be able to reset your previous search page even if you change Internet settings. Companies like Mindspark Interactive Network, Inc. use various tricks to keep as many searchers as possible. They do not include complete uninstall wizards together with the toolbars developed therefore even after removing the toolbar itself, unwanted changes stay.

One would say the search page home.mywebsearch.com does not differ that much from other search engines. If it is so complicated to undo the changes, she might rather use the new search tool. This is exactly what toolbar’s developers hope for. When you make a search inquiry, you get your needed results mixed with advertisements. The latter ones are not marked any different. When you click on such an advertised site, toolbar’s developers get paid for it. Moreover, your Internet browsing behavior is monitored and recorded and the data is used for more advertisements to be shown to you.

There is no doubt MapsGalaxy toolbar should be removed. Alas, not all of antivirus programs can identify it as malicious. Some tools do not remove all of the files related to this unwanted application. Use only those tools that are known to be effective in removing MapsGalaxy adware. Check if there was no other unfamiliar applications installed on the same day.

Why Certified Toolbar Virus should be Removed

certified-toolbar-virusCertified Toolbar Virus is a browser hijacker that redirects any of search inquiries to search.certified-toolbar.com. It can be added to all of the most popular internet browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. As soon as it is installed the toolbar changes infected computer‘s home page and search page to the one it promotes. Although the toolbar itself is free of charge, the company behind it earns money from the users redirected to search.certified-toolbar.com. The latter site shows search results mixed with advertised links therefore when you click on the address displayed you never know if it was given to you because it matches your search criteria or it just need to be promoted.

Certified Toolbar Virus can get inside computer together with shareware or freeware bundles. It might come either by pre-selecting confirm buttons or without any additional user choice. Some of Certified toolbar versions use Blekko search engine and get paid for every user redirected. An infected computer‘s user will have to face many pop-up advertisements until the toolbar is removed. Moreover, Certified toolbar virus is programmed to record user‘s Internet browsing habits and collect such personal information like credit card information, login and passwords. This data can be provided to third parties. One of the purposes it will be used is for targeted advertisements.

It is strongly recommended to remove Certified toolbar virus as soon as its activity is noticed. Note that not all of antivirus tools detect this type of thread and some do not remove all of its related files. Use only reputable tools that are known to be effective for removing of Certified toolbar virus. It might be that together with it other infections were infiltrated into your computer system therefore run a full system scan in order to get rid of all threads.

Incredibar – How to Remove It?

incredibarIncredibar is a browser add-on that depending on its version allows watching youtube videos, checking weather reports, accessing your music from everywhere, and playing games. It can be added to any of Internet browsers, e.g. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome. The toolbar itself is free of charge. The company Perion that owes it earns money from the traffic generated to the site it promotes mystart.incredibar.com.

After Incredibar is installed, together with the functions listed in its official web page you will get one that might not wish to have that much. Your previous home page and search engine will be replaced with mystart.incredibar.com. Basically you get forced to use it because changing it from browser settings will not do the trick. Moreover, additional web pages might be added to your bookmark list. On low memory conditions Incredibar has been noticed to slow a computer down.

Although some might download this toolbar from Perion official web page due to the functionality it offers, many times this is not the case. As noted earlier, money come from the increase in search tool users and advertisements displayed there, therefore it is not surprising that various tricks are used to gain customers. One of them is sending spam e-mails with advertisements. Once you click on them, Incredibar will be added to your Internet browser. Another method used is distributing it with various fake Codecs or similar freeware. These applications get paid for every new install. Alas it is a legal way of distributing similar adware. After a victim chooses to install software automatically, she usually does not notice checkbox marked by default informing that additional tools will be added.

If you did not choose to install Incredibar or you want to remove it after using for a while, you might find it difficult to do it. A simple removal from Control Panel is often not enough. It might be that you will not find the program listed there since many adware is known to hide itself from removal. Even after deleting some of the files, unwanted changes like redirecting to mystart.incredibar.com stay. The quickest and simplest way to remove Incredibar is by using special automatic tools like Spyhunter. The latter is known to be effective with many other adware as well. If you choose to use some other software, check beforehand if it is capable of detecting and removing this type of infection. Some do not recognize adware as malicious or even if categorize it as one, do not remove it completely.

Vista Security 2013 – Cyber Scam Used to Swindle Money

Vista-Security-2013Vista Security 2013 is not related to any legitimate antimalware software even thought the title of it sounds valid and the graphic user interface looks professional. It is a rogue antivirus that belongs to Braviax family. As many other fake antimalware, it is distributed using Trojan horses. Except for the new title and a bit different design, otherwise Vista Security 2013 shares the same features as many other this type of scams.

After a fake antivirus gets inside a system, it makes changes in order to be launched whenever a computer is turned on. First signs of Vista Security 2013 activity are imitation of a full system scan. It is started without any of computer user’s interference which is characteristic to fake antivirus tools. As a rule of thumb it detects lots of infections. Cyber criminals use various psychological techniques to convince the victim that her computer is badly damaged. Constant pop-up warnings interrupt anything you do with your PC. For the money to be tricked out, you are asked to purchase a full version of Vista Security 2013. It is supposed to clean your computer from any infections.

It is not surprising that unaware computer users pay for the promised cure of their computer problems. If they never had to deal with similar scam before, they do not know that the messages and warnings they see are made up. Moreover, the only infection – Vista Security 2013 – has not been detected by the antivirus they have on their computer because it is blocked.

The only way to remove Vista Security 2013 is to use reputable antivirus software and special instructions that come with it. To avoid similar attacks, check if your computer applications are up to date, do not open attachments from suspicious e-mails or click on unfamiliar links. If you already paid for the full version of Vista Security 2013, contact your bank and try to cancel the payment.

Trojan Win32.Medfos.a

Trojan Win32.Medfos.A is a Trojan Horse that is programmed to redirect the opened web browser (Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox) to pay per click websites, e.g. greatfilehosting.com and midifilehosting.com. The other feature, characteristic to this Trojan as well as its other version Medfos.B are lots of pop-up advertisements that interrupt work with an infected computer.

Win32.Medfos.A can be infiltrated into a computer using system vulnerabilities. Cyber criminals use common methods for its distribution, such as sending spam emails having corrupted attachments, adding malicious code to downloads, tricking computer users on social networks by making them click on a link with a virus, etc.

After Medfos.A gets inside a computer, it modifies the system registry in order to be launched every time Windows is started. The Trojan earns money for its creators by redirecting infected computer users to pay per click sites. Every time you click on such a site, you generate money for Medfos.A owners.

There is no need to tell that this badware should not be ignored and must be removed as soon as any of its activity is noticed. Antimalware tools like Spyhunter can detect it and remove all its related files automatically. For the future check if your firewall is enabled, make sure all of the computer programs are up to date. This will decrease the risk of getting infected again. Also be cautious when opening attachments and clicking on the links. Do that only when the source is reliable.

Why MyWebFace Should Be Removed?

mywebfaceMyWebFace is a toolbar that has only one function – it can alter the photo of a person the way it would look like a drawing from cartoons. Although it sounds fun but there are some negative aspects developers of this application are silent about. The same moment you install MyWebFace add-on, your home page and search page will be changed to mywebsearch.com. Let’s discuss the latter changes in more details.

The company behind MyWebFace toolbar earns money from generating traffic to the website it promotes. Even though the search engine itself does not look very different from other search tools, not many know that it displays advertisements mixed with the regular search results. This is what the company’s Privacy Policy talks about ads:

Advertising: We use third party advertisement serving companies to serve ads when you visit the Site. These companies may use information about your visit to the Site in order to provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you. In the course of serving advertisements to the Site, these companies may place or recognize a unique cookie on your computer or use other technologies such as pixel tags in connection to the Site.

You will not only get tricked to click on the pages that are actually adds but your Internet browsing habits will be monitored, recorded and used for various purposes. Such information like pages you visit, URL’s you enter, etc. will no longer be considered your private information. The data will be used for displaying more advertisements based on your preferences.

Even though MyWebFace toolbar is not directly related to malware, there are good reasons for wishing to remove it, especially if this browser hijacker has been installed unintentionally. Many times adware and browser hijackers are distributed using unfair techniques such as bundling it with other software. When a victim chooses an automatic installation, she ends up with many more programs, most of which is difficult to remove. Some of traditional antivirus tools do not detect this type of infection which makes it particularly difficult to remove it. Fortunately, there are tools and instructions available that assist in unwanted programs like MyWebFace removal.

Bring Me Sports Removal Tips

bring-me-sportsBring Me Sports is a toolbar that can be installed to Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. It offers such additional features as easy access to the latest sport events, including real-time scores, breaking news, video highlights. The company behind it is Mind Spark. Although this application is free of charge, its developers earn money from other revenues such as redirecting users to websites they promote. When you add Bring Me Sports to your browser extensions, you will also automatically change your home page and search engine to mywebsearch.com. Note, that toolbar’s developers do not leave any choice for you regarding these settings. Moreover, if you try to remove the toolbar, you will see that it is particularly difficult to do it and in many cases unwanted changes remain.

Bring Me Sports is distributed using several methods. One can download it from company’s official website or find it among downloads of affiliate sites. Yet people choose to install similar toolbars by themselves very seldom. To increase a number of users companies like Mind Spark use legal but unfair means such as bundling their tools with other free software. When a computer user installs it, she chooses an automatic option most of the time where adding of applications like Bring Me Sports is marked by default. This way a victim gets tricked and theoretically agrees upon installation of unwanted software.

Although Bring Me Sports is not directly related to malware, it is recommended to remove it as soon as noticed. Search engine mywebsearch.com doesn’t add any value compared to legitimate search engines such as Google, Yahoo or other. Moreover, the results displayed are mixed with advertised links and the latter are not marked any different therefore you are tricked to click on them and this way make money for the company behind the search engine. All of the shortcuts offered by Bring Me Sports can be reached directly without using it. The toolbar itself does not give any additional functionality.

If you choose to remove Bring Me Sports, you may try to do this via Control Panel Add and Remove Programs list. You may also look for it and all related files in browser extensions. Removing the toolbar manually will leave home page and search page redirected therefore you might need to restore them from the settings as well. The easiest way to get rid of Bring Me Sports is by using an automatic removal tool that is effecting in detecting and removing many adware and browser hijackers – Spyhunter. It is recommended to scan your computer with a similar program even if you chose to remove Bring Me Sports manually because it might be that more than one adware has been installed with it. Note that not all of antivirus programs can detect this type of infection therefore investigate on its limitations before using a tool other than Spyhunter.

How to Remove Yandex Toolbar?

yandexYandex toolbar (or Yandex Elements browser extension) is an add-on that offers such additional features as seeing the latest weather forecast, monitor traffic information; receive social network and new message notifications. It has been developed by a Russian search engine by the same name. All of the functionality this toolbar offers sounds great, alas many computer users complain that they never asked for this add-on and it appeared on their Internet browser out of nowhere. Moreover, they no longer can use their favorite search engine because home page and default search page have been changed to Russian yandex.com (.ru).

If you did not install Yandex toolbar and do not know how it got on your Internet browser menu, it might be you got it bundled with other software. It is a legal way of distributing applications although not a very fair one. Once a computer user chooses to install some application automatically, she might not notice that additional programs come with it and are marked to be added by default. After the installation is completed, such a computer ends up with changes that cause many inconveniences.

If you wish to remove Yandex toolbar, you may do it from Control Panel Add and Remove Programs list. Yet some computer users state that this toolbar is not listed there nor in the Tools>Addons>Extensions. If you have trouble eliminating the toolbar and all the changes it caused manually, you may wish to use an automatic removal tool. Spyhunter is known to eliminate Yandex toolbar related changes automatically. Moreover, if more unwanted applications or adware were installed, it will detect them and offer to remove as well. Many other antimalware tools do not detect adware or if detect it, they can remove related files only partially.