How to remove SearchAnonymizeme from Google in Firefox
Installed the searchanonymize app and immediately found it unsatisfactory when searching with Google. Removed all that seemed to matter (Registry entries, Windows files --- prefetch, OCS folder ---- startup entries) but the thing persists in the Google search which re-directs via De. Where is the pest hiding?
Seçilmiş Həll
Because I prefer not to have Firefox compromised as it was described above, after further fruiless searching and deleting, I used IE8 to download a fresh setup of 10.0.2 which I installed in a different directory / folder. This removed the redirect and happily picked up my bookmarks, but not the stored passwords (I had done some serious culling in the pre-existing 10.0.2). I now have my nicely functioning search engine dealing directly with my requirements. I would suggest, however, that a script for deleting the search engine/s selectively has benefits which would have been seen in this instance.
Modified by Trance
All Replies (3)
Do a malware check with some malware scan programs. You need to scan with all programs because each program detects different malware. Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of the database before doing a scan.
- http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php - Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
- http://www.superantispyware.com/ - SuperAntispyware
- http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx - Windows Defender: Home Page
- http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html - Spybot Search & Destroy
- http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php - Ad-Aware Free
See also "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked and What to do when searches take you to the wrong search website
Thanks to Swarnava for the response. This appears NOT to be an instance of malware or other unwanted stuff of that type. Quite a few reputable sources put this one in the 'green' zone. The issue seems to revolve around a profile setting which was written when the pest was installed for a trial. Insofar as I have been able to go, there are no active entities remaining that I can find in Registry or Mozilla (apps) or in Windows --- having deleted the prefetch instance from Windows, and removed the known registry entries --- and my next options on the list is to use a Linux approach to investigate. I use a live USB linux when the window gets dirty. Looking in the Firefox "Safe Mode" listings has not yet revealed the hiding place of the persistent redirect using Google (and only Google) search engine. I can use Bing, Yahoo, etc., without the redirect operating to the Deutsch (in Deutsch/German) but no matter what the past hours of checking and removing and disabling have done, the problem still exists. I do know of a final solution (uninstall Firefox etc., but I thought that this was a less informative way to fix the issue. Here is the long URL when I google 'Firefox' from an Australian home page:
IE8 default search is also Google, and this problem is not present in IE8. So this seems to confine the issue to Firefox and the inextricable link to Google (have you noticed that Google search cannot be eliminated easily from firefox?---- not that I want to do that permanently!)
Modified by Trance
Seçilmiş Həll
Because I prefer not to have Firefox compromised as it was described above, after further fruiless searching and deleting, I used IE8 to download a fresh setup of 10.0.2 which I installed in a different directory / folder. This removed the redirect and happily picked up my bookmarks, but not the stored passwords (I had done some serious culling in the pre-existing 10.0.2). I now have my nicely functioning search engine dealing directly with my requirements. I would suggest, however, that a script for deleting the search engine/s selectively has benefits which would have been seen in this instance.
Modified by Trance