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Don't know how to get rid of trackid=sp-006 in firefox when googling

Firefox Privacy and security
Shadow110 replied
warmwhimsy
warmwhimsy

I kept seeing this 'trackid=sp-006' appended to most of my google searches, and wondered what it was, so I did a little research. A whole bunch of sites said that it was a virus of some description, probably a tracking and adware virus, though those seemed to be sites wanting you to pay for their products too.

One of these sources did suggest that it was a 'potentially unwanted program', so I scanned my computer with malwarebytes and quarantined the two potentially unwanted programs it suggested, which were both in the mozilla folder of Appdata/Roaming but when opening it up again and testing it by googling something, it was trackid=sp-006 appended to it. Here is an example:

https://www.google.com/search?q=hello+world&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&channel=fs&trackid=sp-006

also, this doesn't appear to be happening on google chrome on the same computer, just to test it. I do have ghostery installed, so will that help at all in not being tracked by malicious sources in cases like this? also, I have avast and httpseverywhere installed too.

so in short: 1: is Trackid=sp-006 a virus or a tracker? 2: how do I remove it?

I kept seeing this 'trackid=sp-006' appended to most of my google searches, and wondered what it was, so I did a little research. A whole bunch of sites said that it was a virus of some description, probably a tracking and adware virus, though those seemed to be sites wanting you to pay for their products too. One of these sources did suggest that it was a 'potentially unwanted program', so I scanned my computer with malwarebytes and quarantined the two potentially unwanted programs it suggested, which were both in the mozilla folder of Appdata/Roaming but when opening it up again and testing it by googling something, it was trackid=sp-006 appended to it. Here is an example: https://www.google.com/search?q=hello+world&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&channel=fs&trackid=sp-006 also, this doesn't appear to be happening on google chrome on the same computer, just to test it. I do have ghostery installed, so will that help at all in not being tracked by malicious sources in cases like this? also, I have avast and httpseverywhere installed too. so in short: 1: is Trackid=sp-006 a virus or a tracker? 2: how do I remove it?

All Replies (1)

Shadow110
Shadow110

It is possibly a unwanted program you got recently that was included in a install. Always use Custom install. Also things can get attached into the Temp folder and into Firefox by just opening a malicious website in what is called a drive by.

That being said sorry still have the issue but this is Volunteer Support for Firefox and it is a browser, so please go to a anti-malware site for help. You have already used Malwarebytes that's great and a good start.

You can try these free programs to scan for malware, which work with your existing antivirus software:

Microsoft Security Essentials is a good permanent antivirus for Windows 7/Vista if you don't already have one. Windows 8/10 have antivirus protection built-in.

Further information can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware article.

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