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A program named Search/QU has taken over the browser and I don't know haw to get rid of it.

  • 18 replies
  • 1543 have this problem
  • 9 views
  • Last reply by AliceWyman

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On the symbol that is supposed to take me back to home, it takes me instead to http://searchqu.com/414. I always have my home page a "blank". I changed it back to blank several times and it just changed back to the search/qu thing.

On the symbol that is supposed to take me back to home, it takes me instead to http://searchqu.com/414. I always have my home page a "blank". I changed it back to blank several times and it just changed back to the search/qu thing.

Chosen solution

Via Options: change your Home page to what you want, it should not be there when you restart, But go into view/toolbars and de-select it first. I had previously removed the iLivid program which was a webcam I think

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All Replies (18)

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Please see this article: http://deletemalware.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-to-remove-searchqu-uninstall-guide.html


If this answers your question, please click the Solved it button next to this post after you log in into the forum. This will help others searching for a solution to the same problem.

Thanks.

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@ cowdenff,

Your post is marked as 15 hours old without a response from you.

If the problem has been fixed, could you please click the Solved It button next to the post which solved the problem for you so that this thread gets marked as Solved? If not, then other contributors will keep adding to it uneccessarily.

Many thanks in anticipation of your cooperation.

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Hei! i found the bugger i a toolbar addon called bandooilivid something, that came with a game (my girlfriend dowloaded it..). None of the other solutions i found here worked for me, but uninstalling this thing did it.

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hi, i had this problem TWICE but ive sorted it out now,

heres 1 option-worked first time i tried it not second 1ST 1. Download 'Ultimate Boot CD' ISO file from http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/

2. Download 'ImgBurn' from http://www.imgburn.com/

3. Use 'ImgBurn' to create a bootable CD from the 'Ultimate Boot CD' ISO file

4. Boot your your PC with the CD you have created.

The 'Ultimate Boot CD' contains three Anti-Virus programs and also many other tools to perform rescue operations on you PC.

Browse through the menu until you find the recovery tool for the task at hand, be sure to read all the dialogs on screen before pressing any keys as this is a powerful tool set and can result in loss of data if incorrectly used.

If you follow the onscreen instructions and associated help dialogs you can't go wrong with this recovery CD.

Source(s):

I have used this tool for many years to recover files, and remove viruses as well as test computer components for faults.

2ND Custom Search Web . Loading.... Your computer is infected with malicious software? Do you have popups on your PC? If so, search this blog for removal instructions or find computer threats by category.


Wednesday, May 25, 2011 How to Remove Searchqu (Uninstall Guide) Share Searchqu is installed alongside a shareware or freeware applications that are often defined as adware or potentially unwanted software. Searchqu is not a virus or any other type of malicious software. It changes your default home page to point to searchqu.com, installs a toolbar and adds additional search engine called Web Search. Some users report that each time they type search terms in the top search/URL box they get redirected to searchqu.com or search-results.com. I you ended up with this rather annoying software, then you probably were not paying attention and clicked through the installer of freeware software without noticing that you had agreed to those changes. Usually, it's an opt-out choice and you should really pay more attention to various optional features during the install process. We have no evidence that Searchqu is being distributed through the use of Trojans or any other malware. It doesn't download/install malware either. Searchqu doesn't appear in the list of programs, so you can't easily uninstall it. We receive emails from various people who can't remove Searchqu toolbar completely or restore web browser's default settings (usually, search engine and home page). If you have the same problem, please follow Searchqu removal guide for Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Good luck and be safe online!




Remove Searchqu Toolbar in Internet Explorer:

1. Open Internet Explorer. Go to Tools → Manage Add-ons.


2. Select Toolbars and Extensions. Uninstall/disable everything related to Searchqu from the list: Searchqu toolbar, UrlHelper Class, etc.


3. Select Search Providers. First of all, choose Bing search engine and make it your default search provider. Then select Web Search and click Disable suggestions to disable it.


4. Go to Tools → Internet Options. Select General tab and click Use default button or enter your own website, e.g. google.com instead of searchqu.com. Click OK to save the changes. And that's about it.




Remove Searchqu Toolbar in Mozilla Firefox:

1. Open Mozilla Firefox. Go to Tools → Add-ons.


2. Select Extensions. Choose Searchqu Toolbar and click Uninstall button.


3. Go to Tools → Options. Under the General tab reset the startup homepage or change it to google.com, etc. That's it.




Remove Searchqu in Google Chrome:

1. Click on Customize and control Google Chrome icon and select Options.


2. Choose Basic Options. Change Google Chrome homepage to google.com or any other and click the Manage search engines... button.


3. Select Google from the list and make it your default search engine.


4. Select Web Search from the list remove it by clicking the "X" mark as shown in the image below. That's it.




Scan your computer with antimalware software:

Download free anti-malware software from the list below and run a full system scan.

•MalwareBytes Anti-malware •SUPERAntispyware •Spybot S&D •Hitman Pro 3.5 NOTE: With all of these tools, if running Windows 7 or Vista they MUST be run as administrator. Launch the program and follow the prompts. Don't forget to update the installed program before scanning.



Remove Searchqu files and associated registry values manually (Optional)

Searchqu Toolbar resides in %AppData% folder.

%AppData% refers to: C:\Documents and Settings\[UserName]\Application Data (in Windows 2000/XP) C:\Users\[UserName]\AppData\Roaming (in Windows Vista & Windows 7)

Example in Windows XP:


Registry values are given below.



Associated Searchqu files and registry values:

Files:

•%AppData%\searchqutoolbar\coupons\categories.xml •%AppData%\searchqutoolbar\coupons\merchants.xml •%AppData%\searchqutoolbar\coupons\merchants2.xml •%AppData%\searchqutoolbar\dtx.ini •%AppData%\searchqutoolbar\guid.dat •%AppData%\searchqutoolbar\log.txt •%AppData%\searchqutoolbar\preferences.dat •%AppData%\searchqutoolbar\stat.log •%AppData%\searchqutoolbar\stats.dat •%AppData%\searchqutoolbar\uninstallIE.dat •%AppData%\searchqutoolbar\uninstallStatIE.dat •%AppData%\searchqutoolbar\version.xml •%AppData%\searchqutoolbar\ •%Temp%\searchqutoolbar-manifest.xml %AppData% refers to: C:\Documents and Settings\[UserName]\Application Data (in Windows 2000/XP) C:\Users\[UserName]\AppData\Roaming (in Windows Vista & Windows 7)

Registry values:

•HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{99079a25-328f-4bd4-be04-00955acaa0a7}\InprocServer32 "C:\PROGRA~1\WINDOW~4\ToolBar\searchqudtx.dll" •HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{99079a25-328f-4bd4-be04-00955acaa0a7} "Searchqu Toolbar" •HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{A40DC6C5-79D0-4ca8-A185-8FF989AF1115}\VersionIndependentProgID "SearchQUIEHelper.UrlHelper" •HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{A40DC6C5-79D0-4ca8-A185-8FF989AF1115}\ProgID "SearchQUIEHelper.UrlHelper.1" •HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{A40DC6C5-79D0-4ca8-A185-8FF989AF1115} "UrlHelper Class" •HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\SearchQUIEHelper.DNSGuard\CurVer •HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\SearchQUIEHelper.DNSGuard\CLSID •HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\SearchQUIEHelper.DNSGuard •HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\SearchQUIEHelper.DNSGuard.1 •HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar "Searchqu Toolbar" •HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{99079a25-328f-4bd4-be04-00955acaa0a7} "Searchqu Toolbar"


it will help

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I've been frustrated with this problem for WEEKS and have googled to find possible solutions several times, but never understood enough the complicated (scary!) instructions I was finding, or understood them but they didn't apply/work for me (Windows 7). Until! Until I found this http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_toolbars and THIS worked!

Hope it helps others.

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This solution fixed the problem for me BUT I found that the extension was named "SearchCore" instead of Searchqu" so just be aware.

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OPEN INTERNET OPTIONS, CLICK ON ADVANCED, CLICK ON RESET, THAT SHOULD SOLVE THE PROBLEM, BUT ONLY USE THIS IF YOUR BROWSER IS IN A UNUSABLE STATE

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I know its a few months old now but I just had this problem on Windows 7.

Lots of fixes around but not many seemed to do any good. SearchQU seems to be attached to a toolbar addon called "iLivid" that comes attatched to various game downloads.

iLivid can be found in the add/remove programs menu and removed from there. Seems to sort the problem.

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Chosen Solution

Via Options: change your Home page to what you want, it should not be there when you restart, But go into view/toolbars and de-select it first. I had previously removed the iLivid program which was a webcam I think

Modified by Not_Happy

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solved! thanks

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I tried sooo many things, and nothing worked. This simple solution has worked for me. Go to the options tab in Mozilla and make google your homepage. When you try to get rid of searchqu a tab comes up in the right bottom corner of the browser for a few seconds saying something about the fact that a program wants to take over your search engine and searchqu is blocking it.

Quick before the tab disappears, click the link on the tab. (if you miss the link and tab the first time you try, close your browser and try to change your options tab to google as your homepage again). After you click the link, another tab opens up giving you the choice of changing to the search engine you picked. Click your choice and presto, when I opened up my browser again, searchqu was gone. Yeah!!!!!

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My problem was solved not only with these solutions but with another solution i've found here: http://support.mozilla.com/pt-PT/questions/854647

Hope it helps you too!

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Modified by Astael

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Hi, @cowdenff, my name is John, and I'm a member of the Searchqu Support Team. I'm here to help :) When koyote installs onto your pc it offered two basic installs, typical installation, which lists the add-on features such as searchqu default search, and custom installation, which allows you to select the add-ons that you wish to install. There's no need to worry if you did the typical install - this isn't a virus, nor malware , and there's no need to Perform a virus scan against it. If you still have issues with removing the searchqu default search please let us know so we can give you the instructions to solve it :)

The Searchqu support team.

Modified by Searchqu Support Team

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I followed the advice: went to Add-ons, went to Extensions, searched for (and carefully looked for) searchqu, but didn't find it among the extensions. And so it's still replacing Firefox and my home page. More ideas, pleeeze.

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Modified by Hasan

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This thread was locked because the thread owner reported that his original question was solved. If the suggestions given in this thread don't solve your problem, see the article "Fix problems with your home page or search" to find other solutions. You can also ask a new question by using this link as a starting point: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/new

Modified by AliceWyman