Don't know how to get rid of trackid=sp-006 in firefox when googling
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)
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.
- https://blog.malwarebytes.com/101/2015/06/10-easy-steps-to-clean-your-infected-computer/
- https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/9573-im-infected-what-do-i-do-now/
You can try these free programs to scan for malware, which work with your existing antivirus software:
- Microsoft Safety Scanner
- MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware
- Anti-Rootkit Utility - TDSSKiller (for more info, see this alternate TDSSKiller download page)
- AdwCleaner (for more info, see this alternate AdwCleaner download page)
- Hitman Pro
- ESET Online Scanner
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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