Removing search protect

fatty3065

Distinguished
Dec 29, 2012
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18,530
Hi, I'm having problems removing "search protect". It wont let me remove it through control panel, I've removed it through windows safe mode and it came back. im using ie11 and windows 7 home edition. Thank you for your time.
 
Solution
Its pretty easy..Dont use add or remove programs..It Wont help

For Windows 7 and Windows 8

1.Just boot in safe mode
2.open C/: Program files x86(you will find the "Search protect" or "Search conduit" folder there)
3.Permanently delete that folder.
4.Now Reboot normally
5.Now open add or remove programs you will find search protect conduit remove it.
6.change your browser settings aka ur homepage etc

And you are good to go

This is the easiest way 2 remove it.
Dont use any other malvare removal tool it wont work..There are Just junk.
This search conduit is not a malvare
Its a potentially unwanted program so it wont go unless u remove it in safe mode..
Good Luck
Its pretty easy..Dont use add or remove programs..It Wont help

For Windows 7 and Windows 8

1.Just boot in safe mode
2.open C/: Program files x86(you will find the "Search protect" or "Search conduit" folder there)
3.Permanently delete that folder.
4.Now Reboot normally
5.Now open add or remove programs you will find search protect conduit remove it.
6.change your browser settings aka ur homepage etc

And you are good to go

This is the easiest way 2 remove it.
Dont use any other malvare removal tool it wont work..There are Just junk.
This search conduit is not a malvare
Its a potentially unwanted program so it wont go unless u remove it in safe mode..
Good Luck
 
Solution


 
Hello Danny212,
I have attempted to remove 'search protect' following your instructions precisely, in safe mode. When I right-click on it and then select delete I get a message telling me I need to contact my administrator. This is despite the fact that I am logged on as an administrator.
 
Yea honestly, I wiped my hard drive and re installed windows. Still strange things are happening. Like reading external hard drive 4ever. Actually everything used to happen in the blink of an eye. Now there is something very wrong. I think I am going to use ubuntu to completely own my hard drive then re install windows. In the past I have found this the quickest solution to many problems. The People that created this search protect should be slowly and painfully dealt to. They have caused thousands if not millions of people to become frustrated and confused. Searching endlessly on the web for a solution simply because they missed one dialog box while installing so called free software. Find these people make them SUFFERRR
 
Kesesese.....I found the search protect folder at Xtab you should uninstall this to remove it, if you cannot find it, do this

-->Computer -->Local Disk C: -->Organize -->Folder and search options -->View -->Show Hidden Files.

then

Go to your Local Disk C: and go to Program files search the Xtab and uninstall it
 
1-just go to C:\Program Files for windows 7 or C:\Program Files (x86) for windows 64
2-you will find a folder called Xlab open it and you will find uninstall
3-run it as administrator
4-finish the steps and search protect will be gone

worked for me no need for safe mood
 


THANKS! It seems this Search Protect is another version of the malware. It doesn't show itself on the installed program lists nor it haves all the features. The folder is Xtab and not Xlab.

So indeed this newer version of the Shitware has a different way of being eliminated.

Note: I'm not very good understanding software, but inside the XTab folder there was a version of MSVCR110.DLL so it may be possible that the shitware had replaced the original library.
 


The way to remove this is to do a earlier system restore that sorted mine out i was trying for a few days, nothing would get rid of it. I thought about a restore and this fixed the problem.! have fun! 😉
 


it just needs to berestored to an earlier time. 😉
 

Thks , I catched HIM , he hide so good but no , I hit him , i kick him , i DELETED HIM !!! Yeah , freedom my homepage thank you again!!
 


I have deleted the Xtab folder but still the search and the homepage is fucked up,
I'm using windows 7
 


Hi Fatty 3065

Tried several ideas from here and elsewhere and had Conduit Search Protect still intact. So pleased that I finally got rid of it using Malwarebytes.Anti-Malware. Great free program and it's worth buying the advanced version.
 
Have you tried the Avast Browser Cleanup to get rid of unwanted toolbars and search providers and set defaults? I was surprised by how many that were hiding and were trying to hijack my IE 11. It works for Firefox and Chrome too. You can download it from:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/getmirror/avast_browser_cleanup,1.html



 
I had this same problem today, but I couldn't find any of the folders which were mentioned above. There was a folder called MiuiTab, which had an uninstall thing inside which got rid of the Search Protect thing, but my home pages are still stuffed up.
 
i also found it in MiuiTab -->booted to safe mode-->deleted it and then manually restored my homepages and removed it from my FF's extencions, also did scans with M'bam&SaS and everything seems ok now... 😀
 


Hi, I had it too, (win7 - 64bit) but I also have COMODO internet security and when I uninstalled it via Control panel, COMODO came up with a message about a program called: "AU_.exe" trying to modify protected system files. So I ggogled it and found that this program can be part of some spyware (Ace Utilities PC optimizer) BUT it could also be a worm if it is found in the Windows SYSTEM folder, e.g. C:\Windows\System32\au.exe.

I don't know which is true if any.. but uninstalling it while Comodo isolated (sandboxed) the process worked for me and it is gone..
 
I'm having the same problem. Clicking on it in control panel doesnt do anything. Deleting the files in safe mode seems to work, but it just comes back the next day. Running the actual uninstall.exe doesn't do anything. Xtab and MiuiTab don't exist, only a searchprotect folder.

Anyone got any ideas? This things driving me insane.
 
None of the above solutions seemed to work, but heres what i did with windows 10 (probably work the same on other versions)
- Kill any SearchProtect processes running using task manager - I had three running
- Use file search to find the folders called 'SearchProtect' - I had two - First in Users/YourUserName/appdata/local - Second was in Programfiles(86x)
- Delete them
- Then in control panel, remove the Searchprotect program

That did it. Restarted, and no dumb search protect.