toolbar getting hi jacked

[tvfreak]

ok well it seems I need something cause my toolbar is getting hi jacked. (ms 8.1 prod)

The first time this happened is when I wanted to dl a image resizer. I went cnet. apparently my toolbar from firefox was hi jacked. I had the default setting for google. But after I dl the image resizer and I opened up my FF browser something was on their. It looked similar but with out the google name. My malwarebytes was blocking it. I guess ads and what not.



So I reformatted my ssd and it erased the problem.


So the second time I used IE. This time I typed in image resizer for mircosoft. So again I thought it was ok, but nope it was hi jacked again in IE. The first one was called conduit something that was on FF and this time on my IE browser it called mysearchdial.



I reformatted again, but this time it didn't get rid of it??? It worked when I reformatted my pc when FF was infected but not with IE. I reformatted 3 times with no success???

I manually removed it but I want it removed by reformatting so that way I know it's completely gone. Starting fresh sort of speak.



Any Ideas why this is happening? Is this something I need to be worried about?



On my old pc with winXP pro from yrs ago, this hasn't happen to me before. I've dl a mircosoft image resizer and my IE or FF wasn't hi jacked.



This is frustrating for sure.

 

[Pinhedd]

ok well it seems I need something cause my toolbar is getting hi jacked. (ms 8.1 prod)

The first time this happened is when I wanted to dl a image resizer. I went cnet. apparently my toolbar from firefox was hi jacked. I had the default setting for google. But after I dl the image resizer and I opened up my FF browser something was on their. It looked similar but with out the google name. My malwarebytes was blocking it. I guess ads and what not.



So I reformatted my ssd and it erased the problem.


So the second time I used IE. This time I typed in image resizer for mircosoft. So again I thought it was ok, but nope it was hi jacked again in IE. The first one was called conduit something that was on FF and this time on my IE browser it called mysearchdial.



I reformatted again, but this time it didn't get rid of it??? It worked when I reformatted my pc when FF was infected but not with IE. I reformatted 3 times with no success???

I manually removed it but I want it removed by reformatting so that way I know it's completely gone. Starting fresh sort of speak.



Any Ideas why this is happening? Is this something I need to be worried about?



On my old pc with winXP pro from yrs ago, this hasn't happen to me before. I've dl a mircosoft image resizer and my IE or FF wasn't hi jacked.



This is frustrating for sure.

Don't ever install software from the internet that doesn't come from a trusted source. CNET and similar websites are generally not trustworthy, and the software that they distribute is often riddled with toolbars and spamware that's borderline malicious.

 

[USAFRet]

downloads from cnet often (usually?) have extra baggage. Years ago, it was a good source, but sadly, not any more.

To fix? CCleaner and/or malwarebytes

 

[tvfreak]

Thanks but should I be worried about it? Like I said, I reformatted and it was still there.
I've dl things from cnet and I never had this issue before. Like my IE or FF browser getting hijacked.
This is only happening with win8.1 or my new set up

ok well it seems I need something cause my toolbar is getting hi jacked. (ms 8.1 prod)

The first time this happened is when I wanted to dl a image resizer. I went cnet. apparently my toolbar from firefox was hi jacked. I had the default setting for google. But after I dl the image resizer and I opened up my FF browser something was on their. It looked similar but with out the google name. My malwarebytes was blocking it. I guess ads and what not.



So I reformatted my ssd and it erased the problem.


So the second time I used IE. This time I typed in image resizer for mircosoft. So again I thought it was ok, but nope it was hi jacked again in IE. The first one was called conduit something that was on FF and this time on my IE browser it called mysearchdial.



I reformatted again, but this time it didn't get rid of it??? It worked when I reformatted my pc when FF was infected but not with IE. I reformatted 3 times with no success???

I manually removed it but I want it removed by reformatting so that way I know it's completely gone. Starting fresh sort of speak.



Any Ideas why this is happening? Is this something I need to be worried about?



On my old pc with winXP pro from yrs ago, this hasn't happen to me before. I've dl a mircosoft image resizer and my IE or FF wasn't hi jacked.



This is frustrating for sure.

Don't ever install software from the internet that doesn't come from a trusted source. CNET and similar websites are generally not trustworthy, and the software that they distribute is often riddled with toolbars and spamware that's borderline malicious.

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks but should I be worried about it? Like I said, I reformatted and it was still there.
I've dl things from cnet and I never had this issue before. Like my IE or FF browser getting hijacked.
This is only happening with win8.1 or my new set up

This is not a Win 8 issue, but rather that particular download from cnet. It would have happened with 7, Vista, or XP.
Get rid of whatever it is. You have no idea what data it is sending back home.

 

[tvfreak]

So nothing serious. I think I fixed it cause its not showing up in the "uninstall" or add and remove program through MS.

But I was wondering why wasn't it removed when I reformatted my pc?
The first time with FF browser it was deleted when I reformatted my pc, but the second time when IE was hijacked it wouldn't go away.
Any ideas?

downloads from cnet often (usually?) have extra baggage. Years ago, it was a good source, but sadly, not any more.

To fix? CCleaner and/or malwarebytes

 

[Pinhedd]

So nothing serious. I think I fixed it cause its not showing up in the "uninstall" or add and remove program through MS.

But I was wondering why wasn't it removed when I reformatted my pc?
The first time with FF browser it was deleted when I reformatted my pc, but the second time when IE was hijacked it wouldn't go away.
Any ideas?

downloads from cnet often (usually?) have extra baggage. Years ago, it was a good source, but sadly, not any more.

To fix? CCleaner and/or malwarebytes

It would definitely have been removed if you properly reformatted your PC. If you simply reinstalled the OS without first erasing the file system it may persist, but that does not qualify as a reformat and is highly ill-advised.

As for the "add/remove programs" section, that only works for programs that configure themselves with an uninstaller. Most malicious software is designed to be resistant to removal, and most crapware (software that is poorly written, but not necessarily malicious) as well as spyware won't bother to do so either.

The only way to prevent this from happening in the future is to act in a smarter fashion. The best anti-virus is a smart user. Do not use Google or any other search engine to find software as most "free" products that are not distributed under a FOSS licence will be bundled with various toolbars and browser hijacks. Get all of your software straight from the source and only install software that is distributed by a reputable, well known publisher. If the only source is CNET or some other download site, it's probably just a load of crap.

EDIT: You can resize images in MS Paint

 

[USAFRet]

So nothing serious. I think I fixed it cause its not showing up in the "uninstall" or add and remove program through MS.

But I was wondering why wasn't it removed when I reformatted my pc?
The first time with FF browser it was deleted when I reformatted my pc, but the second time when IE was hijacked it wouldn't go away.
Any ideas?

downloads from cnet often (usually?) have extra baggage. Years ago, it was a good source, but sadly, not any more.

To fix? CCleaner and/or malwarebytes

It would definitely have been removed if you properly reformatted your PC. If you simply reinstalled the OS without first erasing the file system it may persist, but that does not qualify as a reformat and is highly ill-advised.

As for the "add/remove programs" section, that only works for programs that configure themselves with an uninstaller. Most malicious software is designed to be resistant to removal, and most crapware (software that is poorly written, but not necessarily malicious) as well as spyware won't bother to do so either.

The only way to prevent this from happening in the future is to act in a smarter fashion. The best anti-virus is a smart user. Do not use Google or any other search engine to find software as most "free" products that are not distributed under a FOSS licence will be bundled with various toolbars and browser hijacks. Get all of your software straight from the source and only install software that is distributed by a reputable, well known publisher. If the only source is CNET or some other download site, it's probably just a load of crap.

EDIT: You can resize images in MS Paint

Yup. I recently downloaded something from cnet. There were 5(!) click-thru dialog boxes of Accept or (greyed out) Decline. The coloring and location of the buttons makes it look like you are supposed to click on the 'Accept'.
Toolbars, search redirect, more toolbar, etc, etc.
If a user was not *very* diligent....poof, malware. Your browser now belongs to them.

 

[tvfreak]

What would be the best way to properly reformatt the ssd?
I had set to boot from dvd drive and went from there.

I noticed in win8.1 I sign in using my MSN email acct.
The changes I made on the new is system that is made for touch screens is still there.
It didn't change back to its original stock format

So nothing serious. I think I fixed it cause its not showing up in the "uninstall" or add and remove program through MS.

But I was wondering why wasn't it removed when I reformatted my pc?
The first time with FF browser it was deleted when I reformatted my pc, but the second time when IE was hijacked it wouldn't go away.
Any ideas?

downloads from cnet often (usually?) have extra baggage. Years ago, it was a good source, but sadly, not any more.

To fix? CCleaner and/or malwarebytes

It would definitely have been removed if you properly reformatted your PC. If you simply reinstalled the OS without first erasing the file system it may persist, but that does not qualify as a reformat and is highly ill-advised.

As for the "add/remove programs" section, that only works for programs that configure themselves with an uninstaller. Most malicious software is designed to be resistant to removal, and most crapware (software that is poorly written, but not necessarily malicious) as well as spyware won't bother to do so either.

The only way to prevent this from happening in the future is to act in a smarter fashion. The best anti-virus is a smart user. Do not use Google or any other search engine to find software as most "free" products that are not distributed under a FOSS licence will be bundled with various toolbars and browser hijacks. Get all of your software straight from the source and only install software that is distributed by a reputable, well known publisher. If the only source is CNET or some other download site, it's probably just a load of crap.

EDIT: You can resize images in MS Paint

 

[tvfreak]

Anyone?