Malware removal help!
September 12, 2013 7:38 PM Subscribe
Need help with removal of malware...and I've done things out of order :/
I seem to have acquired the "Conduit Search" malware. It changes your homepage permanently to their search page. Unfortunately before I googled the name of it I ran MalwareBytes and SpyBot Search and Destroy because I thought it was a regular virus. I then googled the malware and discovered this page. I uninstalled the malware from Windows, but I can't do Step 2. The extension doesn't appear in my Chrome extension list. Probably because I already removed the file with Spybot :/. I've tried resetting my home page but every time I reboot my browser it's reverted back.
What should I try next? I'm using a PC running Windows 8 64-bit.
I seem to have acquired the "Conduit Search" malware. It changes your homepage permanently to their search page. Unfortunately before I googled the name of it I ran MalwareBytes and SpyBot Search and Destroy because I thought it was a regular virus. I then googled the malware and discovered this page. I uninstalled the malware from Windows, but I can't do Step 2. The extension doesn't appear in my Chrome extension list. Probably because I already removed the file with Spybot :/. I've tried resetting my home page but every time I reboot my browser it's reverted back.
What should I try next? I'm using a PC running Windows 8 64-bit.
Best answer: Two MeFites have profiles that they keep fairly well updated to help out:
Deezil's Malware Fighting Toolkit Redux (04-MAR-2013), and samsara's Malware Prevention Guide v1.1 (10/03/11)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:36 PM on September 12, 2013
Deezil's Malware Fighting Toolkit Redux (04-MAR-2013), and samsara's Malware Prevention Guide v1.1 (10/03/11)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:36 PM on September 12, 2013
Best answer: Also: Step 2 indicates that there may be a browser extension installed. Have you tried going on to the other steps?
posted by filthy light thief at 8:43 PM on September 12, 2013
posted by filthy light thief at 8:43 PM on September 12, 2013
Best answer: Step 3 in your link worked for me - thanks to your question, I realized that this was the malware I've been fighting. Try doing step 3. Good Luck and thanks for this question!
posted by in the methow at 12:37 PM on September 13, 2013
posted by in the methow at 12:37 PM on September 13, 2013
Response by poster: Ah ha. I never thought of moving on to the next steps. It took a few different programs but it seems to be gone. Thanks MeFites!
posted by cozenedindigo at 5:22 PM on September 13, 2013
posted by cozenedindigo at 5:22 PM on September 13, 2013
Not sure this is malware but it came with a program named "labeltop" - I've been longing for a decent metatagging software and went to try this. It's downloadable on cnet and softpedia - I got it from cnet.
Conduit has done an impressive job of infesting chrome. I removed the extension but the search engine setting, though not default, brought it back! Wow. And it lives WITH my chrome profile and appeared in chrome on all the computers that I use.
After removing the conduit stuff I was shown a survey from greatarcadehits dot com.
"labeltop.com" now looks like a marketing firm so maybe this is some of their work?
good gracious - I hope Google is watching this one. And I don't mean to libel any companies I've named - I just want to provide a trail to figure this out.
-mn
posted by mouthnoize at 5:36 PM on December 7, 2013
Conduit has done an impressive job of infesting chrome. I removed the extension but the search engine setting, though not default, brought it back! Wow. And it lives WITH my chrome profile and appeared in chrome on all the computers that I use.
After removing the conduit stuff I was shown a survey from greatarcadehits dot com.
"labeltop.com" now looks like a marketing firm so maybe this is some of their work?
good gracious - I hope Google is watching this one. And I don't mean to libel any companies I've named - I just want to provide a trail to figure this out.
-mn
posted by mouthnoize at 5:36 PM on December 7, 2013
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If you really want to be sure, I always installed a fresh copy of Windows on another hard drive, installed Avast!, told it to run a boot-time scan of all attached drives, turned the computer off, installed my original hard drive as secondary, and powered it on. That tended to wipe out the nasties.
That is, before I switched to Linux as my primary. Your mileage may vary on newer malware breeds.
posted by fifthrider at 8:28 PM on September 12, 2013