Home Malware Programs Bad Toolbars SearchMe Toolbar

SearchMe Toolbar

Posted: October 1, 2013

Threat Metric

Ranking: 14,750
Threat Level: 2/10
Infected PCs: 4,089
First Seen: October 1, 2013
Last Seen: September 11, 2023
OS(es) Affected: Windows

SearchMe Toolbar Screenshot 1The SearchMe Toolbar is a browser add-on that promotes the search services of its affiliated site, Searchme.com – which, at one time, earned a modest degree of fame from providing a visual search feature that has since been downgraded to a mere redirect to the text search results of other sites. Along with its search redirects, the SearchMe Toolbar also has earned the ire of malware experts for causing substantial browser slowdowns and being difficult to uninstall. Although deleting the SearchMe Toolbar is a no-brainer for keeping your browser in optimal condition, you may need a little help from your anti-malware software to guarantee the SearchMe Toolbar's total removal.

The Descent of the SearchMe Search Engine into a Mere Redirecting Page

The SearchMe Toolbar is the rather depressing descendant of Searchme.com, which, up until 2009, had a good reputation for providing a semi-innovative visual-based search engine. However, after running out of funding, this site has switched to a new business model that appears to be less interested in providing unique features than the SearchMe Toolbar is in skimming money off from easy traffic. This new version of the SearchMe Toolbar's website provides redirects to other search sites, such as Yahoo or Yandex, without anything else added – making visiting Searchme.com more than a little redundant.

However, when combined with the SearchMe Toolbar, which redirects your searches to Searchme.com whether you're interested in the SearchMe Toolbar or not, the above strategy makes for an effective, albeit modest revenue-generating plan. SpywareRemove.com malware experts usually would suggest uninstalling any program that takes control of which sites your browser may load, but the SearchMe Toolbar is particularly troublesome for having a history of being installed in bundles. These bundles are offered as downloads of unrelated applications from general freeware sites, but also install the SearchMe Toolbar – in some cases, without getting your permission.

Cutting Down on the Search Away from a SearchMe Toolbar's Hijacks

The SearchMe Toolbar is classified as a Potentially Unwanted Program, but it also may be considered a search hijacker, and, like most similar PUPs, is far more difficult to uninstall than it needs to be. To both remove the most obvious components of the SearchMe Toolbar and the browser changes that redirect you to its website, SpywareRemove.com malware research team urges the use of trustworthy anti-malware tools that are adept at deleting programs typically resistant to uninstallation.

Freeware sites are the usual sources of non-consensual installations of the SearchMe Toolbar, which don't always display options for disabling their installation and, as noted previously, certainly aren't easy to remove once they're installed. SpywareRemove.com malware experts always encourage staying far from sites that have poor histories for distributing unwanted software without the consent of their users, as these websites often are guilty of distributing worse PC threats than the SearchMe Toolbar.

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:



%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Backup\Program Files\IObit Apps Toolbar\IE\9.3\iobitappsToolbarIE64.dll File name: iobitappsToolbarIE64.dll
Size: 1.99 MB (1997120 bytes)
MD5: 6f280abb7a2341e6f6f7c19dd64cafa5
Detection count: 1,635
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Backup\Program Files\IObit Apps Toolbar\IE\9.3\iobitappsToolbarIE64.dll
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: January 16, 2023
searchmeToolbar.exe File name: searchmeToolbar.exe
Size: 5.28 MB (5283080 bytes)
MD5: 91c80441fb9dd3beef05a99d753b5d58
Detection count: 32
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: July 4, 2014

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

CLSID{B9C767DD-F66A-40B4-8F12-4199A9A4393C}Regexp file mask%TEMP%\searchmeToolbar.exeHKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}Software\AppDataLow\Software\SearchMeSOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Features\FEE772BFF22B1F141A963FD212C7C551SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\FEE772BFF22B1F141A963FD212C7C551SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\UpgradeCodes\ADC68DBC02C280344858E3F362E555E3Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{841300b2-82bb-4cbe-b037-a2ad9faf2917}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{B9C767DD-F66A-40B4-8F12-4199A9A4393C}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{B9C767DD-F66A-40B4-8F12-4199A9A4393C}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{B9C767DD-F66A-40B4-8F12-4199A9A4393C}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{B9C767DD-F66A-40B4-8F12-4199A9A4393C}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UpgradeCodes\ADC68DBC02C280344858E3F362E555E3SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\FEE772BFF22B1F141A963FD212C7C551Software\SearchMeSoftware\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{B9C767DD-F66A-40B4-8F12-4199A9A4393C}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SearchMeHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}{FB277EEF-B22F-41F1-A169-F32D217C5C15}

Additional Information

The following directories were created:
%APPDATA%\SearchMe%APPDATA%\TB\ChromeExtData\beoaheobdgcfjnpkhibepdogohpdhbkl%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\beoaheobdgcfjnpkhibepdogohpdhbkl%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Extension Settings\beoaheobdgcfjnpkhibepdogohpdhbkl%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\databases\chrome-extension_beoaheobdgcfjnpkhibepdogohpdhbkl_0%PROGRAMFILES%\SearchMe Toolbar%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\SearchMe Toolbar%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\SearchMe%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\TB\ChromeExtData\beoaheobdgcfjnpkhibepdogohpdhbkl%WINDIR%\Installer\{FB277EEF-B22F-41F1-A169-F32D217C5C15}

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