Home Malware Programs Browser Hijackers Somoto

Somoto

Posted: August 26, 2011

Somoto is a potentially malicious search engine website, as well as a browser hijacker that's attached to legitimate software in the form of an optional toolbar. Browser hijacks by Somoto will force you to use the Somoto search engine instead of your regular search engine and your homepage settings will also be set to Somoto.com. Because SpywareRemove.com malware experts have found that Somoto has the classic characteristics of a fraudulent search engine, it's recommended that you avoid clicking on any of the links that Somoto provides. Somoto may resist manual deletion and, as is typically true of browser hijackers, the surest way to remove Somoto completely is by using an appropriate anti-malware program to scan your PC.

How to Tell When Somoto Has Tainted Your Search Results

Somoto infections are relatively simple to spy out, since they have very visible effects, and are typically included as part of a web browser toolbar installation. This toolbar and Somoto itself will pretend to offer you search-related features that are theoretically helpful, but Somoto's search results typically are inaccurate or riddled with advertisements. Besides the presence of a toolbar, usual symptoms of a Somoto infection that SpywareRemove.com malware experts have found include:

  • A changed homepage. Somoto will set somoto.com to be your browser homepage regardless of what your actual homepage settings are, and will also refuse to let you change it back.
  • Somoto will hijack your web browser whenever you try to use another search engine and force you to use Somoto's own search engine instead of the original one.

Other browser hijack-related symptoms that may plague your browser include pop-up advertisements, fake infection alerts, slowdown of web-browsing performance and unusual audio files that play randomly.

The Entrance and Egress of Somoto

Somoto is distributed with a variety of toolbars that are themselves bundled with products like GV Downloader, HyperCam, Splitcam Toolbar and other forms of free software. Although SpywareRemove.com malware researchers have found that Somoto will often provide an opt-out option, in many cases Somoto may install itself regardless of your decision.

You can delete Somoto browser hijackers by using Safe Mode and a suitable anti-malware program. Manual deletion of Somoto, while theoretically possible for PC security experts, has been reported to fail in most cases and isn't advised.

Other infections may also attack your PC during a Somoto attack, either through the same means as Somoto itself, or through the websites that Somoto forces your browser to load. Especially likely infections that SpywareRemove.com malware experts have noted to accompany Somoto include Resulturl, BigSeekPro, Findxplorer and Coupon Alert Toolbar.

Because all of the above browser hijackers can cause similar symptoms to Somoto, you should consider them equally dangerous as Somoto and use similar methods to detect and delete them.

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:



C:Program Filessomototoolbar[RANDOM CHARACTERS].exe File name: C:Program Filessomototoolbar[RANDOM CHARACTERS].exe
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

HKEY..\..\{CLSID Path}HKLMSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionexplorerBrowser Helper Objects{c3721e85-f0ac-4b7e-ae4c-3e738011dc9d}

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