Home Possibly Unwanted Program CatHomepage Toolbar

CatHomepage Toolbar

Posted: September 14, 2016

Threat Metric

Ranking: 14,953
Threat Level: 1/10
Infected PCs: 176
First Seen: September 14, 2016
Last Seen: September 24, 2023
OS(es) Affected: Windows


CatHomepage is a Web browser extension developed and published by Mindspark Interactive Network. This software is identified as a Potentially Unwanted Program, and its purpose is to make the user's homepage a bit more attractive by adding cute cat pictures. While seeing cute and fluffy cats every time you launch your Web browser may seem like a great way to better your mood, you should also know that the installation of CatHomepage may replace your Web browser's default new tab page.

All Mindspark products, including CatHomepage, promote the MyWay.com search engine. This search service is not threatening, but its functionality and reliability are certainly far worse than legitimate search engines like Yahoo, Bing, and Google. For example, the MyWay.com search results may sometimes by mixed with sponsored links and other marketing content that users might not be interested in seeing. Furthermore, the CatHomepage extension may check the Web browser's settings regularly to ensure that users will not get rid of their new tab page setting. The new tab page that CatHomepage promotes also may feature quick links to popular Web destinations, as well as a weather widget that provides local weather information. Most users who need such information usually rely on bookmark managers and 3rd-party websites or utilities, so that's another reason why MyWay.com's attempt to be useful is futile.

The CatHomepage PUP may have nothing good to offer, and removing it is the correct solution. Mindspark Interactive Network's products may not use self-preservation techniques that allow them to continue working after manual removal. This is why it is safe to uninstall CatHomepage from the list of installed browser extensions manually. If this does not work, then an anti-malware scanner can solve the problem quickly by identifying and erasing all of CatHomepage's files.

Technical Details

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

File name without pathhttp_cathomepage.dl.myway.com_0.localstoragehttp_cathomepage.dl.myway.com_0.localstorage-journal

Additional Information

The following directories were created:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\CatHomepageTooltab
The following URL's were detected:
cathomepage.com
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