Home Malware Programs Bad Toolbars Guffins Toolbar

Guffins Toolbar

Posted: November 7, 2013

Threat Metric

Ranking: 10,351
Threat Level: 5/10
Infected PCs: 39,411
First Seen: February 8, 2011
Last Seen: October 8, 2023
OS(es) Affected: Windows

The Guffins Toolbar is a search engine hijacker that redirects its users to Ask.com, a search site promoted by a large number of diverse browser toolbars and other add-ons. Ask.com isn't considered a compromised site, but malware researchers find no benefits to allowing the Guffins Toolbar to determine your choice of search engine and suggest deleting the Guffins Toolbar for your browser's safety. Because Ask.com toolbars rarely may remove all of their browser modifications during uninstallation, the use of anti-malware products may be required to prevent any leftover system changes of a Guffins Toolbar installation from continuing to hijack your browser even once the toolbar has been removed.

Taking the MacGuffin Pet for a Walk

The Guffins Toolbar, named for the virtual pet game promoted on its website, is a bundled program including with playing the game. While malware researchers haven't found any other suspicious content on this pet-friendly site, they have taken notice of the Guffins Toolbar's use as a browser hijacker. While you're engaged in walking your virtual pet, the Guffins Toolbar takes your browser for a walk: by implementing search engine hijacks and homepage hijacks that ignore your default browser settings and redirect you to Ask.com. For its part, Ask.com, is a toolbar-promoted search site that's associated with an almost limitless horde of PUPs and browser hijackers.

Contact with Ask.com or even searches through it should be safe, as long as your browser is equipped with appropriate protection from attacks by any third party sources. However, Ask.com's searches are not necessarily superior to those of reputable search sites that don't hijack your browser, and malware experts find that removing the Guffins Toolbar is the best choice for keeping a firm grip on your Web browser's behavior.

Sending the Guffins Toolbar to the Pound

Although the merits of Guffins.com's pet simulation game may be debated, the functions of the Guffins Toolbar always are overall negatives for your browser and PC. Many Ask.com toolbars include uninstallation options but fail to delete all of their settings changes by default, which makes anti-malware products the most convenient option for deleting a Guffins Toolbar and also stopping your browser from suffering through any future Ask.com-hijacking problems. As a general rule, the classification of browser add-ons of any brand that 'offer' to modify your search or homepage settings is suspicious or, in some cases, even threatening.

The Guffins Toolbar is one of the more harmless-looking of many toolbars interested in promoting Ask.com. Because you'll always need to be on the watch for new members of Ask.com's toolbar family, malware researchers can point to many examples of just how varied these PUPs may get with similar PC threats like the Daily Bible Guide Toolbar, the FilmFanatic Toolbar, the Music Box Toolbar, the Movies Toolbar, the WeatherBlink Toolbar, and the Allin1Convert Toolbar.

Aliases

not-a-virus:WebToolbar.Win32.MyWebSearch.qe [Kaspersky]Win32:FunWeb-K [PUP] [Avast]Adware.Funweb-12 [ClamAV]Win32:PUP-gen [PUP] [Avast]Tool.InstallToolbar.5 [DrWeb]not-a-virus:WebToolbar.Win32.MyWebSearch.gen [Kaspersky]Win32:FunWeb-F [PUP] [Avast]UnclassifiedMalware [Comodo]TR/Dropper.Gen [AntiVir]Win32.TRDropper [eSafe]Trojan-Dropper [Ikarus]Artemis!FF93BBA8ED92 [McAfee]not-a-virus:WebToolbar.Win32.MyWebSearch.gi [Kaspersky]not-a-virus:AdWare.Win32.FunWeb.kg [Kaspersky]AdWare/Win32.FunWeb.gen [Antiy-AVL]
More aliases (40)

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:



%PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin\u4barsvc.exe File name: u4barsvc.exe
Size: 28.76 KB (28766 bytes)
MD5: d567a0e42a9846e16af175d1a5a0a6e2
Detection count: 10,062
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 16, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin\u4brmon.exe File name: u4brmon.exe
Size: 20.48 KB (20480 bytes)
MD5: 88501a730bdf8b10289c86948bce3088
Detection count: 8,867
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 16, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin\u4SrcAs.dll File name: u4SrcAs.dll
Size: 53.24 KB (53248 bytes)
MD5: 0a7f45f8a11ed8b5bf17c377ef2742a7
Detection count: 5,014
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 13, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\GuffinsIE\bar\1.bin\qvbarsvc.exe File name: qvbarsvc.exe
Size: 28.76 KB (28766 bytes)
MD5: 7b4f2eec968a92450d8d076f9be0e39f
Detection count: 1,888
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\GuffinsIE\bar\1.bin
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: December 15, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\GuffinsIE\bar\1.bin\qvbrmon.exe File name: qvbrmon.exe
Size: 20.48 KB (20480 bytes)
MD5: 040725c563b443fc5657c7748094fd08
Detection count: 1,843
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\GuffinsIE\bar\1.bin
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: December 15, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin\u4SrcAs.dll File name: u4SrcAs.dll
Size: 53.24 KB (53248 bytes)
MD5: 760b1e71604a9c93df98124c0008aaa8
Detection count: 988
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 7, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin\u4barsvc.exe File name: u4barsvc.exe
Size: 28.76 KB (28766 bytes)
MD5: 0e06a823e4ab5be8e9d975b30301231a
Detection count: 932
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 16, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin\u4brmon.exe File name: u4brmon.exe
Size: 20.48 KB (20480 bytes)
MD5: 0f043fdb2a609b6e505b520b44b523f2
Detection count: 815
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 16, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin\u4bar.dll File name: u4bar.dll
Size: 655.36 KB (655360 bytes)
MD5: bc63b10fbfeffe202bdb75330198e6af
Detection count: 815
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 7, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin\u4bar.dll File name: u4bar.dll
Size: 643.07 KB (643072 bytes)
MD5: 3a9faa31508c511cf697d2641cb2524f
Detection count: 625
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: October 29, 2013
%PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin\u4SrcAs.dll File name: u4SrcAs.dll
Size: 49.15 KB (49152 bytes)
MD5: dd818f409822afbdb199dbfe05ee3baa
Detection count: 616
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: October 29, 2013
%PROGRAMFILES%\GuffinsIE\bar\1.bin\qvbrmon.exe File name: qvbrmon.exe
Size: 27.64 KB (27648 bytes)
MD5: 78eb108c714b2b39b0240616fe0a1631
Detection count: 478
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\GuffinsIE\bar\1.bin
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: January 21, 2015
%PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin\u4bar.dll File name: u4bar.dll
Size: 684.03 KB (684032 bytes)
MD5: c0c916f2176b8ba0dfc80b150876b270
Detection count: 66
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins\bar\1.bin
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: May 7, 2013

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

CLSID{006bff73-d6b8-4cc0-a982-1e041d625b08}{0B070B7B-5574-4735-B4AA-0543DF03FDFA}{0C501912-C553-46A2-A9A5-363879580516}{10281CC0-D529-4C37-86F9-13A91366200E}{15840EEE-DE9D-41F2-B0B2-0B26893CF3FF}{18E5FE5F-481D-4991-B833-CA21803D5E7D}{1b3f043d-1afc-4bc1-8c5e-6dc54ead3ae1}{1D00DBBA-73F1-4784-88D3-2EEC61B2E99B}{1D69E858-32D5-4888-A395-579C8124112B}{1f28c606-9536-4078-b89f-143b5c01571c}{20FA25EB-486C-4B69-8E2D-169FD142B2FB}{215A124E-B3CB-4822-BF95-6780ABC06582}{237002D9-BF31-4048-8526-2F74A14ADF06}{237AA3E1-21B0-4816-B9A1-29041B2D7CCB}{23A2E241-83AF-4A83-B10F-56AE41F33C9B}{2F9D6356-12E8-428B-8044-F5DD45CF5ABE}{38DE6695-D027-411F-BB47-432251469183}{3A6464C8-ADB1-4CD4-AB6F-DC3AC2F2850C}{3AE17F58-6AA8-44D1-9B1A-A0B46BCF2849}{442d3d85-b938-4ff8-9c15-027405dea3ec}{44A28C79-727D-40AD-9B8C-287DBC2F6151}{47b3f06e-cec0-4670-ae2f-033f46ea5177}{49a32f81-0ba1-4b43-856c-9a61425e5bf1}{4A8AA6E6-54C5-4A40-89F3-62ACD51A2069}{543822E6-2CB0-414A-BEF5-55F894118BB4}{54d836b9-1df3-4f0c-b502-e9e9d27b7f9a}{689FA5E9-E6E1-43E8-8AAD-02BECF242254}{6BDBEE40-391D-44E5-9D40-8035CC2BB6EC}{71A63FCB-02F9-4632-B7CE-2D136BF2EAC8}{71a84035-08ad-4964-b6e9-9ffc06390057}{7832DE29-0904-406C-AD68-E0D5C3C3A4EA}{78B00903-4404-4282-BB23-E27CB8DD6C2A}{7C75F6AB-5FB4-4AB2-AC5C-8A9AE211553E}{8013018c-73f4-4642-b2d1-9d83c2aafbc2}{8EF6E3A3-2C8D-4CD3-8FA3-8E901D8EFA90}{94DB1B60-E0AE-4F0F-9121-509231DA2C14}{956e5a3f-b1c2-4e81-9f30-84349ce7baf0}{96507BD3-61F8-43AF-8317-172AEB2452E0}{9a04e19d-aaf5-4d2b-87c6-2f01b7e205b4}{A1296D39-A3E3-4E05-8338-5FFDD543E211}{a6405ec8-0e8a-49af-978e-f7fac946950b}{A7AE7537-9C87-4F9C-A494-84FA5AD092F0}{AC480FBE-24AB-4372-9A32-02AB0BAE8B6B}{ae71ca5e-f67d-4507-8ee3-2c64c79131fe}{B30438D0-2FEF-4A56-9BA8-BF9EF7D21AF3}{B51057A6-574B-47D9-A64A-5D31E1AD412C}{BE097EF3-A230-4EDE-B209-CE8681F2140A}{c3d3840c-12ea-4461-a61d-190555fecc82}{D51BF978-3D10-4809-AE62-A1A0CCEBF616}{d6a34acb-76fa-4a14-88ea-5d54797a2028}{DCE4E9A8-0DEA-435D-BE37-96CD5742C66C}{de2fdf7c-2637-4ba3-b427-3fce2d331db5}{EF8A3F71-3ADC-41F9-866D-BD9EB9AC63FD}{F1BCE5CE-2A8E-4F20-8FC8-8E32CD8C9F70}{F379BD31-1B3D-41F7-9349-35004298B4C6}{f8e548a0-ad49-456c-a72c-977d06415c68}{f8f03266-dec7-4f5c-a6d3-d88533ee9070}{FF777BF5-D424-4519-A61E-2B5BB204894D}File name without pathhttp_guffins.dl.tb.ask.com_0.localstoragehttp_guffins.dl.tb.ask.com_0.localstorage-journalHKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}Software\AppDataLow\Software\GuffinsSOFTWARE\GuffinsSoftware\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{A916EEFE-6A17-4D7D-A131-2738B260BB55}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{c7a7f370-62d8-4db8-9fb2-4afc0a7c3dea}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{D6A34ACB-76FA-4A14-88EA-5D54797A2028}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{DE2FDF7C-2637-4BA3-B427-3FCE2D331DB5}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{1d2aa885-2c50-4758-a262-17254662a5d5}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{49a32f81-0ba1-4b43-856c-9a61425e5bf1}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{c277597d-c02b-4c09-9778-671530d2700f}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{ff777bf5-d424-4519-a61e-2b5bb204894d}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION\tb_guffins.exeSoftware\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{9bd172ba-3f40-4303-bca1-0484b5ba2a7b}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\WebBrowser\{DE2FDF7C-2637-4BA3-B427-3FCE2D331DB5}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\{c7a7f370-62d8-4db8-9fb2-4afc0a7c3dea}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\{de2fdf7c-2637-4ba3-b427-3fce2d331db5}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\URLSearchHooks\{c3d3840c-12ea-4461-a61d-190555fecc82}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\URLSearchHooks\{c7a7f370-62d8-4db8-9fb2-4afc0a7c3dea}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{a916eefe-6a17-4d7d-a131-2738b260bb55}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{d6a34acb-76fa-4a14-88ea-5d54797a2028}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\PreApproved\{006bff73-d6b8-4cc0-a982-1e041d625b08}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\PreApproved\{1D69E858-32D5-4888-A395-579C8124112B}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\PreApproved\{8013018c-73f4-4642-b2d1-9d83c2aafbc2}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\PreApproved\{956e5a3f-b1c2-4e81-9f30-84349ce7baf0}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\PreApproved\{f8f03266-dec7-4f5c-a6d3-d88533ee9070}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{A916EEFE-6A17-4D7D-A131-2738B260BB55}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{D6A34ACB-76FA-4A14-88EA-5D54797A2028}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{DE2FDF7C-2637-4BA3-B427-3FCE2D331DB5}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{A916EEFE-6A17-4D7D-A131-2738B260BB55}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{D6A34ACB-76FA-4A14-88EA-5D54797A2028}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{DE2FDF7C-2637-4BA3-B427-3FCE2D331DB5}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{F8F03266-DEC7-4F5C-A6D3-D88533EE9070}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GuffinsSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{1d2aa885-2c50-4758-a262-17254662a5d5}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{49a32f81-0ba1-4b43-856c-9a61425e5bf1}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{4a8aa6e6-54c5-4a40-89f3-62acd51a2069}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{59567752-5ff2-4df5-aada-e9c6f114c00a}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{c277597d-c02b-4c09-9778-671530d2700f}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{ff777bf5-d424-4519-a61e-2b5bb204894d}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{9bd172ba-3f40-4303-bca1-0484b5ba2a7b}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\{c7a7f370-62d8-4db8-9fb2-4afc0a7c3dea}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\{de2fdf7c-2637-4ba3-b427-3fce2d331db5}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{a916eefe-6a17-4d7d-a131-2738b260bb55}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{d6a34acb-76fa-4a14-88ea-5d54797a2028}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\PreApproved\{006bff73-d6b8-4cc0-a982-1e041d625b08}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\PreApproved\{1D69E858-32D5-4888-A395-579C8124112B}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\PreApproved\{8013018c-73f4-4642-b2d1-9d83c2aafbc2}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\PreApproved\{956e5a3f-b1c2-4e81-9f30-84349ce7baf0}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\PreApproved\{f8f03266-dec7-4f5c-a6d3-d88533ee9070}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}Guffinsbar Uninstall Firefox

Additional Information

The following directories were created:
%APPDATA%\GuffinsEI%LOCALAPPDATA%\Guffins%PROGRAMFILES%\Guffins%PROGRAMFILES%\GuffinsEI%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Guffins%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\GuffinsEI%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Guffins%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\GuffinsEI
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