Home Malware Programs Bad Toolbars PdfForge Toolbar

PdfForge Toolbar

Posted: September 9, 2013

Threat Metric

Ranking: 7,018
Threat Level: 1/10
Infected PCs: 53,688
First Seen: August 16, 2010
Last Seen: October 12, 2023
OS(es) Affected: Windows

PdfForge Toolbar Screenshot 1The PdfForge Toolbar is an adware program often distributed with PDF Creator, a utility for converting other file formats to PDF documents. Although installing the PdfForge Toolbar can be declined, the process for doing so is unnecessarily difficult, as is the process of actually removing the PdfForge Toolbar from your computer once the PdfForge Toolbar is been installed. SpywareRemove.com malware researchers have confirmed the PdfForge Toolbar's functions as being focused around the injection of additional advertising content that has no benefit to your PC or to the Pdf-related functions of the PDF Creator. Therefore, removing the PdfForge Toolbar from your browser as soon as possible is the most sensible recourse, although it may require the use of a decent anti-malware program.

How Your Browser Gets Caught Between an Advertisement and an Anvil with the PdfForge Toolbar

The PdfForge Toolbar most typically is installed by PC users attempting to use the PDF Creator for the first time. The installation process for the latter program includes an option to refuse to install the PdfForge Toolbar – however, this option must be chosen in twice separate steps of the install process, which makes it very easy to install the PdfForge Toolbar by accident. Aside from this questionable installation choice, the PdfForge Toolbar also has been shown to make its deletion unnecessarily difficult. In the case of Firefox, for example, the PdfForge Toolbar has removed any normal add-on uninstallation options. However, most Windows browsers are modified by the PdfForge Toolbar, rather than a specific one.

After clambering onto your browser by hook or by crook, the PdfForge Toolbar injects advertising content into various Web pages loaded through an affected browser. This extra advertising content is labeled separately from a site's normal content but can't be disabled through any normal advertising-management settings or add-ons.

These traits together force SpywareRemove.com malware experts to consider the PdfForge Toolbar as adware, and removing the PdfForge Toolbar is recommended – particularly since the PdfForge Toolbar is not a mandatory component of the PDF Creator program.

Pulling Your Browser Out of the PdfForge Toolbar's Advertising-Fueled Flames

While the PdfForge Toolbar's advertising content is reasonably non-malicious, you still should exercise all due care whenever you're interacting with potentially fraudulent advertisement content from any unwanted adware program. To counteract the PdfForge Toolbar's intentional removal of most normal uninstallation options, you can use anti-malware software to scan your computer and delete all components of the PdfForge Toolbar for all browsers simultaneously.

Other PC threats related to the PdfForge Toolbar that you also may encounter include the Widgi Toolbar, the Dealio Toolbar and Mybrowserbar.com. In all cases, SpywareRemove.com malware experts consider all due caution about your program-downloading sources to be the easiest way to avoid infections by these related low-level PC threats, which usually may be installed along with other programs that you downloaded intentionally.

Aliases

Widgi Toolbar [Sophos]SearchSettings [Sophos]

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%\Users\<username>\Desktop\Desktop\Desktop Vecchio\HijackThis\backups\backup-20090707-172012-730.dll File name: backup-20090707-172012-730.dll
Size: 650.75 KB (650752 bytes)
MD5: 0369affb46aa2071d04a3fb361ee5bd0
Detection count: 17,739
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Users\<username>\Desktop\Desktop\Desktop Vecchio\HijackThis\backups\backup-20090707-172012-730.dll
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: December 22, 2020
C:\Program Files\pdfforge Toolbar\SearchSettings.exe File name: SearchSettings.exe
Size: 992.25 KB (992256 bytes)
MD5: 2ba55d793667eaca14437277dd472b29
Detection count: 10,413
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Program Files\pdfforge Toolbar\SearchSettings.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: January 9, 2021
C:\Program Files\YouTube Downloader Toolbar\IE\4.9\youtubedownloaderToolbarIE.dll File name: youtubedownloaderToolbarIE.dll
Size: 1.07 MB (1071456 bytes)
MD5: 71b946bd53f0c85cac2699977fdf6a7d
Detection count: 703
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: C:\Program Files\YouTube Downloader Toolbar\IE\4.9\youtubedownloaderToolbarIE.dll
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: July 1, 2021
%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Programmi\pdfforge Toolbar\IE\4.7\pdfforgeToolbarIE.dll File name: pdfforgeToolbarIE.dll
Size: 1.05 MB (1050464 bytes)
MD5: d2dc36af27713c37d1c3c21f6152eed5
Detection count: 616
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Programmi\pdfforge Toolbar\IE\4.7\pdfforgeToolbarIE.dll
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: July 23, 2023
C:\Backup Seguridad\Documents\Descarga setup programas anteriores\YouTube Downloader Toolbar\IE\4.4\youtubedownloaderToolbarIE.dll File name: youtubedownloaderToolbarIE.dll
Size: 734.04 KB (734048 bytes)
MD5: 4ede4ea39e4fc5ca4190db4b6c20da34
Detection count: 361
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: C:\Backup Seguridad\Documents\Descarga setup programas anteriores\YouTube Downloader Toolbar\IE\4.4\youtubedownloaderToolbarIE.dll
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: November 23, 2022
%PROGRAMFILES%\PDFCreator Toolbar\v3.0.0.0\PDFCreator_Toolbar.dll File name: PDFCreator_Toolbar.dll
Size: 757.76 KB (757760 bytes)
MD5: a9289dcc914ed8a96e6e91d9cd2babdb
Detection count: 300
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\PDFCreator Toolbar\v3.0.0.0
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: June 14, 2011
%PROGRAMFILES%\pdfforge Toolbar\IE\6.5\pdfforgeToolbarIE.dll File name: pdfforgeToolbarIE.dll
Size: 1.22 MB (1229704 bytes)
MD5: 7b8e3ac47c78841488990cefdd53f3f3
Detection count: 288
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\pdfforge Toolbar\IE\6.5
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: April 23, 2020
C:\Program Files (x86)\YTD Toolbar\IE\6.7\ytdToolbarIE.dll File name: ytdToolbarIE.dll
Size: 1.34 MB (1348416 bytes)
MD5: 432c79b1cc6010069592c4d0557338f6
Detection count: 201
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\YTD Toolbar\IE\6.7\ytdToolbarIE.dll
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: October 17, 2022
C:\System Volume Information\_restore{1B8C0E75-0D8D-47DD-8221-E068BB7BDDEB}\RP204\A0130215.rbf File name: A0130215.rbf
Size: 1.12 MB (1124704 bytes)
MD5: b8e0015e2f62fb991f3c8d995283c6a2
Detection count: 126
Mime Type: unknown/rbf
Path: C:\System Volume Information\_restore{1B8C0E75-0D8D-47DD-8221-E068BB7BDDEB}\RP204\A0130215.rbf
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: March 7, 2023
%PROGRAMFILES%\pdfforge Toolbar\IE\1.1.2\pdfforgeToolbarIE.dll File name: pdfforgeToolbarIE.dll
Size: 20B (20 bytes)
MD5: a9a2ecd63b89704922764fc242a87053
Detection count: 63
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\pdfforge Toolbar\IE\1.1.2
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 27, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\pdfforge Toolbar\FF\chrome\TBM4A23.tmp File name: TBM4A23.tmp
Size: 69.83 KB (69832 bytes)
MD5: 7d2561803908cd8a4a13098fc8499c93
Detection count: 61
File type: Temporary File
Mime Type: unknown/tmp
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\pdfforge Toolbar\FF\chrome
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 27, 2014
D:\!BACKUPS\Daiane Vizinha\D\Retorno Backup - 10.05.12\C\C\Config.Msi\219d5.rbf File name: 219d5.rbf
Size: 1.12 MB (1123680 bytes)
MD5: 17ecd36c60b6962a537fd2a5311ee7e7
Detection count: 40
Mime Type: unknown/rbf
Path: D:\!BACKUPS\Daiane Vizinha\D\Retorno Backup - 10.05.12\C\C\Config.Msi\219d5.rbf
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: August 18, 2023
%PROGRAMFILES%\pdfforge Toolbar\SearchSettings.exe File name: SearchSettings.exe
Size: 41.47 KB (41476 bytes)
MD5: 87c68015385e01d9ca52f8ba79b5e981
Detection count: 30
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\pdfforge Toolbar
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: April 2, 2011
%WINDIR%\TEMP\pdfforgeToolbar.exe File name: pdfforgeToolbar.exe
Size: 4.49 MB (4493608 bytes)
MD5: 07fa90568290c3ae84db3787747940bf
Detection count: 23
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %WINDIR%\TEMP
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: January 12, 2020
%PROGRAMFILES%\pdfforge Toolbar\SearchSettings.exe File name: SearchSettings.exe
Size: 38.91 KB (38916 bytes)
MD5: 3dbc712c7a394e8f65fe99ea216371fb
Detection count: 16
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\pdfforge Toolbar
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 27, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\pdfforge Toolbar\SearchSettings.exe File name: SearchSettings.exe
Size: 985.08 KB (985088 bytes)
MD5: 3460525cd3bb6bf86ec46e045156216f
Detection count: 12
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\pdfforge Toolbar
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 27, 2014
%WINDIR%\TEMP\pdfforgeToolbar.exe File name: pdfforgeToolbar.exe
Size: 5.5 MB (5508496 bytes)
MD5: 9c5369cb6017ce3c383b2a937dbadcfd
Detection count: 9
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %WINDIR%\TEMP
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 27, 2014

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

CLSID{B922D405-6D13-4A2B-AE89-08A030DA4402}{E312764E-7706-43F1-8DAB-FCDD2B1E416D}HKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}Software\AppDataLow\Software\pdfforgeSOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Features\A3DFC783A65B1484BABCC97F301B3748SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\A3DFC783A65B1484BABCC97F301B3748SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\UpgradeCodes\504D229B31D6B2A4EA98800A03AD4420Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{B922D405-6D13-4A2B-AE89-08A030DA4402}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\{B922D405-6D13-4A2B-AE89-08A030DA4402}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\URLSearchHooks\{B922D405-6D13-4A2B-AE89-08A030DA4402}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{B922D405-6D13-4A2B-AE89-08A030DA4402}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{B922D405-6D13-4A2B-AE89-08A030DA4402}Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{B922D405-6D13-4A2B-AE89-08A030DA4402}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}{387CFD3A-B56A-4841-ABCB-9CF703B17384}

Additional Information

The following directories were created:
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\pdfforge Toolbar%PROGRAMFILES%\pdfforge Toolbar%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\pdfforge Toolbar%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\pdfforge
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