Home Malware Programs Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) SafeSearch Toolbar

SafeSearch Toolbar

Posted: March 28, 2006

Threat Metric

Ranking: 4,721
Threat Level: 5/10
Infected PCs: 39,176
First Seen: January 10, 2013
Last Seen: March 9, 2025
OS(es) Affected: Windows

The SafeSearch Toolbar is a potentially unwanted toolbar that may appear on your computer without your knowledge. The sudden appearance of the SafeSearch Toolbar isn't a coincidence, and there's a reasonable explanation how this toolbar may have attached itself to your Web browser. The SafeSearch Toolbar may rely on unfair distribution techniques that involve the use of software bundling, confusing installation instructions and misleading information. By combining these three simple methods, the SafeSearch Toolbar's publishers may increase the number of computer users who use SafeSearch Toolbar significantly.

The installation of the SafeSearch Toolbar may go unnoticed, and users may only find out about the problem when they see that their homepage and default search engines have been changed to SafeSearch.net or another domain associated to the SafeSearch Toolbar. Another example of a search engine that the SafeSearch Toolbar may promote is Safesearch.raaz.io. We should add that both of these search engines are safe, but it goes without saying that the method they use to attract visitors may not be very honest. The SafeSearch Toolbar may be advertised as a great security utility that can protect users from visiting potentially unsafe Web destinations. However, we assure you that there are much better apps you can use to secure your Web browsing sessions, and you shouldn't trust this task to the SafeSearch Toolbar.

If the SafeSearch Toolbar isn't an application you want on your computer, then you should take care of its removal immediately. The manual removal of SafeSearch Toolbar isn't guaranteed to remove all of the software's components, so we recommend that you use a suitable anti-malware solution to eliminate this potentially unwanted 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:



C:\Program Files\SafeSearch\1_14\ssvcp.exe File name: ssvcp.exe
Size: 1.44 MB (1447256 bytes)
MD5: 549e2140688d05dafab9d6df171af96a
Detection count: 2,480
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Program Files\SafeSearch\1_14\ssvcp.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: September 7, 2022
%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\F-Secure\apps\SafeSearch\IE\FSSafeSearch.dll File name: FSSafeSearch.dll
Size: 2.18 MB (2182696 bytes)
MD5: 143327d75739c776ce4f1967b84dd853
Detection count: 201
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\F-Secure\apps\SafeSearch\IE\FSSafeSearch.dll
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: March 1, 2023
%PROGRAMFILES%\SafeSearch\1_14\ie\adxloader.dll File name: adxloader.dll
Size: 616.49 KB (616496 bytes)
MD5: f91e0844541b1974f943dbf6e39814af
Detection count: 37
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\SafeSearch\1_14\ie
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: January 19, 2020
C:\Program Files\SafeSearch\1_12\ie\adxregistrator.exe File name: adxregistrator.exe
Size: 151.24 KB (151248 bytes)
MD5: b152d3d7f7788d5ef5b6188478937a75
Detection count: 33
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Program Files\SafeSearch\1_12\ie\adxregistrator.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: August 13, 2022
%PROGRAMFILES%\SafeSearch\1_12\unins000.exe File name: unins000.exe
Size: 1.26 MB (1267913 bytes)
MD5: 6da87ee5a67c55fce216f948ecadc39d
Detection count: 30
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\SafeSearch\1_12
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: December 10, 2016
ssetup.exe File name: ssetup.exe
Size: 3.13 MB (3134848 bytes)
MD5: f7986db01efd48d2fee80723b01c66c4
Detection count: 25
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: May 21, 2013
_safesearch.dll File name: _safesearch.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file
aanyvkcf.exe File name: aanyvkcf.exe
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
rgzcdhtn.exe File name: rgzcdhtn.exe
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
safesearch.dll File name: safesearch.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file
safesearch.exe File name: safesearch.exe
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file

More files

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

CLSID{17189BF4-937C-32B1-9FEF-678D99FCD5AC}{424C7C0E-32E9-3F18-B6E0-C88DC2CF309B}{E27D5867-80DE-4449-9C03-71707C0DB05B}{f66635a8-9629-5d06-9a76-d8c57f5ad806}{fc0c0170-4eb0-430d-a7f3-939ee7ea1a25}HKEY..\..\{CLSID Path}CB5006EE-F57D-4116-B7B6-48EB564FE0F0CB5006EE-F57D-4116-B7B6-48EB564FE0F0 82E9DE01-D860-40E4-B9C1-91F0E827296228E6CCE2-3F2C-4B3D-9CB4-2FC8715A3ECE00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001File name without pathwww.safesearch[1].xmlHKEY..\..\{Value}HKEY_USERS\.default\Software\Netscape\Netscape Navigator\Trusted External Applications\%System% "aanyvkcf.exe" = 'yes'HKEY..\..\..\..{Subkeys}HKEY_USERS\.default\Software\Netscape\Netscape Navigator\Suffixes\Application/x-QSCHHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.QSCHHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\QSCH FileHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SafeSearch.SafeSearchBHOHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SafeSearch.SafeSearchBHO.1HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Mime\Database\Content Type\Application/x-QSCHHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PrimeSoftHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SafeSearchHKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}SOFTWARE\AVSoftware\SafeSearchSoftware\Classes\AppID\npsafesearch.dllSoftware\Classes\AVSoftware.safesearchSoftware\Classes\AVSoftware.safesearch.1Software\Classes\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{BA1BE292-1D15-488B-934D-008742212380}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{E27D5867-80DE-4449-9C03-71707C0DB05B}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStorage\safesearch.netSoftware\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStorage\www.safesearch.netSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{e27d5867-80de-4449-9c03-71707c0db05b}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\LowRegistry\DOMStorage\safesearch.netSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\LowRegistry\DOMStorage\www.safesearch.netSoftware\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{4B51C980-C6B0-11E1-9136-AED16088709B}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{FC0C0170-4EB0-430D-A7F3-939EE7EA1A25}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\{fc0c0170-4eb0-430d-a7f3-939ee7ea1a25}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache\Tree\SafeSearchUpdateSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache\Tree\SafeSearchVerifySOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{e27d5867-80de-4449-9c03-71707c0db05b}Software\MozillaPlugins\avsoftware.org/safesearchSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\AVSoftware\SafeSearchSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{e27d5867-80de-4449-9c03-71707c0db05b}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{4B51C980-C6B0-11E1-9136-AED16088709B}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\{fc0c0170-4eb0-430d-a7f3-939ee7ea1a25}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{e27d5867-80de-4449-9c03-71707c0db05b}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\..{RunKeys}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "SafeSearch"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "aanyvkcf"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\aanyvkcfHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\rgzcdhtnSafeSearch_is1

Additional Information

The following directories were created:
%PROGRAMFILES%\SafeSearch
The following URL's were detected:
safesearch.net

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