SearchMe Toolbar
Posted: October 1, 2013
Threat Metric
The following fields listed on the Threat Meter containing a specific value, are explained in detail below:
Threat Level: The threat level scale goes from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest level of severity and 1 is the lowest level of severity. Each specific level is relative to the threat's consistent assessed behaviors collected from SpyHunter's risk assessment model.
Detection Count: The collective number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular malware threat. The detection count is calculated from infected PCs retrieved from diagnostic and scan log reports generated by SpyHunter.
Volume Count: Similar to the detection count, the Volume Count is specifically based on the number of confirmed and suspected threats infecting systems on a daily basis. High volume counts usually represent a popular threat but may or may not have infected a large number of systems. High detection count threats could lay dormant and have a low volume count. Criteria for Volume Count is relative to a daily detection count.
Trend Path: The Trend Path, utilizing an up arrow, down arrow or equal symbol, represents the level of recent movement of a particular threat. Up arrows represent an increase, down arrows represent a decline and the equal symbol represent no change to a threat's recent movement.
% Impact (Last 7 Days): This demonstrates a 7-day period change in the frequency of a malware threat infecting PCs. The percentage impact correlates directly to the current Trend Path to determine a rise or decline in the percentage.
Ranking: | 14,750 |
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Threat Level: | 2/10 |
Infected PCs: | 4,089 |
First Seen: | October 1, 2013 |
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Last Seen: | September 11, 2023 |
OS(es) Affected: | Windows |
The SearchMe Toolbar is a browser add-on that promotes the search services of its affiliated site, Searchme.com – which, at one time, earned a modest degree of fame from providing a visual search feature that has since been downgraded to a mere redirect to the text search results of other sites. Along with its search redirects, the SearchMe Toolbar also has earned the ire of malware experts for causing substantial browser slowdowns and being difficult to uninstall. Although deleting the SearchMe Toolbar is a no-brainer for keeping your browser in optimal condition, you may need a little help from your anti-malware software to guarantee the SearchMe Toolbar's total removal.
The Descent of the SearchMe Search Engine into a Mere Redirecting Page
The SearchMe Toolbar is the rather depressing descendant of Searchme.com, which, up until 2009, had a good reputation for providing a semi-innovative visual-based search engine. However, after running out of funding, this site has switched to a new business model that appears to be less interested in providing unique features than the SearchMe Toolbar is in skimming money off from easy traffic. This new version of the SearchMe Toolbar's website provides redirects to other search sites, such as Yahoo or Yandex, without anything else added – making visiting Searchme.com more than a little redundant.
However, when combined with the SearchMe Toolbar, which redirects your searches to Searchme.com whether you're interested in the SearchMe Toolbar or not, the above strategy makes for an effective, albeit modest revenue-generating plan. SpywareRemove.com malware experts usually would suggest uninstalling any program that takes control of which sites your browser may load, but the SearchMe Toolbar is particularly troublesome for having a history of being installed in bundles. These bundles are offered as downloads of unrelated applications from general freeware sites, but also install the SearchMe Toolbar – in some cases, without getting your permission.
Cutting Down on the Search Away from a SearchMe Toolbar's Hijacks
The SearchMe Toolbar is classified as a Potentially Unwanted Program, but it also may be considered a search hijacker, and, like most similar PUPs, is far more difficult to uninstall than it needs to be. To both remove the most obvious components of the SearchMe Toolbar and the browser changes that redirect you to its website, SpywareRemove.com malware research team urges the use of trustworthy anti-malware tools that are adept at deleting programs typically resistant to uninstallation.
Freeware sites are the usual sources of non-consensual installations of the SearchMe Toolbar, which don't always display options for disabling their installation and, as noted previously, certainly aren't easy to remove once they're installed. SpywareRemove.com malware experts always encourage staying far from sites that have poor histories for distributing unwanted software without the consent of their users, as these websites often are guilty of distributing worse PC threats than the SearchMe 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:%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Backup\Program Files\IObit Apps Toolbar\IE\9.3\iobitappsToolbarIE64.dll
File name: iobitappsToolbarIE64.dllSize: 1.99 MB (1997120 bytes)
MD5: 6f280abb7a2341e6f6f7c19dd64cafa5
Detection count: 1,635
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Backup\Program Files\IObit Apps Toolbar\IE\9.3\iobitappsToolbarIE64.dll
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: January 16, 2023
searchmeToolbar.exe
File name: searchmeToolbar.exeSize: 5.28 MB (5283080 bytes)
MD5: 91c80441fb9dd3beef05a99d753b5d58
Detection count: 32
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: July 4, 2014
Registry Modifications
CLSID{B9C767DD-F66A-40B4-8F12-4199A9A4393C}Regexp file mask%TEMP%\searchmeToolbar.exeHKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}Software\AppDataLow\Software\SearchMeSOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Features\FEE772BFF22B1F141A963FD212C7C551SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\FEE772BFF22B1F141A963FD212C7C551SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\UpgradeCodes\ADC68DBC02C280344858E3F362E555E3Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{841300b2-82bb-4cbe-b037-a2ad9faf2917}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{B9C767DD-F66A-40B4-8F12-4199A9A4393C}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{B9C767DD-F66A-40B4-8F12-4199A9A4393C}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{B9C767DD-F66A-40B4-8F12-4199A9A4393C}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{B9C767DD-F66A-40B4-8F12-4199A9A4393C}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UpgradeCodes\ADC68DBC02C280344858E3F362E555E3SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\FEE772BFF22B1F141A963FD212C7C551Software\SearchMeSoftware\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{B9C767DD-F66A-40B4-8F12-4199A9A4393C}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SearchMeHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}{FB277EEF-B22F-41F1-A169-F32D217C5C15}
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