- SmileyCentral
- PopSwatter
- HistorySwatter
- Incredimail free version
- Popular Screen Savers
- Cursor Mania
- FunBuddyIcons
- MyFunCards
- MyMailStationary
- MyMailSignature
- MyMailStamps
- MySpeedBar
- MyWay Search Assistant
- FunWebProducts
Some of the above products can be installed with your permission and consent. How rude! The authors of MyWebSearch claim that it's not spyware and that they don't collect any identifiable information. This product appears to be fun and useful, but actually it may be very annoying and even dangerous, potentially harmful. MyWebSearch may slow down your PC, display unwanted ads and pop-ups while browsing the web. Also if the page that you are looking for is not found or not available at the moment My Web Search will redirect you to MyWebSearch search page which is called My Total Search or home.mywebsearch.com.
Most potentially unwanted applications or adware get that label for installing toolbars on your system. It's common practice for freeware developers to bundle their programs with toolbars such as MyWebSearch and other applications in an effort to find an extra source of income, for example redirecting search results through search.mywebsearch.com.. The problem with this is that developers will often try to sneak these extras into your computer, and they usually succeed if you're the type of user who doesn't carefully read through every page of a program installer.
How can that be? Well, the next time you install freeware, pay attention to every page. You will eventually come to a page with a pre-checked prompt stating that you've agreed to install a toolbar or adware application. Aside from installing that application, it may even go further as to change your computer settings to make it the default application in association to some other program, usually a browser. It's a sneaky tactic, but you can't fault freeware developers for it because it can still be argued that you were given a chance to uncheck the box. Protection from these types of programs can be done simply by reading through each page of an installer and unchecking the applicable boxes.
Another useful tip is to avoid choosing the recommended option when installing programs. Opting for this usually lets users install programs faster but also makes them bypass the part where you can uncheck the installation of unnecessary extras. Other potentially unwanted applications, while not outright malware, may have one or two characteristics of such programs. The PUAs might actually have been installed because of these characteristics. A program that manages a computer's registry can be flagged down, for example, as a PUA, but if the user is aware and actively using application for that purpose, then all is well. To keep this program from being constantly flagged by an installed anti-virus or anti-malware program, just adjust the settings of the anti-virus to ignore it.
A relatively harmless yet unwanted program should uninstall easily through Control Panel. Just find the program in the computer's program list, and click Uninstall. A quick reboot of your system should be done to make sure that the program is completely removed. For programs that don't uninstall completely or won't uninstall through normal means, you may have to run malware scanner that will check to see if the program can be quarantined or removed. There are rare cases, however, in which the potentially unwanted application requires more drastic methods of removal. When worse comes to worst, it may even require you to reinstall Windows altogether. Before you go through this method, make sure that it really is the only option you have. Once you've confirmed that there's no other way, backup all your files to an external hard drive or optical media. This is because re-installing Windows will not only remove MyWebSearch adware, it will also delete all your files and computer settings.
We strongly recommend you to remove this toolbar from your PC as soon as possible. However, if you are happy with it, then it's up to you. Many people say that MyWebSearch removal is quite complicated and that's true. Usually it's not enough to use Add/Remove programs option from Control Panel in order to remove MyWebSearch. Full details on how to uninstall this unwanted toolbar are provided below. If you have any questions, don't hesitate and ask or just leave a comment. Good luck!
MyWebSearch removal instructions:
1. First of all, download recommended anti-malware software and run a full system scan. It will detect and remove this infection from your computer. You may then follow the manual removal instructions below to remove the leftover traces of this browser hijacker. Hopefully you won't have to do that.
2. Go to: Start->Control Panel
3. Double click on Add/Remove programs (Programs and Features icon in Windows Vista/7/8)
4. In the list of currently installed software find "My Web Search" and click on Change/Remove (Uninstall in Windows Vista) to uninstall it. Also look for any of the following programs from the Fun Web Products suite and uninstall them too:
- SmileyCentral
- PopSwatter
- HistorySwatter
- Incredimail free version
- Popular Screen Savers
- Cursor Mania
- FunBuddyIcons
- MyFunCards
- MyMailStationary
- MyMailSignature
- MyMailStamps
- MySpeedBar
- MyWay Search Assistant
- FunWebProducts
5. Download HijackThis. Launch the HijackThis and click "Do a system scan only" button. Select all such entries as shown bellow in blue color and click once on the "Fix checked" button. Close HijackThis tool.
R3 - URLSearchHook: (no name) - {00A6FAF6-072E-44cf-8957-5838F569A31D} - C:\Program Files\MyWebSearch\SrchAstt\1.bin\MWSSRCAS.DLL
O2 - BHO: MyWebSearch Search Assistant BHO - {00A6FAF1-072E-44cf-8957-5838F569A31D} - C:\Program Files\MyWebSearch\SrchAstt\1.bin\MWSSRCAS.DLL
O2 - BHO: mwsBar BHO - {07B18EA1-A523-4961-B6BB-170DE4475CCA} - C:\Program Files\MyWebSearch\bar\1.bin\MWSBAR.DLL
O3 - Toolbar: My &Web Search - {07B18EA9-A523-4961-B6BB-170DE4475CCA} - C:\Program Files\MyWebSearch\bar\1.bin\MWSBAR.DLL
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MyWebSearch Email Plugin] C:\PROGRA~1\MYWEBS~1\bar\1.bin\mwsoemon.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [MyWebSearch Email Plugin] C:\PROGRA~1\MYWEBS~1\bar\1.bin\mwsoemon.exe
O4 - Startup: MyWebSearch Email Plugin.lnk = C:\Program Files\MyWebSearch\bar\1.bin\MWSOEMON.EXE
O4 - Global Startup: MyWebSearch Email Plugin.lnk = C:\Program Files\MyWebSearch\bar\1.bin\MWSOEMON.EXE
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Search - http://bar.mywebsearch.com/menusearch.html?p=ZWYYYYYYYYUS
O16 - DPF: {1D4DB7D2-6EC9-47A3-BD87-1E41684E07BB} - http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/nocache/funwebproducts/ei/MyWebSearchInitialSetup1.0.0.8-2.cab
6. Open "My Computer" and go to C:\Program Files. Remove the following folders:
- FunWebProducts
- MyWebSearch
If you have any questions don't hesitate and ask or just leave a comment. Good luck!
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How to remove MyWebSearch adware (Uninstall guide)
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