how do i delete "Search Assistant Uninstall"

**majik_420** · October 9th, 2004, 22:09 PM

im on win 98 and i cant get rid of this program called Search assistant uninstall under my add remove programs list, it says uninstall failure. also i cant change my internet explorer homepage from about:blank and i usually end up with some stupid type of search engine thing, im thinking that maybe theyre related, but i dont know much of anything about computers so maybe im wrong. but anyway, does anyone know how i might be able to solve one of these problems?

**Reverend** · October 9th, 2004, 22:26 PM

Sounds like your browser has been hijacked.

I suggest you run Ad-Aware and Spybot search and destroy. Read egghead's "Spyware Removal" thread for more info.

You can also try running the Home Search Hijacker removal tool,which can downloaded from here (click the "HSRemove.Exe" link to download)

**majik_420** · October 10th, 2004, 01:02 AM

what do i do if i cant run that hsremove program, as soon as i try to open it, it says that the program performed an illegal operation and needs to be closed. and ive ran adawre, should i download spy bot and run that too?

**majik_420** · October 10th, 2004, 05:29 AM

ok nvm about spybot.... cant run that either,cuases invalid page fualt just like hs remove, im gonna try hijack this and see wwat happens.... this really suks

**Tanglefoot** · October 10th, 2004, 09:21 AM

Hi Majik

I'm afraid your stuck with this one as far as I know. I've got the same problem with IE and tried all the steps you did. Then went a step further and bought Spyware Doctor (supposedly the ultimate remover, though not available free) and even that failed to cure it. Must say S D is eccellent in all other cases and worth the cash though. Unless you are enamoured with IE the fix is to change to another browser, my favorite is Firefox which I heartily recomend, though there are others around (see browsers section of TZ) and that will solve your problem. Only downside so far is Windows update which demands IE so you have to switch browsers to use it, then just swap back. It's not a solution, I know, but at least you can browse again. If you do manage to solve this issue, please post on site cos it's still bugging me (though I wouldn't revert to IE again). Best of luck

**majik_420** · October 10th, 2004, 18:46 PM

i kick ass, thats all there is to it! lol... ok, this is what a did last night and today. last night i somehow how got spybot to run, so i ran that three times, each time it found new objects to remove. but i still had the screwed home page, i remembered an old link i got from another forum to an online antivirus scan by Panda,http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/, so i set that to run last night and went to sleep. Woke up this morning and it found about 5 things, renmaed one of them and "disenfected" the rest. and now my homepage works fine again and a couple other things on my computer are running a little smoother. thx for the help

**majik_420** · October 11th, 2004, 01:41 AM

ok never mind, its back... i dont know why, i havent downloaded anything or anything like that... it was gone for a while tho, a couple hours.... i was just lookin at paint design images on google cuz im painting my room and opened a new window and the damn thing was back.... ill figure it out tho, sooner or later.....

**egghead** · October 11th, 2004, 01:56 AM

Some of the ads generated by spyware can change your default homepage to anything they choose. If your homepage has been hijacked you should scan your computer with Cwshredder. Cwshredder is a small utility for removing CoolWebSearch (aka CoolWwwSearch, YouFindAll, White-Pages.ws and a dozen other names). These websites create ads that change your browser homepage. You can use this tool to completely remove the hijack. This program is updated to remove the new variants once they come out.

Visit their homepage at: http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/

Download and run the program here,
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/CWShredder.exe

**majik_420** · October 11th, 2004, 02:50 AM

damn... it was that easy all along? thnx egghead, things are runnin smooth agin

**egghead** · October 11th, 2004, 03:00 AM

all the tools are posted in the spyware thread Reverend posted for you.

it seems hard at first but if all the steps are followed in that thread you will have a very clean computer.

the sad news is cwshredder is no longer updated as the creator of the program has found it too difficult to remove the latest varients on the net

please be carefull surfing and we're glad you have it all sorted out

**repressedeath** · October 11th, 2004, 03:41 AM

Panda And Trend Micro Both HAve Helped Me With Trojans. Infact Trendmicro
Found A Bunch Hid In The Restore Folder For Mellenium. Had To Go In And Delete The
Files From Real Dos Mode Via 98se Install Cd. It Was A Real Pain Since The Folders
Are All Hidden. Had ToWrite Down All The Directories. Would Have Just Killed
Restore And Deleted It All Through Explorer But It Was A Customers
Computer.

**P00trDude** · November 16th, 2004, 13:59 PM

Hey guys,
I had some incite to the whole situation here and thought I would post my findings. I also WAS infected with the "search assistant" or "home page" spyware.,. Whichever you prefer to call it. I got rid of it. The only thing I can't do is uninstall search ASSistant. But, this is what I did to get rid of the other pesky stuff. Go get Adware Spy http://www.adwarespy.com This THOUROUGHLY scans and cleans any spyware on your puter.

However, you DO have to purchase it for it to remove any spyware. You could I guess look online for a serial. I mean, if you were so inclined to do something like that.

Anyway, get that, scan it, remove it, and your good to go as far as using IE again. Homepage and all. I do suggest getting SP2 from Micro$haft IF your usin XP. ANY "update" helps. Unfortunately, once the spyware is removed, your still in the boat trying to remove the search ASSistant

BUT, at least you can use IE again and keep your home page.

Hope this helps.

C-ya O/

**egghead** · November 16th, 2004, 18:15 PM

techzonez does not recommend looking for serials or patches of any kind. if you use a product that does the job you should purchase it and this allows the maker to continue finding and updateing your program to stop new threats as they become discovered.

Here are some freeware tools you can use to remove the spyware,
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

Downloading serials and patches is the number one way to get your computer violated with a trojan or spyware.

"adware spy" is located in the list of rogue spyware programs database located here,
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

Please be familiar with the forum rules,
http://www.techzonez.com/forums/showthread.php?t=615

btw,
Welcome to techzonez

cheers
egghead

**Curio** · November 20th, 2004, 22:17 PM

There is a tool specifically for the About:Blank variant of CoolWebSearch trojan, it is called AboutBuster (search google). I spend several days a week removing spyware/adware/trojans from peoples computers. It's the worst thing out there and Norton Antivirus doesn't do anything about it, now that is sad. Panda is better but the best things out there are 'Spybot Search and Destroy', 'ad-awareSE' and 'X-Cleaner-Free' and they are all available for nothing.
Other precautions u can take are
1. Use FireFox browser, tabbed browsing is cool - no Active-X. Just allround better browser anyway.
2. Use IE-Spyad - because not just IE uses IE or is vulnerable to IE hacks.
3. Remove the MS JVM and use Sun JAVA.
4. If using NT based system use non-admin account to go online - use 'runas' command to start your browser as a non-privileged user in W2k and XP.