Wondows 7 question

[5-90]

Environment:
Win7Pro64, all updates applied. Lenovo ThinkPad T520i. Mozilla, Chrome, and Torch - all updated. AVG Internet Security 2013, all updates applied.

QUESTION:
I generally disable/disallow the installation of any "sidecar" software, toolbars, and that sort of crap if I need to install something. I didn't even install the toolbar for AVG - just the basic software.

For some odd reason, whenever I open up a new tab in any browser, I don't get a "blank tab" anymore - it defaults to some "snapdo" search page. I've no idea where this is coming from, AVG hasn't found anything, and I HAVE gone through and fixed the homepage setting in all browsers (since it took over from there as well.) I do not even recall seeing any "snapdo" on anything that I may have installed, I'm sure I wouldn't have done it, and I don't use the page anyhow - I tend to immediately override loading it.

I was about to give up and see if Regedit could let me find and nuke any Registry key entries, but I don't see Regedit in the Start menu anywhere (I do have Administrator privileges on this machine (and every other machine here, I fix bloody everything,) and no-one else has been using it - I have a "guest" account with minimal privileges that I would switch to to allow anyone else to use it anyhow.

Therefore:
- What is "snapdo," any idea idea where it would have come from?
- How can I get rid of it?
- Where is Regedit under Win7 anyhow? (I just hate how Micro$oft had to go and rearrange everything with every new release. Don't even get me started on Win8 and all that garbage...

Damn people and their rubbish. I class this as a similar irritant as "Posted from my Phone" or "Posted using Tapatalk" or whatever - it's probably forced advertisement for something-or-other, and I don't want or need it!

 

[GrimmJeeper]

it's adware, same crap happened to me with another site not too long ago.

get malwarebytes anti-malware program. cleared it right up for me. free to use (unless you want the fancy yada yada)

http://www.malwarebytes.org/


also regedit and msconfig can still be accessed from the start button, just type either in the "search" box at the bottom of the menu that pops up when you hit the button and hit enter.

 

[5-90]

it's adware, same crap happened to me with another site not too long ago.

get malwarebytes anti-malware program. cleared it right up for me. free to use (unless you want the fancy yada yada)

http://www.malwarebytes.org/


also regedit and msconfig can still be accessed from the start button, just type either in the "search" box at the bottom of the menu that pops up when you hit the button and hit enter.

Thanks for that, I hadn't considered that approach and had forgotten about Malwarebytes! Downloading now...

 

[David_Bricker]

Yep, Malware Bytes or Ad Aware should get rid of it.

David Bricker / SYR - IND

 

[5-90]

Yep, Malware Bytes or Ad Aware should get rid of it.

David Bricker / SYR - IND

OK - what's Plan B? Ran a full scan with Malwarebytes (just downloaded) and it found stuff - but the browsers still seem to be pointed to snap.do (I even checked the homepage settings - they reverted as well.)

Found regedit, so I may have to uproot it that way...

 

[5-90]

Gah. Malwarebytes didn't work. I kicked open Regedit and found about six keys containing "snap.do" and they looked like they were safe to whack - so I killed them, and we'll see how it all works after I finish a few things and do a restart...

 

[5-90]

Well, Hell.

Malwarebytes couldn't strip it out.
I pulled all of the keys that had "snap.do" in them, and that didn't work.
Browser homepages were refixed to Yahoo.com (and still are.)

And it STILL does it!

Any other ideas? I hate adware, malware, spyware, pop-ups, pop-unders, pop-ins - frankly, I'm firmly of the opinion that anyone who has written such should be shot, hanged, stabbed, drawn & quartered, stretched out on a colony of fire ants for a week, stung by innumerable scorpions, and boiled in his own juices while I'm thinking of something suitably nasty...

 

[Devilfrog]

have you checked your browser add-ons?

Tools>manage add ons

Also check the tabbed browsing settings if available.

 

[5-90]

No add-ons to Torch or Chrome, no relevant-looking add-on in Firefox (just the handful I've had on there for the last few years with no trouble.)

All tabbed browsing settings appear normal - nothing relevant there (believe me, I dug through ALL of the settings to see if I'd missed anything before I'd posted! Just did it again anyhow...)

 

[XJLI]

You check add/remove programs? It might be hiding in there. Also, google is your pal.

http://blog.anvisoft.com/adware-rem...rom-ieffchrome-snap-do-toolbar-removal-guide/

 

[joe_peters]

http://malwaretips.com/blogs/snap-do-toolbar-removal/

Maybe this will help.

In my experience, this kind of CR*D gets into all of your browsers.

 

[GrimmJeeper]

Jon, preventative action would be to install the AdBlock extension for chrome, it blocks the ads that show up on pages than can have this bad code embedded in them. I almost never have malware problems anymore since installing it.

Of course if you've already got it then... carry on

 

[5-90]

Christ on a crutch - I HATE this crap! I'd like to track down the people that write this mess, kneecap them, and pulverise both of their hands...

Firefox seems to be fixed now - I'll go through and get the others after a bit. I even run AdBlock+ on Firefox - I don't use Chrome for much other than accessing a couple of email addys (I keep four open at a time, two in FireFox, two in Chrome,) so I'm a bit surprised it ended up there.

But, the instructions linked to by Joe turned the trick for Firefox, now I've got to clean up the rest. There was nothing related to "Snap.Do" in the Installed Software list - I'd checked before, and I just checked again when it was mentioned.

Forum rules prohibit from saying what I REALLY think of this sort of trash, and the pointless programmes they come out with...

 

[Johnnie Walker]

I use Linux and modified WinXP

 

[5-90]

I use Linux and modified WinXP

Couldn't help it - Win7 came with the machine.

I refuse to be forced to be stuck with Win8 - I've tried it on other machines, and I am singularly unimpressed. They should have stopped with 2K - it was everything that 95 and NT should have been - XP was when they started to really load the OS down with flash & trash...

 

[XJLI]

Windows 8 is terrible on a desktop. Great on a tablet though. [fanboy] I switched the Mac a few years ago and ill never go back to windows [/fanboy]

 

[GrimmJeeper]

Forum rules prohibit from saying what I REALLY think of this sort of trash, and the pointless programmes they come out with...

they write this crap because every time your browser opens that page it counts as a hit for them, and they make money per hit from their advertisers.

its all about the $$

 

[xcm]

Adblock may keep you safe, but I consider it only half or less of safer browsing. I recommend adblock, noscript, and flashblock, at least for firefox.

Running all three of these addons can be a GIANT headache for non computer people, as you have to specifically allow any website to run scripts, and many websites run scripts from 5-10 differant addresses.

The only thing more secure would be a linux laptop for buying shit online, which is what i do...

If your not paranoid online, you dont know whats out there...

 

[xcm]

Windows 8 is terrible on a desktop.

Understatement of the century. Ive been listening to people bash the latest windows version since Win98SE, and to be honest, 90% of it is personal preferance or mac fanboi ism... But i recently bought a win8 based laptop, and their metroUI is downright anger inducing.

The sadest part is when you research how to disable it, you quickly realize it was very easy to disable at the launch of win8, a simple registry edit.... however microsoft changed this to make it more it just a little bit more like herpes...

If it was win8 or mac os, i might have to buy a mac for twice the price it should be.

 

[xcm]

Couldn't help it - Win7 came with the machine.

I refuse to be forced to be stuck with Win8 - I've tried it on other machines, and I am singularly unimpressed. They should have stopped with 2K - it was everything that 95 and NT should have been - XP was when they started to really load the OS down with flash & trash...

Win2k was great, i ran it till probably 2008 or 2009, but the lack of native wifi support, not to mention countless other things that have came along in the last 14 years kinda makes it gone but not forgotten.

Like it or love it, 'flash and trash' is progress. Imagine a world where you couldnt instantly see thumbnails of a folder of pictures immediately after opening said folder in explorer.... I agree theres some bloat, but win2k would suck to use today.