StudyHQ Toolbar

Posted by Max Lehmann on August 21, 2015

What is StudyHQ Toolbar?

In the spirit of the upcoming school year, Mindspark released a special malicious toolbar just for this occasion called StudyHQ Toolbar. This toolbar features links and bookmarks to third-party websites. However, this time, the developers went out of their way to create their own website dedicated for this toolbar. Nevertheless, the website’s functions are just laughable and are of no use to anyone. The toolbar also features a Mindspark-created search engine that is also of questionable usefulness. All in all, this toolbar is bad news, but if you are not convinced, then read this article and come to your own conclusions. test test test

Where does StudyHQ Toolbar come from?

StudyHQ Toolbar’s developer Mindspark has set up a dedicated download website from which unwary users can download it. It is called Free.gostudyhq.com. Nevertheless, based on numerous, previous encounters with other Mindspark “products” we assume that it can be bundled with potentially unwanted and malicious software and put up for download on borderline legitimate freeware hosting websites. Mindspark is a renowned malware developer that is also responsible for releasing other toolbars, such as 100sOfRecipes Toolbar, SMSFromBrowser Toolbar, and so on. Note that in most cases you should be able to remove StudyHQ Toolbar from a bundled installer by opting for advanced settings, and we very much encourage it, because toolbars such as this one have no reason to be on your computer.

How does StudyHQ Toolbar work?

StudyHQ Toolbar does not offer anything unique to the browsing experience whatsoever. This toolbar only consists of bookmarks and links to third-party websites. Its Make Flashcards tab redirects to Gostudyhq.com, which is made and owned by Mindspark, but it is really worthless, because you can do the same with Microsoft Word. This website has other functions that are not worth discussing because they are pointless. The second bookmark redirects to currently unavailable website called Apstudent.collegeboard.org. The seemingly useful translator window actually redirect to Translate.reference.com. However, the rest of the bookmarks redirect to different subpages of Gostudyhq.com. All in all, there is nothing to take from this toolbar. It may only be useful for a six-year-old to learn how to count.

When you install StudyHQ Toolbar directly from its website, you will be offered to change your homepage and search provider to Home.tb.ask.com. This search engine is powered by Ask.com so what you will see is Ask.com’s search results. Since Home.tb.ask.com is also owned by Mindspark, we regard it as unreliable, because it will gather browsing information about you such as your browsing and search history. The developers might share this information with advertisers and other affiliated third parties to bring you tailored ads and promotions.

How to remove StudyHQ Toolbar

In conclusion, StudyHQ Toolbar will not help you in your studies. It is a worthless piece of programming that you ought to remove. The services that this toolbar provides are nothing short useless, it features a search engine that is unreliable, since it gathers information about you and might share it with various partners. Advertisements might also be presented and they will surely make your browsing session a bit more frustrating. So if you want to remove this application you have to Uninstall StudyHQ Toolbar via The Control Panel and remove the browser extension for Chrome and Firefox via their settings menus.