EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar

Posted by Lisa Blanc on January 19, 2016

What is EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar?

As this program’s name suggests EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar is a toolbar, but not just any toolbar — it is a malicious one. For this reason, we highly recommend that you remove it from your computer. Its shady developer distributes it using rather deceptive methods taking advantage of the legal framework set for distributing bundled software. Furthermore, we must say that this application only exists for one purpose — advertising. Online advertising is a profitable business, and our researchers have found that it is indeed very unreliable because its ads come from unknown third-parties, and this spells trouble for its user base. Please continue reading if you want to learn more about EasyHomeDecorating.testtest

Where does EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar come from?

This new toolbar comes from a malicious software developer known as Mindspark Interactive Network Inc. Our malware researchers are well-versed about the “products” that this company produces, and it has long been established that all of Mindspark’s programs should not be taken at face value. All of its software features some promotion, and EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar is not an exception to this practice.

Just like the programs that came before, EasyHomeDecorating is disseminated via software bundles. We must stress that the bundles it comes with can also contain more malicious software. However, the main issue with this distribution method is that this toolbar is often hidden from the users. One has to opt for advanced installation to remove it from the installation process, but doing so is futile since the bundles it comes with are malicious by default. So you should avoid getting your software from unreliable distributors. Note that like its counterparts, such as SMSFromBrowser Toolbar, SendFilesFree Toolbar, GasGlance Toolbar, this toolbar also has a website that hosts its standalone installer at Easyhomedecorating.com (74.113.233.180 IP, located in the US.) This installer is compatible with Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox. So if you are a user of one or more of these web browsers, please read about how it affects them and Windows in general.

How does EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar work?

When installing this application, the installer will offer you to change your default homepage to Home.tb.ask.com. If you are inattentive, then you will agree to this modification as it is set to do this by default, although you can uncheck the respective checkbox if you do not want it. Home.tb.ask.com is a real search engine that uses Ask.com to process all of the search queries. However, it is set to include advertisements from Mindspark’s partners so many of them could have malicious content such as software that will further jeopardize your computer’s security when installed. We also want to note that Home.tb.ask.com will keep tabs on your browsing activities and collect information. According to its privacy policy, it will gather information, such as IP addresses, Unique mobile device identifier, Technical information about the computer, time zone and language settings, search queries, misformatted DNS entries, search results selected, clicks, pages viewed, search history, comments, and so on.

Getting rid of EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar may prove difficult since after uninstalling it From the Control Panel and the browser it will still leave hundreds of registry keys in the Windows Registry and a handful of junk files. The list of registry keys is quite long so we will mention just a few locations where they are stored. So most keys are located in HKLM and HKCU\ SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID and this path contains files named like this {0FE20CD8-4971-4051-983D-09DC02E9B467}, {586484D4-F071-4B5A-8222-4902990ACA9D}, {C9A91466-E21D-4C8D-858A-4E8A9BA64F56}. Also, it will create registry keys in [HKLM|HKCU]\SOFTWARE\Classes\Interface, [HKLM|HKCU]\SOFTWARE\Classes\TypeLib and tens of other locations, so we do not recommend deleting all of them manually. Instead, you can delete just the essential files and registry keys and leave the remaining junk as is. However, we recommend cleaning your PC thoroughly. Therefore, you should use a antimalware tool.

How to remove EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar?

We hope that the information we have provided was insightful. So now you can see that this toolbar is used for advertising — not for improving your browsing experience. You have provided you with a guide that suggests the right order of uninstalling this malicious app. You must first uninstall the program via Control Panel provided that you installed it on your browser via Internet Explorer. If not then skip to removing the browser extension. Then you should delete all of the remaining junk files and registry keys.

Uninstall via Control Panel

Windows 10

  1. Right-click on the Windows Start menu logo.
  2. Select Programs and Features.
  3. Locate the toolbar and right-click on it.
  4. Click the Uninstall button.

Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

  1. Navigate the mouse to the lower-left of the screen.
  2. Right-click the Windows logo and select Control Panel.
  3. Go to Uninstall a program.
  4. Find the unwanted program and Uninstall it.

Windows Vista and Windows 7

  1. Navigate the mouse to the lower-left of the screen.
  2. Click the Start menu button and select Control Panel.
  3. Click Uninstall a Program.
  4. Find the malicious application and Uninstall it.

Windows XP

  1. Navigate the mouse to the lower-left of the screen.
  2. Click the Start menu button and select Control Panel.
  3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
  4. Find the software and Remove it.

Remove the browser extension

Google Chrome

  1. Press Alt+F and click Settings.
  2. Click Show advanced settings.
  3. Click Reset settings.
  4. Click Reset.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

  1. Press Alt+T and click Internet Options.
  2. Open the Advanced tab and click Reset.
  3. Select the checkbox.
  4. Click Reset and then click Close.

Mozilla Firefox

  1. Press Alt+H and click Troubleshooting Information.
  2. Select Refresh Firefox.
  3. Click Refresh Firefox again in the dialog box.
  4. Click Finish.

Change the homepage for Internet Explorer (optional)

  1. Press Windows Key+R.
  2. Type regedit and click OK.
  3. Go to HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{09A5B2E9-9203-46F5-8A4F-B417A23B8A8A}.
  4. Change the value of SuggestionsURL_JSON to your preferred search engine or website.
  5. Then, go to HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{09A5B2E9-9203-46F5-8A4F-B417A23B8A8A].
  6. Change the URL value to your preferred search engine or website.

Delete the leftover registry entries

  1. Press Windows Key+R.
  2. Enter regedit in the box and click OK.
  3. Find and Delete the registry keys listed below.

Delete junk files

  1. Press Windows Key+E.
  2. Enter the locations in the address box.
  3. Find and Delete the below listed directories.
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