Tutorial: removing CoolWebSearch
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Introduction
CoolWebSearch, or CWS, is a browser hijacker that redirects your browser to the coolwebsearch.com web site and other affiliated sites. Currently there are more than 39 known variants of CoolWebSearch, all of which infect your machine in various ways. This hijacker is also notoriously difficult to remove and some of the variants are known to shutdown anti-spywares and HijackThis to prevent detection and removal. -
How to tell if you are infected
1) When typing in your web browser, the text is slow to appear
2) When you go to web pages or search engines you are being redirected to other pages
3) You have more popups than usual
4) Porn bookmarks added to your favorites (Note: If you already have porn bookmarks, then don't be alarmed)
It is possible your computer is infected with a variant of the CoolWebSearch if you experience one of the symptoms above. It is known only to affect Internet Explorer, so those who are using Mozilla or Netscape should not be infected with CoolWebSearch. Unless you downloaded something which makes you infected with it.
Here are some of the common websites that affected users are being redirected to:
www.datanotary.com
global-finder.com
true-counter.com
nkvd.us
coolwebsearch.com
www.adulthyperlinks.com
www.allhyperlinks.com
unipages.cc
Complete list here -
Removing CoolWebSearch
1) Update all your anti-spywares definitions and do a scan. Remove any adwares, spywares and tracking cookies found. If your anti-spywares programs automatically closes, you have to download this CoolWebSearch.Smartkiller
2) After this, download CWShredder from Merijin, the creator of HijackThis.
Follow these steps on using CWShredder:
a) Download CWShredder and save it to Desktop
b) Open up CWShredder.exe
c) Check for update
If there is an update available, you will see this screen:
d) After updating, do a scan.
e) Click on Fix to remove CoolWebSearch. You will see this screen next:
Click Next to start the removal process. After it is done, click Next to examine the summary.
f) If you want to know how to prevent another infection, click on How do I prevent a re-infection? button. If not, click on the Exit button.