How Does a Friend of Mine get Rid Of http://isearch.claro-search.com from his PC......?

I would like some assistance please if possible from some of you techno wizards out there...........

A friend of mine has recently been infiltrated by isearch.claro-search.com..., which now appears where Google Chrome used to be and he has no idea how it has got on his PC and he can't get rid of it no matter how he tries.....

He believes that this has caused his computer to slow down and is driving him insane....

Now we are both technophobes, so has anybody out there got the answer in as simple a manner as possible please or indeed come across this matter themselves?

He is using Windows XP if that is of any help.....

Thank you

I would restart the pc in safe mode with networking.
Safe Mode

get spybot s&d and scan the pc.
Spybot

Probably installed a piece of software that’s ad supported.
Ad Supported

If i missed anything I’m sure Other Ats'ers will chime in.

My .02

Download and install these items.

Spybot Search and destoy
SuperAntiSpyware Free..

Drop pc into safe mode, run a full scan with spybot first. Then SAS. Let it delete the lot. Reboot into regular mode. Hopefully all is gone.

Additional tools i like to use are RegRun, Rootkit revealer and Xoftspy.

If issue still persists. Get someone like me to connect with AMMYY admin, or similar.

Good Luck.

your friend can try to turn his computer off then turn it on again before windows loads press f8 and it will ask how you want to start windows start it in safe mode with networking download malwarebytes www.malwarebytes.org... and update it then run and hopefully it will fix your friends problem .

reply to post by davethebear


I cleaned a friends computer that had one of these types of infections a few weeks back, he had a problem with a program / search thing called Babylon that refused to go away. It had all the same symptoms you are describing. Just running a virus killer might wont do the job of eradicating it.

Heres the steps to take, try to perform them in this order. Also try not to reboot until all steps have been completed or the problem might come back.

1 - Research how other people have dealt with this problem. Just get as much info as you can about it.

2 - There is usually a program that checks to see if the entry for this search app is set in your browsers and it will get run every time you reboot.Identify if there is a program associated with this problem and uninstall it (might be in the program files). It might be as easy as looking in the uninstall programs section in the control panel. Make sure the folder and any files inside it are deleted. I would recommend using IOBit Uninstaller as it will also help with the next step to take.

3 - Delete any registry entries associated with the program.

4 - Go into the settings of all the browsers you are using and manually delete any entries for the search URL along with any extensions associated with the search app.

Check the plugins and extensions, sometimes they hide there. If not, then disable the toolbar on options. Also see if it's in uninstall and if all else fails then go directly into registry, go to search/find , type the name and then delete all the manual entries.

Hi OP, I had the same little begger on my machine a while back.

As others have stated, download spybot search and destroy. Update defintions and away you go.

Once the problem has been identified fix the problem and your good to go again. If spybot can't clear all of the problem as the file may be in use , it will ask if it's okay to do a scan on your next boot.
Allow this to happen, run the scan all the way through again and the problem should be eradicated.

What you want to do is download Malwarebytes. It's amazing and entirely free and very easy to use.

If you can't get it downloaded or it isn't opening then download it to a usb stick and download the update definitions as well and install it manually. If it doesn't open rename the programme.

Boot into safe mode and run Mbam and you should be fine.

You can also type MSCONFIG into run when you click the start button and this will allow you to chose which programmes run automatically at boot.

If it doesn't let you open any AV programmes then there could possibly be a rootkit there as well.

Thanks to the folks that replied to this thread.....

I have tried a few of the options that have been forwarded, but still no joy as yet, can't seem to get rid of it....

Will keep trying though...

cheers

Originally posted by davethebear
Thanks to the folks that replied to this thread.....

I have tried a few of the options that have been forwarded, but still no joy as yet, can't seem to get rid of it....

Will keep trying though...

cheers

Can you tell us what suggestions have not worked?

Im guessing its all the suggestions to use specific anti-virus and anti-malware programs to do the job.

Originally posted by PhoenixOD

Originally posted by davethebear
Thanks to the folks that replied to this thread.....

I have tried a few of the options that have been forwarded, but still no joy as yet, can't seem to get rid of it....

Will keep trying though...

cheers

Can you tell us what suggestions have not worked?

Im guessing its all the suggestions to use specific anti-virus and anti-malware programs to do the job.

Yeah, you right I think....

My mate who has the problem started off with skybot which he said took an age to get through, but at the end of it it made no difference.........so I suppose we have to go more into the technical stuff?

Originally posted by davethebear

Originally posted by PhoenixOD

Originally posted by davethebear
Thanks to the folks that replied to this thread.....

I have tried a few of the options that have been forwarded, but still no joy as yet, can't seem to get rid of it....

Will keep trying though...

cheers

Can you tell us what suggestions have not worked?

Im guessing its all the suggestions to use specific anti-virus and anti-malware programs to do the job.

Yeah, you right I think....

My mate who has the problem started off with skybot which he said took an age to get through, but at the end of it it made no difference.........so I suppose we have to go more into the technical stuff?

Yeah like i said in my post above anti-virus programs are famously bad at dealing with this kind of infection. Mainly because they act more like normal programs than run of the mill malware. But with a bit of perseverance you can deal with them. There will probably be lots of programs that claim to get rid of the problem, i suggest you dont put to much faith in these unless you find a lot of people who say it worked 100% for them.

In my experience it usually take a few hours of detective work to find out everything you can about the problem. Look for solutions that people have posted on forums. Dont dive into the first one you find, look for many and see if you can find solutions that have been mentioned in more than one place.

Have a plan of action before you start messing with your system. you have to deal with 3 key areas

1-Physical program.
2-Registry entries.
3-Browser entries.

Most of the time the program controlling things is in the program files, thats how it gets away with not standing out. Sometimes you can deal with stage one with just an uninstall. A lot of the time the hardest part to get rid of is the search listing and the changed start page.

Originally posted by PhoenixOD

Originally posted by davethebear

Originally posted by PhoenixOD

Originally posted by davethebear
Thanks to the folks that replied to this thread.....

I have tried a few of the options that have been forwarded, but still no joy as yet, can't seem to get rid of it....

Will keep trying though...

cheers

Can you tell us what suggestions have not worked?

Im guessing its all the suggestions to use specific anti-virus and anti-malware programs to do the job.

Yeah, you right I think....

My mate who has the problem started off with skybot which he said took an age to get through, but at the end of it it made no difference.........so I suppose we have to go more into the technical stuff?

Yeah like i said in my post above anti-virus programs are famously bad at dealing with this kind of infection. Mainly because they act more like normal programs than run of the mill malware.

In my experience it usually take a few hours of detective work to find out everything you can about the probelm. Look for solutions that people have posted on forums. Dont dive into the first one you find, look for many and see if you can find solutions that have been mentioned in more than one place.

Have a plan of action before you start messing with your system. you have to deal with 3 key areas

1-Physical program.
2-Registry entries.
3-Browser entries.

Most of the time the program controlling things is in the program files, thats how it gets away with not standing out. Sometimes you can deal with stage one with just an uninstall

Okay, I think I may have to start doing a bit of detective work to sort it out otherwise my mate could end up with more crap than he started with...haha..........but like you say, do one thing at a time and try and break it down...........cheers again for your support I will let you know how things pan out.......

cheers again

reply to post by davethebear


No problems.

I have not had to deal with the exact problem your friend is having but ill bet it similar to the malware Babylon. You can always look for guides on how to get rid of Babylon and see if they help at all , especially with the browser side of things.

Just remember try not to reboot until the job is done.

You have the power of google on your side. Good luck on your mission and let us know how its going

www.majorgeeks.com Its a free forum. They will walk you thru it.

Take a look here:

Isearch.claro-search.com Virus removal help

Isearch.claro-search.com Virus is a Google redirect Virus. It just hijacks your search engine entirely. Isearch.claro-search.com is adware virus that shows a bunch of pop-up. On surface it looks like good search engine. But when you are searching for some item it will just redirect you to entirely different site that has nothing to do with what you are looking for. Basically it just changes the registry setting and windows host file along with browser settings to that it completely takes over your search on internet. Normally such a adware came along with other Trojan and viruses and if they are not removed in timely manner it could jeopardizes your financial and personal data. Basically it shares your personal information with other marketing companies and keep track of your shopping habits to target you with more spam. Isearch.claro-search.com, often referred to as iSearch, Claro malware, or the iSearch redirection virus. These virus uses browser helper objects (BHOs) to configure host settings so that it can redirect your search. Many innocent users thinks that is good website and good search engine. But you should remove it before it harms your computer.

Originally posted by N3k9Ni
Take a look here:

Isearch.claro-search.com Virus removal help

Isearch.claro-search.com Virus is a Google redirect Virus. It just hijacks your search engine entirely. Isearch.claro-search.com is adware virus that shows a bunch of pop-up. On surface it looks like good search engine. But when you are searching for some item it will just redirect you to entirely different site that has nothing to do with what you are looking for. Basically it just changes the registry setting and windows host file along with browser settings to that it completely takes over your search on internet. Normally such a adware came along with other Trojan and viruses and if they are not removed in timely manner it could jeopardizes your financial and personal data. Basically it shares your personal information with other marketing companies and keep track of your shopping habits to target you with more spam. Isearch.claro-search.com, often referred to as iSearch, Claro malware, or the iSearch redirection virus. These virus uses browser helper objects (BHOs) to configure host settings so that it can redirect your search. Many innocent users thinks that is good website and good search engine. But you should remove it before it harms your computer.

I like the look of that solution

Personally id have a look around to see if i could a find a few more solutions and see if the methods match this one at all first. But it does look pretty good at first glance.

Thats site offers toll free phone support and live chat support , damn.

Ahh.. i see the diagnostic is free, the help guides are free but if you want them to fix the problem for you they charge $69.99. Still its pretty helpful.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


I thought it looked like a pretty good walk-through. I'm sure anyone that can follow instructions could do it. And they do offer live help if you need it.

Good luck to the OP. I hope you can resolve this issue.

reply to post by N3k9Ni




That was a good site you posted it walks you step by step nice and easy I used malwarebytes to fix several infected computers worrks every time.

reply to post by davethebear


Reboot the computer from a back-up image just prior to contact with isearch.claro-search.com...