Saturday, December 14, 2013

How to Remove “Nation Zoom” hijack

Nation Zoom is a browser hijacker, which is promoted via other free downloads, and once installed it will change your browser homepage to nationzoom.com and the default search engine to search.yahoo.com.
This in itself is not considered malicious as there are many legitimate programs that change these settings as well. What is considered malicious, though, is that it will also append the argument http://nationzoom.com to random Windows shortcuts on your desktop and your Windows Start Menu. When you launch Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer browser, the home page transforms itself into a Nation Zoom homepage, as illustrated below.


The Nation Zoom homepage will display advertisements and sponsored links in your search results, and may collect search terms from your search queries. The Nation Zoom hijack is used to boost advertising revenue, as in the use of blackhat SEO, to inflate a site’s page ranking in search results.

Nation Zoom is technically not a virus, but it does exhibit plenty of malicious traits, such as rootkit capabilities to hook deep into the operating system, browser hijacking, and in general just interfering with the user experience. The industry generally refers to it as a “PUP,” or potentially unwanted program.
Nation Zoom is an ad-supported (users may see additional banner, search, pop-up, pop-under, interstitial and in-text link advertisements) cross web browser plugin for Internet Explorer (BHO) and Firefox/Chrome (plugin) and distributed through various monetization platforms during installation. The browser extension includes various features that will modify the default or custom settings of the browser including the home page, search settings and in some cases will modify Internet Explorer’s load time threshold, place a lock file within Firefox to prevent competing software from changing its settings as well as disable the browser’s Content Security Policy in order to allow for cross site scripting of the plugin.

Nation Zoom homepage did get on your computer after you installed a freeware software (video recording/streaming, download-managers or PDF creators) bundled with this browser hijacker.
For example, when you install VPlay, you will also agree to change your browser homepage to nationzoom.com and default search engine to search.yahoo.com.

However when you uninstall VPlay from your computer, your web browser’s default settings will not be restored. This means that you’ll have to remove Nation Zoom homepage from your favorite web browser manually.

You should always pay attention when installing software because often, a software installer includes optional installs, such as this Nation Zoom browser hijacker. Be very careful what you agree to install.

Always opt for the custom installation and deselect anything that is not familiar, especially optional software that you never wanted to download and install in the first place. It goes without saying that you should not install software that you don’t trust.

Nation Zoom Homepage Removal

Please follow these steps in the correct order.

STEP 1: Uninstall Nation Zoom malicious programs from your computer
STEP 2: Remove Nation Zoom from Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome
STEP 3: Clean up the various Windows shortcuts that have been hijacked by Nation Zoom virus
STEP 4: Remove Nation Zoom virus with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free

STEP 1 : Uninstall Nation Zoom malicious programs from your computer

The Nation Zoom browser hijacker is usually installed with other malicious programs, which will either protect this infection from being removed from your computer or will display pop-up ads within the Web browser.
In this first step, we will try to identify and remove any malicious program that might be installed on your computer.

To uninstall the programs responsible for the Nation Zoom redirect, click the Start button, then select Control Panel, and click on Uninstall a program.
If you are using Windows 8, simply drag your mouse pointer to the right edge of the screen, select Search from the list and search for “control panel“. Or you can right-click on a bottom left hot corner (formerly known as the Start button) and select Control Panel from there, then select Uninstall a program.


When the Add/Remove Programs or the Uninstall a Program screen is displayed, scroll through the list of currently installed programs and uninstall Wsys Control, Extended Protection, eSave Security Control, Desk 365, Nation Zoom browser protection and any other recently installed or unknown programs from your computer.

If you are having issues while trying to uninstall the Nation Zoom malicious programs, you can use Revo Uninstaller or IObit Uninstaller to completely remove this unwanted program from your machine.

Depending on what program has installed the Nation Zoom homepage, the above program may have a different name or not be installed on your computer. If you cannot find any unwanted or unknown programs on your machine, then you can proceed with the next step.

STEP 2 : Remove Nation Zoom from Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome

1. Remove Nation Zoom from Internet Explorer
Open Internet Explorer, click on the gear icon (Tools for Windows XP users) at the top (far right), then click again on Internet Options.


In the Internet Options dialog box, click on the Advanced tab, then click on the Reset button.


In the Reset Internet Explorer settings section, check the Delete personal settings box, then click on Reset.


When Internet Explorer finishes resetting, click Close in the confirmation dialogue box and then click OK. Close and open Internet Explorer.

2. Remove Nation Zoom from Mozilla Firefox

At the top of the Firefox window, click the orange Firefox button, then select Add-ons.


Select the Extensions tab, then remove Nation Zoom, Extended Protection and any other unknown extensions from Mozilla Firefox.


Reset your default search engine and homepage from NationZoom.com to their default.
To reset your search engine and homepage to their default, we will use the SearchReset extension.This add-on is very simple: on installation, it backs up and then resets your search preferences and home page to their default values, and then uninstalls itself. This affects the search bar, URL bar searches, and the home page.
You can download SearchReset, and then we will just need to install it to revert Firefox to its default settings.


3. Remove Nation Zoom from Google Chrome

Click the Chrome menu button on the browser toolbar, select Tools and then click on Extensions.


In the Extensions tab, remove Extended Protection 1.9, Lightning Newtab and any other unknown extensions by clicking the trash can icon.


Set Google Chrome default search engine from Yahoo Search to Google.
Click the Chrome menu button, then select Settings and click on Manage search engines in the Search section.
In the Search Engines dialog that appears, select Google and click the Make Default button that appears in the row.


Search for Yahoo Search in the Search Engines list, and click the X button that appears at the end of the row.


Change Google Chrome homepage from NationZoom.com to its default.
Nation Zoom has modified your Google settings to open their webpage whenever you start your browser, so we will need to revert this change.
Click the Chrome menu button, then select Settings and click on One the New Tab page in the On Startup section.


STEP 3: Clean up the various Windows shortcuts that have been hijacked by Nation Zoom virus

The Nation Zoom infection will hijack your browser shortcuts, so that each time you will click on the browser icon, you will be automatically be redirected to NationZoom.com. In this third step we will clean your browser shortcuts by removing the http://www.nationzoom.com argument from the Target field.

Search for your browser shortcut (Desktop, Taskbar or Start Menu Shortcut), then right-click on it and select Properties.


To view the Properties menu for the browser shortcuts pinned to your taskbar, right-click on the browser shortcut from the Taskbar, then right-click again on the browser icon as see in the below image.


In the Shortcut tab, in the Target field, remove the http://www.nationzoom.com.


These are the default shortcut path that should be in your Target box, if the Nation Zoom argument is in there, then you should remove it.

For Microsoft Internet Explorer: “C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe” for Windows 32-bit or “C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer (x86)\iexplore.exe” for Windows 64-bit.
For Mozilla Firefox: “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” for Windows 32-bit or “C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” for Windows 64-bit.
For Google Chrome: “C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe”

STEP 4: Remove Nation Zoom virus from your computer with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free utilizes Malwarebytes powerful technology to detect and remove all traces of malware including worms, trojans, rootkits, rogues, dialers, spyware and more.

Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free, then double click on it to install the program. When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue with the setup process. Do not make any changes to default settings and when the program has finished installing, click on the Finish button.

On the Scanner tab, select Perform full scan and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer.


When the Malwarebytes scan is completed, click on Show Results. You will now be presented with a screen showing you the malware infections that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware has detected. Make sure that everything is checked and click on the Remove Selected button.

How to remove the FBI Online Agent Ransomware

The FBI Online Agent ransomware is a computer infection that locks your screen so that you are unable to access your Windows desktop, programs, or documents until you pay a ransom. This ransomware pretends to be a program from the FBI that states that unauthorized cybercrime was being committed from your computer. It then requires you to submit a $200 MoneyPak voucher code in order to unlock the screen. It also threatens that if you do not send the payment within 48 hours your computer will be permanently locked and legal action will be taken against you. Please remember that this is a computer infection and that the FBI is not locking your computer, so please do not be worried about the messages in the lock screen. This infection is detected by a variety of anti-virus vendors using the Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Dapato, Trojan:Win32/LockScreen.CO, Trojan.Agent/Gen-Kryptik identifiers.


HOW CAN I GET INFECTED WITH FBI VIRUS?
This infection gets inside the Windows system through security vulnerabilities found when a user visits infected websites or downloads infected files. Of course, you must always think about safe browsing and avoid suspicious downloads that are actively offered on the Internet right now. The biggest issue, which is caused by this ransomware, is that similarly to its earlier versions, it completely blocks its victim's computer, 'locks' it and disables all the programs installed. In order to 'unlock' the system, FBI virus shows its warning and requires that you pay the fine through MoneyPak. Of course, do not proceed with this request, since this is a virus.

FBI VIRUS VERSIONS:
FBI Moneypak: This ransomware uses a huge alert filled with FBI and Moneypak logos, a webcam and a list of crimes the victim is accused of. User is informed that he has been viewing/distributing pornographic or copyrighted content, spreading malware or doing other illegal activities. For that, he has to pay a $100  fine and enter a Moneypak code on the right side of the fake alert. This threat locks the system down completely.

FBI Green Dot Moneypak Virus: This ransomware locks the whole system down and displays a fake alert with FBI, Moneypak and McAfee logos. A misleading message, which belongs to this threat, claims that Federal Bureau of Investigation has blocked you for downloading illegal/copyrighted material and similar crimes. It requires to pay $200 fine and includes the steps explaining how you should do that.

FBI Virus Black Screen: This ransomware from the FBI group of viruses uses the same technique as its predecessors and seeks to make users pay a $200 fine. However, it also applies an audio warning, black screen and system's lock down. It will similarly claim that you have been caught for law violations and will accuse you for visiting pornographic Web sites, viewing files containing zoophilia, child pornography and similar.

FBI Online Agent: This ransomware also uses the name of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but it has a newly-designed alert, which tends to accuse the victim for committing various crimes and asks to pay $200 using MoneyPak. The new thing about FBI Online Agent is that it doesn't show your IP address or location but gives the name of the responsible agent, case number and other details that are clearly invented. Besides, scammers have included the promotion of terrorism into the list of the crimes that are reported into this misleading warning.

FBI Cybercrime Division virus: That's the dangerous ransomware, which pretends to belong to the FBI's Cybercrime Division. This virus uses an identical scheme while trying to steal users' money. However, this time it asks to pay $300 using Moneypak prepayment system. Rest assured that its alert is not legitimate and can be safely ignored. The new version applies a newly designed alert, which is filled with more than ten different logos.

FBI PayPal virus: This ransomware is not related in any way to the Federal Bureau of Investigation . As soon as it gets inside the system, this ransomware blocks the entire desktop and disables the Internet connection on its target PC. In addition, it asks to pay the fine of $100 for invented online crimes, such as the use of copyrighted content or distribution of malware. Differently from earlier parasites, this FBI virus uses PayPal for its money transactions. Please, do not answer this threat.

FBI Department of Defense virus: This is a dangerous ransomware virus, which, similarly to its predecessors, seeks to swindle $300 by convincing its victims that they have violated several USA laws. This virus has the same ability to lock down the PC and hide every file, which is kept on the computer. The new thing about this version of the FBI virus, is that it offers using the MoneyGram prepayment system for paying the fine. Please, never follow its recommendations!

White Screen FBI virus: This is a cyber infection, which is categorized as ransomware and belongs to the same group of FBI virus. If you see a white screen and a mouse cursor on your computer's desktop, that means this virus failed to load properly. However, you may also receive a huge warning from the FBI, which reports about the illegal use of videos related to child pornography or other e-crimes. Please, ignore the warning that belongs to the White Screen FBI virus and never pay any money or provide any personal information.

FBI Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section virus: This is a dangerous ransomware that occupies the entire computer as soon as it infects it. Instead of the desktop, it shows a huge alert stating that the 'computer is locked by Internet Service Provider' for several different reasons. Just like previous versions, it claims that the computer's owner was noticed watching and spreading copyrighted content and doing other activities that clearly violate some laws of the USA. This FBI virus version asks to pay a fine of $200. Please, never follow this requirement.

FBI System Failure virus: FBI System Failure virus is a serious ransomware threat, which blocks computers with its fake warning saying: 'All Activities of this computer have been recorded. All your files are encrypted. Don’t try to unlock your computer!' Just like its previous versions, this virus seeks to make its victims pay an invented fine. This version is used to swindle $300, and asks to use REloadit prepayment system. If you see such warning, you must ignore it and use anti-malware software to remove malicious files from the system.

HOW TO REMOVE THE FBI RANSOMWARE

Automatic FBI virus removal
Follow these steps:
1. Print out these instructions as we will need to reboot your computer into Safe mode with Networking and you may not have access to your web browser for part of this process.

2. As this infection makes it so you are unable to launch any application or access your Windows desktop, we first need to reboot your computer into Safe Mode with Networking. To do this, turn your computer off and then back on and when you see anything on the screen, immediately start tapping the F8 key on your keyboard. Eventually you will be brought to a menu similar to the one below.


Using the arrow keys on your keyboard, select Safe Mode with Networking and press Enter on your keyboard. Windows will now boot into safe mode with networking and prompt you to login as a user.

3. Open a browser and download SpyHunter, STOPzilla, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, Emsisoft Emergency Kit or any other reputable anti-malware program.

4. Install the anti-malware program on your PC and run a full system scan with the updated anti-virus/anti-malware program. Run several scans if needed.

Note that users infected with the FBI group of viruses are allowed to access other accounts on their Windows systems. If one of such accounts has administrator rights, you should be able to launch an anti-malware program from that account.

Manual FBI virus removal:
1. Reboot you infected PC to 'Safe mode with command prompt' to disable FBI virus (this should be working with all versions of this threat).
2. Run Regedit.
3. Search for WinLogon Entries and write down all the files that are not explorer.exe or blank. Replace them with explorer.exe.
4. Search the registry for these files you have written down and delete the registry keys referencing the files.
5. Reboot and run a full system scan with an updated anti-malware program to remove remaining files.

Remove FBI MoneyPak lock screen virus with System Restore
System Restore helps you restore your computer’s system files to an earlier state or point in time. It’s a way to undo system changes to your computer without affecting your personal files, such as e‑mail, documents, or photos.
Because the FBI MoneyPak virus will not allow you to start the computer in Windows regular mode, we will need to start System Restore from the Safe Mode with Command Prompt mode.

Follow these steps:
1. Reboot your computer into Safe Mode with Command Prompt. To do this, turn your computer off and then back on and immediately when you see anything on the screen, start tapping the F8 key on your keyboard.

If you are using Windows 8, the trick is to hold the Shift button and gently tap the F8 key repeatedly, this will sometimes boot you into the new advanced “recovery mode”, where you can choose to see advanced repair options. On the next screen, you will need to click on the Troubleshoot option, then select Advanced Options and select Windows Startup Settings. Click on the Restart button, and you should now be able to see the Advanced Boot Options screen.

2. Using the arrow keys on your keyboard, select Safe Mode with Command Prompt and press Enter on your keyboard.

3. At the command prompt, type rstrui.exe, and then press Enter.


Alternatively, if you are using Windows Vista, 7 and 8, you can type: C:\windows\system32\rstrui.exe , and press Enter. And if you are a Windows XP user, type C:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe, then press Enter.

4. System Restore should start, and you will display also a list of restore points. Try using a restore point created just before the date and time the FBI MoneyPak lock screen virus has infected your computer.


5. When System Restore has completed its task, start your computer in Windows regular mode, and perform a scan with an anti-malware program.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

How to hide the video information box in CyberLink PowerDVD?

In CyberLink PowerDVD, a video information box can suddenly appear in the upper right corner of the screen and permanently sit on every video screen. It can be a nuisance when it hides a portion of the image.

How do you remove it?

1. Right click anywhere outside of that information box.
2. A long rectangular menu appears.
3. Down the list, there is an item called 'Show Information' that is checked.
4. Unselect and the check mark will disappear as well as the information box in the upper right hand corner.
5. Click anywhere outside this menu to hide it.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

How to Remove Antivirus Security Pro?

What is Antivirus Security Pro and what can Antivirus Security Pro do?

Antivirus Security Pro is categorized as rogueware program that claims to scan your computer for Virus, Trojan, spyware and malware and display obvious fake malware detections and warnings. They then pop-up a new window informing you that you need to pay money to register the software or pay money to remove these non-existent threats from your computer and protect your PC from malware infection.

Below is a screenshot of Antivirus Security Pro, a certain symptom of virus infection:


Antivirus Security Pro is mainly distributed through hacked web sites that exploit vulnerabilities on your computer or as Trojans disguised as a normal program that is necessary for you to view an online video or as online scanner that deceives you to download and this copy of rogueware virus is designed to attack Windows-based operating systems. Once your computer is infected with Antivirus Security Pro, you will get a fake Windows Security Center notification pop up on your computer screen claiming that your antivirus software is turned off.

When you click to turn on your Firewall and Virus protection, you will get a pop-up window that requires you to register the full version of the rogueware Antivirus Security Pro Virus.
After that, Antivirus Security Pro begins to perform a scan automatically on your computer and then a list appears displaying a message providing details about a virus or a Trojan detected.




If you click on the remove button, it will tell you that some of the detection can not be removed and you need to purchase the full version of the rogueware in order to completely clear the non-existent threats detected by Antivirus Security Pro.


Meanwhile Antivirus Security Pro is capable of blocking some programs from launching itself while claiming that they are infected, usually the .exe files, for example, you cannot launch your Task Manager or Chrome.



Antivirus Security Pro is a virus infection and the alert message is a scam. You should never trust the rogueware program and pay to buy the full version. If you get Antivirus Security Pro on your PC, just follow one of the free methods provided below to remove that fake program.

METHOD 1: Removing Antivirus Security Pro Virus infection with anti-malware program

Step 1: Reboot your computer into Safe Mode with Networking. To do this, turn your computer off and then back on and immediately when you see anything on the screen, start tapping the F8 key on your keyboard. Eventually you will be brought to a menu similar to the one below:


Using the arrow keys on your keyboard, select Safe Mode with Networking and press Enter on your keyboard. Windows will now boot into safe mode with networking and prompt you to login as a user. Please login as the same user you logged in within the normal Windows mode.

Step 2: It is possible that the infection you are trying to remove will not allow you to download files on the infected computer. If this is the case, then you will need to download the files requested in this guide on another computer and then transfer them to the infected computer. You can transfer the files via a CD/DVD, external drive, or USB flash drive.

Before we can do anything we must first end the processes that belong to Antivirus Security Pro so that it does not interfere with the cleaning procedure. To do this, please download RKill. When at the download page, click on the Download Now button labeled iExplore.exe. When you are prompted where to save it, please save it on your desktop.

Step 3: Once it is downloaded, double-click on the iExplore.exe icon in order to automatically attempt to stop any processes associated with Antivirus Security Pro and other Rogue programs. Please be patient while the program looks for various malware programs and ends them. When it has finished, the black window will automatically close and you can continue with the next step. If you get a message that RKill is an infection, do not be concerned. This message is just a fake warning given by Antivirus Security Pro when it terminates programs that may potentially remove it. If you run into these infections warnings that close RKill, a trick is to leave the warning on the screen and then run RKill again. By not closing the warning, this typically will allow you to bypass the malware trying to protect itself so that RKill can terminate Antivirus Security Pro . So, please try running RKill until the malware is no longer running. You will then be able to proceed with the rest of the guide. Do not reboot your computer after running RKill as the malware programs will start again.

If you continue having problems running RKill, you can download the other renamed versions of RKill from the RKill download page. Both of these files are renamed copies of RKill, which you can try instead. Please note that the download page will open in a new browser window or tab.

Step 4: Now you should download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, or MBAM and save it to your desktop. Once downloaded, close all programs and windows on your computer. Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe. This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer. When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue with the installation process. Do not make any changes to default settings and when the program has finished installing, make sure you leave both the Update Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes Anti-Malware checked. Then click on the Finish button. If MalwareBytes prompts you to reboot, please do not do so.

Step 5: MBAM will now automatically start and you will see a message stating that you should update the program before performing a scan. As MBAM will automatically update itself after the install, you can press the OK button to close that box and you will now be at the main program as shown below. On the Scanner tab, make sure the the Perform full scan option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Antivirus Security Pro related files. MBAM will now start scanning your computer for malware. This process can take several minutes.


When MBAM is scanning it will look like the image below.


When the scan is finished a message box will appear as shown in the image below. You should click on the OK button to close the message box and continue with the Antivirus Security Pro removal process.


Step 6: You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should click on the Show Results button. A screen displaying all the malware that the program found will be shown as seen in the image below. Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image.


You should now click on the Remove Selected button to remove all the listed malware. MBAM will now delete all of the files and registry keys and add them to the programs quarantine. When removing the files, MBAM may require a reboot in order to remove some of them. If it displays a message stating that it needs to reboot, please allow it to do so. Once your computer has rebooted, and you are logged in, please continue with the rest of the steps. When MBAM has finished removing the malware, it will open the scan log and display it in Notepad. Review the log as desired, and then close the Notepad window. You can now exit the MBAM program.

Your computer should now be free of the Antivirus Security Pro program. If your current anti-virus solution let this infection through, you may want to consider purchasing the PRO version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to protect against these types of threats in the future.

METHOD 2: Removing Antivirus Security Pro manually

Step 1: Use the debugged keys to register this infection and stop the Antivirus Security Pro malicious activities. Open Antivirus Security Pro. Click the “Buy Full Edition” button and then choose “I already have a activation key” option.


Enter the Antivirus Security Pro activation key AF03E-A1B69411-5E496BEE-92A70D00-1AD697F6 and click “OK” to activate the rogue antivirus program.


After you activate Antivirus Security Pro rogueware, you are able to access the Internet, use an antivirus program, open your Task Manager and access regedit.

Step 2: Exit Antivirus Security Pro from your task menu. 


Confirm your operation when a pop-up message appears like below:


Step 3: Delete all Antivirus Security Pro related malicious files. Find the shortcut icon on your startup menu or desktop, right click on it, and then select Properties from the list.


Click on “Open File Location” and then you will be prompted to Antivirus Security Pro file folder.


Delete all the file located under the file location.


Step 4: Uninstall Antivirus Security Pro from your infected computer.
• Windows XP: Go to Start > Control Panel > Add Remove programs > Look for Antivirus Security Pro > Click on Remove.
• Windows 7/Vista: Go to Start > Control panel > Uninstall a program/Programs and Features > Look for Antivirus Security Pro > click on Uninstall.


Step 5: Remove malicious registry entries created by Antivirus Security Pro. Click on the “Start” button and in the “Search programs and files” field, type “regedit” and click the “Enter” button.


In Windows Regedit, go to Edit > Find, in the search box type Antivirus Security Pro and gpngn373, then click on the Find Next.



It will show you all the Antivirus Security Pro registry and files, right click on those items and delete all of them.

Step 6: Run an antivirus or anti-malware scan to eliminate any possible virus infection with your favorite security application.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Hot to remove the TBVerifier.dll module in Windows?

Every time you boot up your PC, you may get this error notice "C:\Users\Luc\AppData\Local\Temp\CT3289847\TBVerifier.dll" "The specified module could not be found".  How can you fix this?

This file most often belongs to a product called Conduit Toolbar Verifier. Conduit is a search tool that installs a Toolbar in all your browsers installed on your PC and redirects your searches to Search.conduit.com.

Even after you remove the actual Conduit toolbar from the browsers and the Windows system (see instructions below), you may still encounter some residual of the "entrusted toolbar" malware, when you reboot your PC.

To get rid of these residues, download and install CCleaner, then open the application and click on Tools, click on Startup, select and delete all remaining Conduit entries. Test your reboot and you will notice that this annoying message no longer appears.


Follow these steps for each browser if you need to remove the actual Conduit Toolbar residing in your browsers:

Remove it from windows system:
1. Move mouse cursor to the bottom right of the screen.
2. Click Settings on Charms bar and go to Control Panel.
3. Open Uninstall a program and remove browser plugin created by Conduit.

Remove it from Internet Explorer
1. Press Alt+X
2. Click Internet Options.
3. Change home page under General tab and click OK.
4. Press Alt+X
5. Click Manage add-ons.
6. Click Search Providers on the left.
7. Set a new default search engine and remove Search.Conduit from the list.

Remove it from Firefox
1. Press Firefox button
2. Click Options.
3. Change home page under General tab and click OK.
4. Click the search engine icon on the left of Firefox search box (top right corner).
5. Select Manage search engines
6. Remove Search.conduit. Click OK.

Remove it from Google Chrome
1. Press Alt+F
2. Go to Settings.
3. Select Open a page or set of pages
4. Click Set pages.
5. Rewrite home page and click OK.
6. Select Manage search engines under Search.
7. Set a new default search engine and remove Search.Conduit from the list.
8. Click Done.

How do I make 'Preview' the default PDF viewer and downloader?

When you live in Mac OS and want to make the application Preview your default PDF application, follow these steps:

1. Find a .pdf file. Any one will do. Actually, if you wish you can create a new empty file and it will work for this purpose, as long as it ends in .pdf .

2. Click once on the .pdf file to select it.

3. Hit Command I or choose Get Info from the Finder file menu.

4. In the Get Info window, go to the "Open with:" section, clicking on the small arrow head to open it if necessary.

5. Click on the popup menu and select "Preview".

6. Click the "Change All..." button.

7. That's it! You've just made Preview the default viewer for .pdf files. If you have Adobe Reader installed, there is no reason to delete it. There will be times when you will need some of its features. The two can coexist on your Mac.