Should I remove Certified Toolbar?
What percent of users and experts removed it?
87% remove it13% keep it
What do people think about it?
(click star to rate)
How common is it?
Reach 0.0004%
Lifespan of installation (until removal)
< 388.61 days
1029.61 days >
Average installed length: 540.98 days
Certified Toolbar
What is Certified Toolbar?
The toolbar is an ad-supported program that is designed to display advertisements within the program itself, modify the browser's home page and search settings in order to capture web search traffic as well as collect and aggregate usage information and statistics. The toolbar is typically bundled with 3rd party programs in order to help monetize free software. During installation, the user might be given the option to modify the home and search pages, however this is often checked by default and overlooked. Should the software be removed from the user's PC, the settings will need to be manually reverted back.
Overview
The main program executable is InstTracker.exe. Typically most users end up uninstalling this just after a few days. The software installer includes 5 files and is usually about 2.65 MB (2,775,960 bytes).
- Loads into the web browser
- Typically distributed through a pay-per-install bundle
- Injects advertisements unassociated with the underlying web page
- Hijacks the web browser's home page
- The experts agree, you should remove it!
Certified Toolbar has been found to be bundled with 3rd party software. If you have not purposefully installed this, you should be safe uninstalling it.
Program details
Installation folder: C:\Program Files\CertifiedToolbar\
Uninstaller: "C:\Program Files\CertifiedToolbar\unins000.exe"
Estimated size: 2.65 MB
Files installed by Certified Toolbar
Program executable: | InstTracker.exe |
Name: | AutocompleteInstallationTracker |
Path: | C:\Program Files\CertifiedToolbar\InstTracker.exe |
MD5: | 4eda6fd1425a6bbc5a79fdefcf0ee347 |
Additional files:
-
unins000.exe - Setup/Uninstall
-
FireFoxExtensionWithFF8Fix.exe (by Simplygen) - FireFoxInstallation
-
FireFoxUninstaller.exe (by Simplygen) - FireFoxUninstaller
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InstTracker.exe - AutocompleteInstallationTracker
-
System.Data.SQLite.dll - System.Data.SQLite (System.Data.SQLite Interop Library)
How do I remove Certified Toolbar?
You can uninstall Certified Toolbar from your computer by using the Add/Remove Program feature in the Window's Control Panel.
- On the Start menu (for Windows 8, right-click the screen's bottom-left corner), click Control Panel, and then, under Programs, do one of the following:
- Windows Vista/7/8/10: Click Uninstall a Program.
- Windows XP: Click Add or Remove Programs.
- When you find the program Certified Toolbar, click it, and then do one of the following:
- Windows Vista/7/8/10: Click Uninstall.
- Windows XP: Click the Remove or Change/Remove tab (to the right of the program).
- Follow the prompts. A progress bar shows you how long it will take to remove Certified Toolbar.
- If for some reason uninstallation fails, please install Microsoft's uninstall fixer utility which will help fix problems with programs that can't be uninstalled at support.microsoft.com.
How do I reset my web browser?
If your web browser homepage and search settings have been modfied by Certified Toolbar you can restore them to their previous default settings.
Microsoft Internet Explorer
- Open Internet Explorer and click the Tools button, and then click Internet options.
- Click the Advanced tab, and then click Reset. Select the Delete personal settings check box if you would also like to remove search providers, Accelerators and home pages. When Internet Explorer finishes applying default settings, click Close, and then click OK.
- The changes will take effect the next time you open IE.
Mozilla Firefox
- At the top of the Firefox window, click the Firefox button, go over to the Help sub-menu and select Troubleshooting Information.
- To continue, click Reset Firefox in the confirmation window that opens. It will close and be reset.
- When it's done, a window will list the information that was imported. Click Finish and Firefox will open.
Google Chrome
- Open Chrome and click the Chrome menu on the browser toolbar.
- Select Settings. In the "Search" section, click Manage search engine. Check if (Default) is displayed next to your preferred search engine. If not, mouse over it and click Make default. Mouse over any other suspicious search engine entries that are not familiar and click X to remove them.
- When the "Show Home button" checkbox is selected, a web address appears below it. If you want the Homepage button to open up a different webpage, click Change to enter a link.
- Restart Google Chrome.
OS VERSIONS
Win 7 (SP1) 86%
Win Vista (SP2) 14%
|
|
USER ACTIONS
|
Uninstall it 87%
Keep it 13%
|
|
|
AVERAGE INSTALL LIFESPAN
540.98
Days
|
Windows
Which Windows OS versions does it run on?
Windows 7 |
85.71% |
|
Windows Vista |
14.29% |
|
Which OS releases does it run on? |
Windows 7 Home Premium |
71.43% |
|
Windows 7 Professional |
14.29% |
|
Windows Vista Home Premiu... |
14.29% |
|
Geography
41.67% of installs come from the United States
Which countries install it?
United States |
41.67% |
Spain |
16.67% |
Netherlands |
16.67% |
Brazil |
8.33% |
Italy |
8.33% |
South Africa |
8.33% |
PC manufacturers
What PC manufacturers (OEMs) have it installed?
Acer |
33.33% |
|
Samsung |
16.67% |
|
Hewlett-Packard |
16.67% |
|
Dell |
16.67% |
|
ASUS |
16.67% |
|
Common models |
Samsung RV420/RV520/RV720... |
14.29% |
|
Packard Bell imedia S3850 |
14.29% |
|
MSI MS-7680 |
14.29% |
|
HP ProBook 4530s |
14.29% |
|
Dell Inspiron N5030 |
14.29% |
|
ASUSTeK K54LY |
14.29% |
|