Should I remove Search Assistant SoftQuick?
What percent of users and experts removed it?
85% remove it15% keep it
What do people think about it?
(click star to rate)
How common is it?
Global Rank #14,395
United States Rank #22,522
Reach 0.0200%
Lifespan of installation (until removal)
< 32.64 days
962.87 days >
Average installed length: 505.92 days
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Search Assistant SoftQuick 1.66
What is Search Assistant SoftQuick?
Search Assistant SoftQuick is an adware program installed into Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome. The programs collects and stores information about web browsing habits and sends this information to its remote servers in order to provide injected advertising in search results and various other places. Search Assistant will also modify the browser's home page and search provider. It displays various pop-up advertisements and tracks and reports your web surfing behavior. It displays targeted search results and pop-up advertisements based on terms that the user enters for Web searches. The program also adds its own browser toolbar and installs a browser helper objects (BHO) in Internet Explorer for monitoring Web search terms and implementing the browser toolbar. It also may send event logs and other system-related information to a server, and may automatically download and install updates without notifying the user. It bundles the 'malware' identified file called SProtector which is classified as malware with vaious antivirus products inclduing DrWeb, QuickHeal, Trend and Avast.
Overview
The main program executable is sprotector.dll. Typically most users end up uninstalling this just after a few days. The software installer includes 2 files and is usually about 1.5 MB (1,577,821 bytes).
- Possible malware installed by this program
- Typically distributed through a pay-per-install bundle
- Known to include offers within the setup
- Displays unwanted advertisements
- Hijacks the web browser's home page
- Hijacks the browser's default search provider
- The experts agree, you should remove it!
Warning, multiple anti-virus scanners have detected possible malware in Search Assistant SoftQuick.
| sprotector.dll (faa124f701b15e5578373187c02aba4d) has been flagged by the following 19 scanners: |
| Anti-Virus software | Version | Detection |
| avast! |
2014.9-130523 |
Win32:Dropper-gen [Drp] |
| Bitdefender |
1.0.20.715 |
Trojan.Generic.KDV.833114 |
| Comodo Security |
16038 |
UnclassifiedMalware |
| Dr.Web |
9.0.0.0143 |
Adware.BGuard.9 |
| Emsisoft Anti-Malware |
8.13.05.23.06 |
Trojan.Generic.KDV.833114 |
| ESET-NOD32 |
7.8259 |
a variant of Win32/SProtector.A |
| Fortinet FortiGate |
5/23/2013 |
W32/SProtector.A |
| F-Secure |
11.2013-23-05_5 |
Trojan.Generic.KDV.833114 |
| G Data |
13.5.22 |
Trojan.Generic.KDV.833114 |
| McAfee |
5600.7084 |
Artemis!FAA124F701B1 |
| McAfee-GW-Edition |
7.7084 |
Artemis!FAA124F701B1 |
| MicroWorld-eScan |
14.0.0.429 |
Trojan.Generic.KDV.833114 |
| Norman |
10.20130523 |
Suspicious_Gen2.VLDQK |
| nProtect |
13.04.24.01 |
Trojan.Generic.KDV.833114 |
| PC Tools |
2013 |
Trojan.Gen |
| Symantec |
5/23/2013 rev. 5 |
Trojan.Gen |
| Trend Micro |
10.465.23 |
TROJ_GEN.RCBCEBF |
| TrendMicro-HouseCall |
7.2.143 |
TROJ_GEN.RCBCEBF |
| VIPRE Antivirus |
17134 |
Trojan.Win32.Generic!BT |
View all 19 all detections
Search Assistant SoftQuick 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\softquick
Uninstaller: "C:\Program Files\SoftQuick\uninstall.exe" /FULLPATH="C:\Program Files\SoftQuick"
Estimated size: 1.5 MB
Files installed by Search Assistant SoftQuick 1.66
| Program module: | sprotector.dll (Malware detected) |
| Name: | SProtector 1.66.1133 |
| Path: | C:\Program Files\softquick\sprotector.dll |
| MD5: | faa124f701b15e5578373187c02aba4d |
| SProtector has been detected as 'malware' by multiple antivirus products. TrendMicro classifies it as TROJ_GEN.RCBH1L8. ESET calls it a variant of Win32/SProtector.A. QuickHeal identifies SProtector.dll as Worm.SProtector.A3. Avast... |
Additional files:
How do I remove Search Assistant SoftQuick?
You can uninstall Search Assistant SoftQuick 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 Search Assistant SoftQuick 1.66, 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 Search Assistant SoftQuick.
- 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.
OS VERSIONS
Win 7 (SP1) 76%
Win 10 0%
|
|
USER ACTIONS
 |
Uninstall it 85%
Keep it 15%
|
|
|
GLOBAL RANK
 #14,395
|
Windows
Which Windows OS versions does it run on?
| Windows 7 |
85.03% |
|
| Windows XP |
8.63% |
|
| Windows Vista |
6.09% |
|
| Windows 10 |
0.25% |
|
Which OS releases does it run on? |
| Windows 7 Home Premium |
49.75% |
|
| Windows 7 Ultimate |
21.32% |
|
| Windows 7 Professional |
9.90% |
|
| Microsoft Windows XP |
8.63% |
|
| Windows Vista Home Premiu... |
4.31% |
|
| Windows 7 Home Basic |
1.52% |
|
Geography
18.97% of installs come from the United States
Which countries install it?
| United States |
18.97% |
| Taiwan |
8.43% |
| Iran |
5.15% |
| Italy |
4.45% |
| Germany |
3.75% |
| United Kingdom |
3.28% |
| India |
2.81% |
| Greece |
2.34% |
| Netherlands |
2.34% |
| Poland |
2.34% |
| Australia |
2.11% |
| Spain |
2.11% |
| Croatia |
2.11% |
| Canada |
2.11% |
PC manufacturers
What PC manufacturers (OEMs) have it installed?
| Hewlett-Packard |
25.00% |
|
| Dell |
20.34% |
|
| Acer |
18.64% |
|
| ASUS |
15.68% |
|
| GIGABYTE |
10.59% |
|
| Toshiba |
4.24% |
|
| Intel |
1.69% |
|
| Lenovo |
1.69% |
|
| Samsung |
1.27% |
|
| American Megatrends |
0.85% |
|
Common models |
| HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook ... |
6.21% |
|
| HP Pavilion g6 Notebook P... |
4.83% |
|
| HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook ... |
3.45% |
|
| Dell Inspiron 1545 |
2.07% |
|
| Acer Aspire 5750G |
2.07% |
|
| ASUSTeK K52F |
2.07% |
|
About Search Assistant SProtector
Alias distribution of the SProtector class of malware.