Should I remove Search Assistant WebSearch?
What percent of users and experts removed it?
79% remove it21% keep it
What do people think about it?
(click star to rate)
How common is it?
Global Rank #2,228
United States Rank #7,069
Reach 0.2865%
Lifespan of installation (until removal)
< 414.95 days
1379.48 days >
Average installed length: 724.81 days
Other programs by Search Assistant SProtector
Rankings
- #2,223 PeerBlock 1.1 (r518)
- #2,224 Grand Theft Auto IV by Rockstar Games
- #2,225 Xvid MPEG-4 Video Codec by Xvid Team
- #2,226 Java 8 Update 60 (64-bit) by Oracle
- #2,227 ATI - Software Uninstall Utility by ATI Technologies
- #2,228 Search Assistant WebSearch 1.74
- #2,229 Dell Backup and Recovery Manager
- #2,230 Multimedia Card Reader by Fitipower
- #2,231 Seagate Dashboard by Memeo
- #2,232 Bamboo Dock by Wacom Technology
- #2,233 TomTom HOME
Search Assistant WebSearch 1.74
What is Search Assistant WebSearch?
Search Assistant WebSearch 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 (BHOs) 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.
Malware detections for sprotector.dll, the main executable and toolbar/extension:
- TrendMicro HouseCall detects it as a trojan named TROJ_GEN.F47V0125
- ESET-NOD32 classifies it as a variant of Win32/SProtector.A
- DrWeb considers it adware, Adware.BGuard.11
- QuickHeal detects it as Worm.SProtector.Gen
- Avast considers it a potential unwanted program (PUP) named Win32:SProtector-A
Overview
The main program executable is sprotector.dll. Typically most users end up uninstalling this just after a few days. The software installer includes 4 files and is usually about 1.47 MB (1,541,225 bytes).
- Possible malware installed by this program
- Installed as part of a co-bundle
- Displays unwanted advertisements
- Hijacks the web browser's home page
- Hijacks the browser's default search provider
- The wisdom of the crowd agrees, you should remove it!
Warning, multiple anti-virus scanners have detected possible malware in Search Assistant WebSearch.
sprotector.dll (d59fb8a196cc8ad8e8bde0c437070cc6) has been flagged by the following 14 scanners: |
Anti-Virus software | Version | Detection |
avast! |
2014.9-130526 |
Win32:SProtector-A [PUP] |
Bitdefender |
1.0.20.730 |
Adware.BGuard.B |
CAT-QuickHeal |
5.13.12.00 |
Worm.SProtector.Gen |
Dr.Web |
9.0.0.0146 |
Adware.BGuard.11 |
Emsisoft Anti-Malware |
8.13.05.26.01 |
Adware.BGuard |
eSafe |
7.0.17.0 |
Win32.Trojan |
ESET-NOD32 |
7.8375 |
a variant of Win32/SProtector.A |
F-Secure |
11.2013-26-05_1 |
Adware.BGuard.B |
G Data |
13.5.22 |
Adware.BGuard |
nProtect |
13.05.25.02 |
Adware.BGuard.B |
The Hacker |
6.8.0.5.146 |
Trojan/Sprotector |
Trend Micro |
10.465.26 |
ADW_SPROTECT |
TrendMicro-HouseCall |
7.2.146 |
ADW_SPROTECT |
VIPRE Antivirus |
18124 |
Trojan.Win32.Generic!BT |
uninstall.exe (bb415ddb9d60a04a92f30095b002920e) has been flagged by the following 4 scanners: |
Anti-Virus software | Software version | Detection |
avast! |
8.0.1489.320 |
NSIS:SProtector-B [PUP] |
Bkav FE |
1.3.0.4613 |
W32.SprotectorMVd.Adware |
Dr.Web |
|
Adware.BGuard.11 |
ESET-NOD32 |
9239 |
Win32/SProtector.B |
View all 18 all detections
Search Assistant WebSearch 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\websearch
Uninstaller: "C:\Program Files\WebSearch\uninstall.exe" /FULLPATH="C:\Program Files\WebSearch"
Estimated size: 1.47 MB
Files installed by Search Assistant WebSearch 1.74
Program module: | sprotector.dll (Malware detected) |
Path: | C:\Program Files\websearch\sprotector.dll |
MD5: | d59fb8a196cc8ad8e8bde0c437070cc6 |
| 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... |
-
(Malware detected) uninstall.exe
How do I remove Search Assistant WebSearch?
You can uninstall Search Assistant WebSearch 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 WebSearch 1.74, 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 WebSearch.
- 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) 69%
Win 7 0%
|
|
USER ACTIONS
|
Uninstall it 79%
Keep it 21%
|
|
|
GLOBAL RANK
#2,228
|
Windows
Which Windows OS versions does it run on?
Windows 7 |
82.50% |
|
Windows XP |
12.45% |
|
Windows Vista |
4.28% |
|
Windows 10 |
0.69% |
|
Windows Server 2003 |
0.07% |
|
Which OS releases does it run on? |
Windows 7 Home Premium |
31.89% |
|
Windows 7 Ultimate |
31.50% |
|
Microsoft Windows XP |
12.37% |
|
Windows 7 Professional |
11.23% |
|
Windows 7 Home Basic |
3.70% |
|
Windows Vista Home Premiu... |
3.10% |
|
Geography
10.86% of installs come from the United States
Which countries install it?
United States |
10.86% |
Taiwan |
8.72% |
Indonesia |
5.49% |
Brazil |
4.81% |
Israel |
3.54% |
Italy |
3.03% |
India |
2.94% |
MA |
2.94% |
Germany |
2.43% |
Egypt |
2.02% |
France |
1.86% |
Belgium |
1.80% |
Australia |
1.76% |
DZ |
1.73% |
PC manufacturers
What PC manufacturers (OEMs) have it installed?
Hewlett-Packard |
23.83% |
|
Acer |
20.63% |
|
Dell |
18.95% |
|
ASUS |
10.99% |
|
GIGABYTE |
8.05% |
|
Toshiba |
7.88% |
|
Samsung |
3.00% |
|
Lenovo |
2.57% |
|
Intel |
1.86% |
|
American Megatrends |
1.48% |
|
Sahara |
0.77% |
|
Common models |
HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook ... |
6.89% |
|
HP Pavilion g6 Notebook P... |
5.45% |
|
Dell Inspiron N5110 |
5.00% |
|
Dell Inspiron N5010 |
2.88% |
|
TOSHIBA Satellite C660 |
2.57% |
|
HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook ... |
2.50% |
|
About Search Assistant SProtector
Alias distribution of the SProtector class of malware.