84,488,480 programs installed

Should I remove StartNow Toolbar?

What percent of users and experts removed it?
86% remove it14% keep it
Overall Sentiment
Bad
What do people think about it?
(click star to rate)
How common is it?
United States Rank #31,400
Reach 0.0013%
Lifespan of installation (until removal)
< 610.74 days
1364.41 days >
Average installed length: 716.89 days

Versions

VersionDistribution
2.0 100.00%

Other programs by Zugo Ltd

StartNow Toolbar 2.0

What is StartNow Toolbar?

StartNow is a web browser toolbar that changes your homepage and redirects valid searches. StartNow toolbar is developed by Zugo and it gives you instant access to multimedia search, Facebook one click away, your local weather forecast and many other features that give you the best online experience. It is simple, light weight and blends perfectly with your browser to give you instant access to your favourite sites and information.

About  (from Zugo Ltd)

Our Search Toolbar offers access to the Bing™ decision engine helping users to search and surf the web! Bing brings together key information and organizes it in one place, you can check the weather forecast, look up ticket prices and book a flight all at once. Users will also find the latest news, popular videos, onlin...  Read more

Overview

It adds registry entry for the current user which will allow the program to automatically start each time it is rebooted. Upon being installed, the software adds a Windows Service which is designed to run continuously in the background. Manually stopping the service has been seen to cause the program to stop functing properly. It adds a background controller service that is set to automatically run. Delaying the start of this service is possible through the service manager. The program adds a toolbar to Microsoft Internet Explorer. The primary executable is named Toolbar32.dll. A majority of users end up uninstalling this less than a week of it being installed. The setup package generally installs about 5 files and is usually about 668.27 KB (684,309 bytes). The installed file ToolbarUpdaterService.exe is the auto-update component of the program which is designed to check for software updates and notify and apply them when new versions are discovered.
  • Malware detected in the program
  • Starts automatically
  • Integrates into the web browser
  • Adds a background Windows Service
  • Delivered through a thrid-party offer
  • The experts agree, you should remove it!
Warning, multiple anti-virus scanners have detected possible malware in StartNow Toolbar.
Toolbar32.dll (b6a66165347254f8958641a75473dee7) has been flagged by the following 7 scanners:
Anti-Virus softwareVersionDetection
Comodo Security 16654 UnclassifiedMalware
Dr.Web 9.0.0.0143 Adware.Zugo.71
Emsisoft Anti-Malware 8.13.05.23.04 Riskware.Win32.Toolbar.Zugo.AMN!A2
ESET-NOD32 7.8611 a variant of Win32/Toolbar.Zugo
K7 AntiVirus 13.170.9109 Riskware
K7GW 13.12.7.0.12 Riskware
TrendMicro-HouseCall 7.2.8 TROJ_GEN.F47V0920
StartNowToolbarUninstall.exe (12981e2f601148d148eb6ae3c11f24e2) has been flagged by the following 4 scanners:
Anti-Virus softwareSoftware versionDetection
Dr.Web Adware.Searcher.755
Malwarebytes 1.75.0.1 PUP.Zugo
TrendMicro-HouseCall 9.700.0.1001 TROJ_GEN.R0CBH01GV13
VIPRE Antivirus 22224 Zugo (fs) (not malicious)
ToolbarUpdaterService.exe (222d07b010af51888098da869bd9c173) has been flagged by the following 4 scanners:
Anti-Virus softwareSoftware versionDetection
Dr.Web Adware.Zugo.71
eSafe 7.0.17.0 Win32.Trojan
ESET-NOD32 8479 a variant of Win32/Toolbar.Zugo
TrendMicro-HouseCall 9.700.0.1001 TROJ_GEN.F47V0528
search_protect.exe (6d6fbe6465d1f496257c3c422dd1f4b7) has been flagged by the following 4 scanners:
Anti-Virus softwareSoftware versionDetection
Comodo Security 16206 Heur.Suspicious
Dr.Web Adware.Zugo.71
TrendMicro-HouseCall 9.700.0.1001 TROJ_GEN.F47V0908
Vba32 AntiVirus 3.12.22.0 suspected of Corrupted.Win32File.ILE
genfix.exe (28ae3dd3ac533b525a3fcbe4f26fd6f8) has been flagged by the following 2 scanners:
Anti-Virus softwareSoftware versionDetection
Dr.Web Adware.Zugo.114
VIPRE Antivirus 22002 Zugo Ltd (v) (not malicious)
       View all 21 all detections
StartNow 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 detailsProgram details

URL: www.zugo.com
Installation folder: C:\Program Files\StartNow Toolbar\
Uninstaller: C:\Program Files\StartNow Toolbar\StartNowToolbarUninstall.exe
Estimated size: 668.27 KB

Program filesFiles installed by StartNow Toolbar 2.0

Program module:Toolbar32.dll (Malware detected)
Name:Toolbar
Path:C:\Program Files\startnow toolbar\Toolbar32.dll
MD5:b6a66165347254f8958641a75473dee7
Additional files:
  • (Malware detected) StartNowToolbarUninstall.exe - StartNow Toolbar
  • (Malware detected) genfix.exe
  • (Malware detected) search_protect.exe - StartNow Search Update
  • (Malware detected) Toolbar32.dll (by Zugo) - Toolbar
  • (Malware detected) ToolbarUpdaterService.exe

Program behaviorsBehaviors exhibited

Internet Explorer BHO
  • Toolbar32.dll is installed in Internet Explorer as a BHO (Browser Helper Object) under the name 'StartNow Toolbar Helper' with the class of {6E13D095-45C3-4271-9475-F3B48227DD9F} (StartNowToolbarHelper).
Internet Explorer Toolbar
  • Toolbar32.dll is loaded as Internet Explorer Toolbar with the name 'StartNow Toolbar' with the class of {5911488E-9D1E-40ec-8CBB-06B231CC153F}.
Service
  • ToolbarUpdaterService.exe runs as a service named 'Toolbar Updater Service' (Toolbar Updater Service).
Startup File (User Run)
  • search_protect.exe is loaded in the current user (HKCU) registry as an auto-starting executable named 'StartNow Search Protect' and executes as "C:\Program Files\StartNow Toolbar\search_protect.exe" /RELAY /REPORT /PROTECT.

How do I remove StartNow Toolbar?

You can uninstall StartNow Toolbar from your computer by using the Add/Remove Program feature in the Window's Control Panel.
  1. 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.
  2. When you find the program StartNow Toolbar 2.0, 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).
  3. Follow the prompts. A progress bar shows you how long it will take to remove StartNow Toolbar.
  4. 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 StartNow Toolbar 2.0 you can restore them to their previous default settings.
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox
Google Chrome

OS VERSIONS
Win 7 (SP1) 58%
Win XP 4%
 
WHEN IT STARTS
Auto-starting? Yes
(Found in the run registry)
 
USER ACTIONS
Uninstall it 86%
Keep it 14%

Windows OS versionsWindows

Which Windows OS versions does it run on?
Windows 7 79.17%
Windows Vista 16.67%
Windows XP 4.17%
Which OS releases does it run on?
Windows 7 Home Premium 66.67%
Windows Vista Home Premiu... 16.67%
Windows 7 Starter 4.17%
Windows 7 Professional 4.17%
Windows 7 Ultimate 4.17%
Microsoft Windows XP 4.17%

Distribution by countryGeography

95.24% of installs come from the United States
Which countries install it?
  United States 95.24%
  Iran 4.76%

OEM distributionPC manufacturers

What PC manufacturers (OEMs) have it installed?
Hewlett-Packard 39.13%
Dell 34.78%
Acer 13.04%
Toshiba 8.70%
Sony 4.35%
Common models
TOSHIBA Satellite A505 4.35%
HP-Pavilion NY536AA-ABA 3... 4.35%
HP Pavilion 061 RC663AA-A... 4.35%
HP Pavilion dv4 Notebook ... 4.35%
Dell Studio XPS 7100 4.35%
Dell Inspiron 1545 4.35%

About Zugo Ltd

Zugo provides search based products that deliver monetization solutions for online publishers, content owners and distributors.
Publisher URL: zugo.com

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