Should I remove FreeWorldRadio Toolbar?

What percent of users and experts removed it?

79% remove it21% keep it

Overall Sentiment

Bad

What do people think about it?

(click star to rate)

How common is it?

Reach <0.001%

Versions

Version	Distribution
6.2.4.1	100.00%

Other programs by Conduit

FreeWorldRadio Toolbar

from Conduit Ltd.

Remove FreeWorldRadio Toolbar by Conduit

What is FreeWorldRadio Toolbar?

FreeWorldRadio Toolbar is a Conduit web browser plugin for Intenet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox that collects and stores information about a user's web browsing habits and sends this information to Conduit in order to provide advertising. It will change the user's home page and search provider during installation (optional but enabled by default) and provides a search box and various social features. If the home page and search settings were modified by this toolbar, they need to be manually reverted back by the user if the user decides to uninstall the toolbar. According to the License Agreement, "The Application may also collect and store information about your web browsing locally on your device. This locally saved information may interact with the Application and send us information about your web browsing so we can suggest services or provide you ads that may be more relevant to you. Only generalized inferences are passed from the Application to our servers."

Overview

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. A scheduled task is added to Windows Task Scheduler in order to launch the program at various scheduled times (the schedule varies depending on the version). The software is designed to connect to the Internet and adds a Windows Firewall exception in order to do so without being interfered with. The primary executable is named tbFree.dll. A majority of users end up uninstalling this less than a week of it being installed. It also bundles additional software in the form of the Conduit Engine, which installs a potentially unwanted toolbar, and makes homepage and default search engine changes to a user's web browser. The setup package generally installs about 3 files and is usually about 3.93 MB (4,125,212 bytes).

Malware detected in the program
Integrates into the web browser
Built on and distributed using the Conduit toolbar
Installs a Windows Service
Hijacks the web browser's home page
Hijacks the browser's default search provider
Most users and experts agree, you should remove it!

Warning, multiple anti-virus scanners have detected possible malware in FreeWorldRadio Toolbar.

tbFree.dll (0be033ddc44a515354cb635e05ec4e01) has been flagged by the following 4 scanners:
Anti-Virus software	Version	Detection
AVware	1.5.0.21	Conduit (fs)
ESET-NOD32	8.11366	a variant of Win32/Toolbar.Conduit.B potentially unwanted
Panda Antivirus	15.04.13.03	PUP/Conduit.A
VIPRE Antivirus	38706	Conduit (fs)
FreeWorldRadioToolbarHelper.exe (a320df2b47cfcaf98d06eb59cd72084c) has been flagged by the following 5 scanners:
Anti-Virus software	Software version	Detection
Bkav FE	1.3.0.6379	W32.HfsAdware.C534
Dr.Web	7.0.12.3050	Adware.Conduit.300
G Data	25	Win32.Adware.Conduit.B
IKARUS anti.virus	T3.1.6.1.0	PUA.ClientConnect
Panda Antivirus	4.6.4.2	PUP/Conduit.A

Program details

Displayed publisher: FreeWorldRadio

URL: FreeWorldRadio.myradiotoolbar.com

Help link: FreeWorldRadio.myradiotoolbar.com/help

Installation folder: C:\Program Files\FreeWorldRadio

Uninstaller: C:\Program Files2\FREEWO~1\UNWISE.EXE /U C:\Program Files2\FREEWO~1\INSTALL.LOG

(Wise Installer is used for installing and uninstalling this software.)

Estimated size: 3.93 MB

This is a Community Toolbar by Conduit, what does that mean?

Conduit is a toolbar monetization platform for software publishers. It provides a utility for developers to create branded generic web browser toolbars. Publishers can bundle these toolbars with their software programs or provide access to download them separately through FreeWorldRadio.myradiotoolbar.com. Once installed, the toolbar modifies the browser's home page and search settings in order to redirect searches through the Conduit portal (which utilizes Bing or Yahoo! Search engines). Read more...

Files installed by FreeWorldRadio Toolbar

Program module:	tbFree.dll (Malware detected)
Name:	Conduit Toolbar
Path:	C:\Program Files\FreeWorldRadio\tbFree.dll
MD5:	0be033ddc44a515354cb635e05ec4e01

Additional files:

(Malware detected) tbFree.dll - Conduit Toolbar
(Malware detected) FreeWorldRadioToolbarHelper.exe
UNWISE.EXE

Behaviors exhibited

Internet Explorer BHO

tbFree.dll is installed in Internet Explorer as a BHO (Browser Helper Object) under the name 'Media Star Toolbar' with the class of {dfabc5b5-039b-4865-979a-de31cdf3e351}.

Internet Explorer Toolbar

tbFree.dll is loaded as Internet Explorer Toolbar with the name 'Media Star Toolbar' with the class of {dfabc5b5-039b-4865-979a-de31cdf3e351}.

Internet Explorer URL Search Hook

tbFree.dll loads into IE as a URL Search Hook named 'Media Star Toolbar' with a class of {dfabc5b5-039b-4865-979a-de31cdf3e351} in order to redirect unknown URL searches.

Internet Explorer Web Browser

tbFree.dll installs an IE Web Browser in Internet Explorer named 'SearchElf 1.1 Toolbar' with a class of {00F2C0C6-2194-484E-9064-44E57787867B}.

2 Scheduled Tasks

UNWISE.EXE is scheduled as a task with the class '{F71A9918-1861-4EFE-AE94-530BDDE46DD4}' (runs on registration).
FreeWorldRadioToolbarHelper.exe is scheduled as a task with the class '{B8E8E278-F25D-478A-BAB2-24A5EDB01F6C}' (runs on registration).

Service

UNWISE.EXE runs as a service named 'Browser System Enahncer' (671c50b0).

Windows Firewall Allowed Program

UNWISE.EXE is added as a firewall exception for 'C:\Program Files1\Yahoo!\MESSEN~1\UNWISE.EXE'.

How do I remove FreeWorldRadio Toolbar?

You can uninstall FreeWorldRadio 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 FreeWorldRadio 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 FreeWorldRadio 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.