Should I remove Protected Search?
What percent of users and experts removed it?
82% remove it18% keep it
What do people think about it?
(click star to rate)
How common is it?
Global Rank #3,622
United States Rank #8,705
Reach 0.1523%
Lifespan of installation (until removal)
< 47.42 days
1392.28 days >
Average installed length: 731.54 days
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- #3,621 DriverAgent by eSupport.com
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Protected Search 1.1
from SimplyGen LTD
What is Protected Search?
Protected Search displays various advertisements and tracks and reports your Internet browsing behavior. Protected Search is an advertising supported program installed into Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers. Protected Search collects and stores information about your web browsing habits and sends this information to its remote servers in order to provide injected advertising in search results and various other places. Protected Search will also modify your home page and search provider.
What the toolbar/add-in does:
- Changes the default search engine in your web browser's built-in search box.
- Changes the default home page of your web browser.
- Adds alternative "page not found" functionality.
- Allows software updates of the application once a new version is released.
- Enable search from the address bar of your web browser.
- Adds, removes or modifies components interacting with search input fields.
The functionality is delivered by the search monitization platform PredictAd (www.predictad.com).
About (from SimplyGen LTD)
SimplyGen provides browser and Application add-ons (PredictAd Add Ons) that enables users to receive website information and additional search and browsing enhancement. You acknowledge and agree that during installation, You may be prompted by the Software to apply changes to your Internet Browser settings. Change the ... Read more
Overview
- Starts automatically
- Displays unwanted advertisements
- Hijacks the web browser's home page
- Hijacks the browser's default search provider
- The experts agree, you should remove it!
Program details
Displayed publisher: Protected Search
URL: www.ProtectedSearch.com
Installation folder: C:\Program Files\Protected Search\
Uninstaller: "C:\Program Files\Protected Search\unins000.exe"
Estimated size: 2.17 MB
Files installed by Protected Search 1.1
| Program executable: | ProtectedSearch.exe |
| Name: | ProtectedSearch |
| Signed by: | Simply Tech Ltd |
| Path: | C:\Program Files\Protected Search\ProtectedSearch.exe |
| MD5: | 71e43219dc6ddccee31a8f5f046d757f |
| Protected Search is an advertising supported program installed into Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers. Protected Search collects and stores information about your web browsing habits and sends this information to its remote servers... |
Additional files:
-
ProtectedSearchSettings.exe - ProtectedSearchSettings
-
TaskSchedulerCreator.exe - TaskSchedulerCreator
-
ProtectedSearch.exe - ProtectedSearch
-
InstallHelper.dll - ToolbarInnoSetupHelper
-
UnProtect.exe - UnProtect64
-
unins000.exe - Setup/Uninstall
Behaviors exhibited
Scheduled Task
- ProtectedSearch.exe is scheduled as a task with the class '{93B712D5-90AE-43FA-8D56-CDDBC70DC97B}' (runs on registration).
Scheduled Task (Boot/Login)
- ProtectedSearch.exe is automatically launched at startup through a scheduled task named Protected Search.
Windows Firewall Allowed Program
- ProtectedSearch.exe is added as a firewall exception for 'C:\Program Files\Protected Search\ProtectedSearch.exe'.
Resource utilization averages
Show technical details
| ProtectedSearch.exe |
| Memory: | 19.54 MB | |
| Total CPU: | 0.0013725952% | |
| Kernel CPU: | 0.00072709% | |
| User CPU: | 0.00064550% | |
| CPU cycles/sec: | 251,160 | |
| I/O reads/min: | 1.41 KB | |
| I/O writes/min: | 93 Bytes | |
How do I remove Protected Search?
You can uninstall Protected Search 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 Protected Search 1.1, 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 Protected Search.
- 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) 64%
Win 7 0%
|
|
HOW IT STARTS
Scheduled task? Yes
(Runs on Windows boot)
|
|
USER ACTIONS
 |
Uninstall it 82%
Keep it 18%
|
|
Windows
Which Windows OS versions does it run on?
| Windows 7 |
75.80% |
|
| Windows XP |
13.17% |
|
| Windows 10 |
5.50% |
|
| Windows Vista |
5.50% |
|
| Windows Server 2003 |
0.03% |
|
Which OS releases does it run on? |
| Windows 7 Home Premium |
34.77% |
|
| Windows 7 Ultimate |
24.76% |
|
| Microsoft Windows XP |
13.07% |
|
| Windows 7 Professional |
9.05% |
|
| Windows Vista Home Premiu... |
3.82% |
|
| Windows 7 Home Basic |
3.69% |
|
Geography
14.51% of installs come from the United States
Which countries install it?
| United States |
14.51% |
| Germany |
10.49% |
| Iran |
5.93% |
| Brazil |
4.50% |
| Italy |
4.08% |
| Hungary |
4.02% |
| India |
3.29% |
| MA |
3.06% |
| United Kingdom |
2.65% |
| France |
1.98% |
| Indonesia |
1.66% |
| Romania |
1.56% |
| Israel |
1.56% |
| Netherlands |
1.56% |
PC manufacturers
What PC manufacturers (OEMs) have it installed?
| Hewlett-Packard |
25.52% |
|
| Acer |
21.33% |
|
| Dell |
19.12% |
|
| GIGABYTE |
8.12% |
|
| ASUS |
7.62% |
|
| Toshiba |
6.85% |
|
| Samsung |
3.92% |
|
| Lenovo |
2.54% |
|
| American Megatrends |
2.10% |
|
| Intel |
2.04% |
|
| Medion |
0.83% |
|
Common models |
| HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook ... |
6.46% |
|
| HP Pavilion g6 Notebook P... |
5.43% |
|
| Dell Inspiron N5110 |
4.91% |
|
| Dell Inspiron N5010 |
2.58% |
|
| TOSHIBA Satellite C660 |
2.58% |
|
| HP Pavilion g4 Notebook P... |
2.33% |
|