Be careful of accidentally getting nasty malware,  Conduit Search toolbar which changes your computer registry and hijacks your web browser, among other things.

I just got a brand new laptop for Christmas and started downloading iTunes through CNET.  When a screen popped up and requested payment, I freaked. I got out of there but it was too late!

Go to the Source

iTunes is free, and I should have downloaded it directly from Apple.com. I always used to think CNET was a completely trustworthy site.  I’m sure it still is, but there are alot of pop ups while downloading software that can confuse you. Only “agree” to the program only, and accept no other offers! This Conduit Search malware adware is tricky and lies to the user. Conduit Search embeds itself into the computer registry eventually slows the processing power of your computer system. It will start to change your Internet settings, what is more, this virus can infect your browser even you are under the protection of the anti-virus program and firewall. It hides itself deeply inside the system registry to protect itself from being removed by antivirus programs.

Getting Rid of it!

Even if you try to restore your computer to an earlier date and completely remove this malware from your system,  the computer will be unable to complete the function!  Many people even don’t know realize a hijacker is installed on the computer because antivirus will not alert you about this type of threat, until it’s too late. But users still can detect it easily because search.conduit.com virus can perform a clear and visible damage on your computer. It will bother you with the constant redirection and lots of annoying pop-ups whenever you go on line. You will be unable to operate your search engines properly and smoothly as the virus can mislead your search results to unwanted ads and pages. I read that it targets Google’s Chrome and Firefox browsers. Yes it  does, but it also got into Internet Explorer on my new computer!

Just “Google” or find your way to youtube and research the Conduit Virus or Conduit Search, and you’ll find a number of methods to remove it from your system.

I know pretty much about this because Conduit Search malware infected my previous computer and I had to have it professionally removed. 

Simply uninstalling is not enough. In addition, use a registry cleaner, like  cccleaner and malware bytes to get rid of this nasty Conduit virus and keep hoping for the best.

Words of warning: Do not trust this hijacker virus. Go directly to the vendor website for trusted downloads. 

Many Friends Affected

I posted my warning to my Facebook friends, and dozens have been recently infected. Here’s what they had to say:

Jeff Kafer: Yeah, there is a series of 3 or 4 steps to go through to completely get rid of the crap. AdPeak Proxy seems to be the main culprit.

Ed Thompson. Yeah. I got snookered a couple of weeks ago. It took me two hours and lots of You Tube searches to find the solutions to getting rid of it.

Paula Cobb. Yes, I have had that conduit search a few times. You can go into your control panel under ‘add/remove programs’ and look at the date you installed the original program you are trying to install. If you see other programs installed the same date, they are probably hijack programs that came along for a free ride and you can immediately remove them. And search conduit even lies and says ‘are you sure you want to delete this program, it makes sure your homepage is not reset”. What a lie! Delete it! Also, whenever you are installing any program, be very careful to read every screen in the install setup box and un-check tool bars and other programs that are already pre-checked in the setup windows. This is another way to get things installed on your computer without really knowing it and these undesirable mallware programs ride along with those unwanted programs.

 Dan Grenier: That downloaded on my machine when my daughter loaded iTunes on it. It took a while to cleanse but I did it.