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Parasite: ezCyberSearch

This record last updated Tue Sep 20 2005 00:34:15

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the overwhelming extent of this problem and the unbelievable volume of email we have received, we regret that we cannot respond to questions about browser parasites at this time. If you have attempted to contact us about this parasite please accept our apology for not responding. "Thank you's" are always appreciated ;-)

Description

An IE toolbar. Its contents are loaded from a page at ezcybersearch.com each time a new Internet Explorer window is opened, and may include link buttons and a search field.

ezCyberSearch was operated by Lions Pride Enterprises (lionspridenterprises.com), who also controlled the wnad parasite. ezCyberSearch is unrelated to the AllCyberSearch/GoCyberSearch hijacker (see TinyBar).

Also known as

ezSearchBar is the application title.

Distribution

May be installed by the FavoriteMan parasite.

What it does

Advertising

Yes. The page from which the toolbar is generated includes scripts from pop-up advertising networks.

Privacy violation

No.

Security issues

Unknown. There is an ‘Inst’ object which might imply the software can update itself through ActiveX.

Stability problems

None known.

Removal

Removable from "Add/Remove Programs" on the Control Panel. To clean up you can delete the ‘ezsearch.dll’ file inside the System folder and the ‘Inst Class’ entry in the Downloaded Program Files folder (both in the Windows folder), and the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ezSearchBar if you like.

Manual removal

If there is no entry for ezSearchBar in Add/Remove Programs, try opening a DOS command prompt window (from Start->Programs->Accessories) and entering the following command. For Windows 95/98/Me:

"%WinDir%\System\regsvr32.exe" /u "%WinDir%\System\ezsearch.dll"

Or, for Windows NT/2000/XP:

regsvr32 /u "%WinDir%\System32\ezsearch.dll"

Then clean up as above.

Links

ezCyberSearch portal site