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mikestock's avatar
mikestock
Explorer
May 24, 2014

Conduit search. Am I paranoid?

I have a laptop computer that has not been used for at least two weeks. I could only get on line using Foxfi browser. Internet Explorer and Google Chrome both gave me the "OOPS" message. Tried rebooting but it didn't work. Outlook email worked fine.

I then ran my spyware scan software and the first thing it found was Conduit Search which it tagged with a "moderately high" threat. Other spyware and tracking bugs appeared but these were all tagged as "low" threat level.

After removing threats the computer was back to normal.

Is it possible that this Conduit Search can disable certain browsers to forcing use of one that it has targeted? I have picked up this Conduit and seen how it hijacks your searches before, but never seen one or more browsers fail to work.
  • 8.1 Van wrote:
    tenbear wrote:
    I also got Conduit from CNET. I won't use CNET again.

    How do I get rid of Search Conduit?

    I was in the process of setting up my DW's new computer when I got it. I tried many things but I finally reinstalled windows from my CD backup.
  • I problem was that I didn't know what the problem was until Spyhunter eliminated it.
  • Sweet Packs is what prevented my browser from printing. Don't use CNET's installer. Only use the direct link option. If they don't give one, go to the developer's site to download instead.
  • I think I am rid of it. I actually, on that computer, installed, what I considered, legit software and had it ask if I wanted Conduit as my preferred search engine with the box prechecked. It may have ignored the fact that I removed the check.

    I, now, stay away from uTorrent and now CNet, which I used to trust. I pretty much distrust anything that says "FREE".

    I have found that it is a good practice to check my "Uninstall a Program" feature regularly with programs sorted by date installed, most recent first. That way, no program can be installed without my knowledge. Of course, that wouldn't help in this case because no program was installed.

    One other problem that appears sometime is Sweet Packs. I have had to run Malwarebytes in Safe Mode before, to get rid of Sweet Packs.
  • Download Spybot and it will help to keep out some of those bad bugs. It found and blocked conduit for me.
  • Search hijacks can definitely cause useability issues with browsers. I had problem once in which one of my browsers wouldn't print. It would just stall in queue. Turns out it was PUP which installed without permission with another app. AdwCleaner got rid of it.
  • Yes. It is a browser hijacker. Sounds like your firewall might have done a good job in blocking some things until you removed this.
    Conduit search

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