How to remove MyStartSearch?

Hi!

I don't know if this has been brought up before.
The FM Scout installer comes with a piece of malware called MyStartSearch.

Since I always trusted the content fromt his site, I didn't realize and did not untick the option when installing the program.

Now I have had to spend a fair bit of time removing all the junk the installer includes.

I understand developing the software takes a lot of hard work, and it's shared with the community for free, but I think adding malware that is very difficult to remove is not honest nor reasonable.

It would be nice if you could at least add a sticky explaining how to remove that program.

Thank you.

The public edition of Genie Scout has been bundled with a pool of offers during installation for the last 3 years. Maybe it's your first time using GS. We don't have offers for any other downloadable, they monetize the public GS for the author. Depending on country, you might get 1 offer at the beginning of installation. These offers are not controlled by us, but they should all have a "Skip" button to avoid them if you don't want them. I believe that is reasonable enough.

We have this text on download page:

Depending on your country, you might get an offer screen to install a free-trial program or a browser toolbar during installation. You can choose to Accept/Next or Decline/Skip the offer.
IMPORTANT: If you don't want the offer, you need to hit the Decline or the Skip button! Unticking possible checkboxes on the offer screen is only for disabling an offer's extra options.

To remove MyStartSearch manually it might take a while for a non expert, so I recommend using a free tool like HitmanPro or Malwarebytes to scan and delete browser hijackers like this. Please next time be more careful reading either the download page or the screens during setup.

Hi Stam,

thanks for the reply.

Indeed it's not my first year installing Genie Scout, several times each year with the updates and so on. IIRC I used it for the first time in '12, donated for the '13 version, and '14 I used the free version again.
tbh I don't remember if previous versions included malware like browser hijackers or not.
So... not being my first rodeo, I didn't pay attention to the "installation instructions".

These offers are not controlled by us, but they should all have a "Skip" button to avoid them if you don't want them. I believe that is reasonable enough.

Indeed it's not reasonable at all. I understand and I'm 100% in favor that the author may receive some return for his work, in the form of ads or promoting other software.

A whole different thing is promoting malware that is almost impossible to remove without a lot of hassle.

And checking the comments section it seems I'm not the first one to fall in this trap:

ced007 • 2014-12-02 09:57
Thank you Stam, great tool.
I don't understand how it installed MyStartSearch during the install, I'm usually very carreful on potential tick boxes to uncheck when installing something, but I've not seen anything this time... I probably missed it.

And indeed I'll be more careful in the future, and avoid downloading anything from FMScout. I will never be sure if next time I download a facepack or a graphics pack it comes again with malware.

Thank you, and good luck.

GS12 included offers, so did GS14. Not for the whole season though.

You didn't have to read the installation instructions. The screen with the offer should be the first one during setup and it should have 3 buttons: skip/next/cancel. Here's a screenshot:



I understand your frustration but your comment is unfair. Not reasonable would be being unable to skip an offer. Falling into a trap and being careless is not the same thing.

And I was pretty clear there are no offers nor anything else that could be deemed as bad or annoying to any of our downloads, besides GS. Our other exclusive tools are offers-free; referring to MacAssistant RT and FM Editor Live. If you really have been downloading stuff from this site since FM12, you'd know that.

These offers is unfortunately the most efficient way to monetize the public edition of GS for its author. We couldn't find a better way so far as every ad agency we've talked to, will either not serve ads inside a desktop app or they'd offer something like $50 per month for dozens of millions of impressions.

If you know of a better solution, please say so. Would you prefer a donate-only GS or a public one with an offer that you can skip?

Hi Stam,

I appreciate your reply.

My frustration only comes because that MyStartSearch crap is almost impossible to remove. So far, after 2 days I was not able to remove it from Explorer or Firefox (from Chrome I removed it). If it was removed just using the uninstaller I would not be bothered.
That defeats the purpose of promoting software. I mean... let's imagine I'm curious and I want to try a toolbar or whatever that is offered with your installer... I try it and I don't like it... so I decide to remove it. I can't.
Kinda like if someone sticks an ad in your car's windshield and you need to use a scraper to remove it and then you find out the glue from the stiker left marks in your windshield.

As I said I'm fine with you guys trying to get some money through ads and promoting software, because I know it takes time to develop software, and also the website maintenance is expensive, and if we punch some numbers in a calculator you'd probably earn more money 1 afternoon flipping burgers at McDonalds than what you get in 1 month from the promotions with the website.

Regarding alternatives, I must be prudent and because I don't have a clue about software distribution. You run the community you are the ones that have to make the call and decide wether it remains freeware or donationware/payware, and how you distribute it.

And I must apologize because you are completely right, there's a lot of quality content in the website that is free and comes with no ads or anything dodgy. I made a very unfair remark there.

My only humble request is, if possible, try to make a deal with the provider so they don't try to sneak in browser hijackers.

Understood and agreed.
I've just requested the removal of this particular offer.

If you don't mind resetting Internet Explorer and/or Firefox to their default settings, you should be able to get rid of MyStartSearch by doing that. This procedure will lead to the loss of custom browser settings, including bookmarks, cookies, passwords saved, and all browsing history though.

IE

1. Go to Tools –> Internet Options
2. Select the Advanced tab and click the Reset button
3. Proceed by checking the Delete personal settings option and clicking Reset

Firefox

1. Go to Help –> Troubleshooting Information
2. Click the Reset Firefox button to complete the process

By the way, I'm wondering if you tried a scan with HitmanPro or Malwarebytes?

Hi Stam,

thanks a lot for understanding, and for the tips.

Malwarebytes was not able to remove it completely. I will try HitmanPro and come back with feedback.
I reset the 3 browsers but it seems resetting only worked on chrome.

EDIT:
I found the problem. Mystartsearch was indeed removed, the problem is that it stuck in the browser shortcuts, so whenever I tried to open a browser, it will keep on opening Mystartsearch website.

STEP 5:
http://www.techsupportall.com/how-to-remove-mystartsearch-com-homepage-removal-help

So far it's been the most sneaky browser hijacker I have faced. But I'm very determined too

Cheers!