Remove Certified Toolbar (Uninstall Guide)

Certified Toolbar is a browser hijacker, that offers a web search engine (search.certified-toolbar.com) and toolbar which are being promoted via other free programs, and once installed on your computer, they will hijack your browser homepage and replace your default search engine.Furthermore, this browser hijacker will display ads on your search results, and each time you open your web browser, an advertising window will pop-up.

Certified Toolbar got on your computer after you have installed another free software or add-on that had bundled into their installer this browser hijacker. For example, when you install vShare, you’ll also install the Certified Toolbar, set your browser homepage to http://search.certified-toolbar.com/?si=42098&tid=2873&bs=true&q=gd and change your default search engine to http://search.certified-toolbar.com.However, when you uninstall vShare from your computer, your web browser’s default settings will not be restored. This means that you’ll have to remove Certified Toolbar from your favorite web browser manually.

You should always pay attention when installing software because often, a software installer includes optional installs, such as this browser hijacker. Be very careful what you agree to install. Always opt for the custom installation and deselect anything that is not familiar, especially optional software that you never wanted to download and install in the first place. It goes without saying that you should not install software that you don’t trust.

Remove search.conduit.com and Conduit Toolbar from your browser

STEP 1 : Uninstall Certified Toolbar from your computer

Certified Toolbar has installed two programs (Certified Toolbar and Protected Search) on your computer, which we will need to uninstall.

1. To uninstall Certified Toolbar and
   Protected Search program from your computer, click the Start button, then select Control Panel, and click on Uninstall a program. for Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 user. (Add or Remove Programs for Windows XP)
2. Search and uninstall Certified Toolbar 2.1 and Protected Search 1.1 from your computer.
   

Please note that on some computers this program might be renamed or missing, carefully look for program developed by SimplyTech Ltd. , and uninstall it from your computer.

STEP 2 : Remove the Certified Toolbar residual damage from your browser

The Certified Toolbar has installed several browser extensions developed by Conduit Ltd. and SimplyTech Ltd., has changed your homepage to search.certified-toolbar.com, and has changed your default search engine.

Remove Certified Toolbar from Internet Explorer

1. Open Internet Explorer, click on the gear icon  (Tools for Windows XP users) at the top (far right), then click again on Internet Options.
   
2. In the Internet Options dialog box, click on the Advanced tab, then click on the Reset button.
   
3. In the Reset Internet Explorer settings section, check the Delete personal settings box, then click on Reset.
   
4. When Internet Explorer finishes resetting, click Close in the confirmation dialogue box and then click OK.
5. Close and open Internet Explorer again.

Remove Certified Toolbar from Mozilla Firefox

1. At the top of the Firefox window, click the Firefox button, go over to the Help sub-menu (on Windows XP, click the Help menu at the top of the Firefox window), and select Troubleshooting Information.
   
2. Click the Reset Firefox button in the upper-right corner of the Troubleshooting Information page.
   
3. To continue, click Reset Firefox in the confirmation window that opens.
4. Firefox will close and be reset. When it’s done, a window will list the information that was imported. Click Finish

Remove Certified Toolbar from Google Chrome

1. Remove Certified Toolbar extensions from Google Chrome.
   Click the Chrome menu  on the browser toolbar, select Tools and then click on Extensions.
   In the Extensions tab, remove (by clicking on the Recycle Bin) the Certified Toolbar extension from your computer.
   
2. Set Google Chrome default search engine from search.certified-toolbar.com to google.com .
   Click the Chrome menu   button, then select Settings and click on Manage search engines in the Search section.
   In the Search Engines dialog that appears, select Google and click the Make Default button that appears in the row.
   Next, search for search.certified-toolbar.com in the Search Engines list and click the X that appears at the end of the row.
   
3. Change Google Chrome homepage from search.certified-toolbar.com to its default.
   The Certified Toolbar has modified your Google settings to open their webpage whenever you start your browser, so we will need to revert this change.
   Click the Chrome menu  , then select Settings and click on One the New Tab page in the On Startup section.
   

STEP 3: Clean up the various Windows shortcuts that have been hijacked by Certified Toolbar

Certified Toolbar has hijacked your browser shortcuts and other Windows shortcuts, to fix them, we will run Shortcut Cleaner.
You can download Shortcut Cleaner from the below link, and then you’ll just need to run this utility to fix your Windows shortcuts.When it is done, it will show you a log that contains a list of shortcuts that were cleaned.
SHORTCUT CLEANER DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will automatically download Shortcut Cleaner on your computer)

STEP 4: Remove Certified Toolbar registry keys with AdwCleaner.

1. You can download AdwCleaner from the below link. ADWCLEANER DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will automatically download AdwCleaner on your computer)
2. Before starting this utility, close all open programs and internet browsers.
3. Double click on adwcleaner.exe to run the tool.
4. Click on Delete, then confirm each time with Ok.
5. Your computer will be rebooted automatically. A text file will open after the restart.
6. NEXT, double click on adwcleaner.exe to run the tool.
7. Click on Uninstall, then confirm with yes to remove this utility from your computer.

STEP 5: Run a computer scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

1. You can download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free from the below link, then double click on it to install this program. MALWAREBYTES ANTI-MALWARE DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will open a download page in a new window from where you can download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free)
2. When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue with the setup process. DO NOT make any changes to default settings and when the program has finished installing, make sure you leave both the Update Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware checked, then click on the Finish button.
   
3. On the Scanner tab, select Perform quick scan and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer.
   
4. Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware will now start scanning your computer as shown below.
   
5. When the Malwarebytes scan will be completed, click on Show Result.
   
6. You will now be presented with a screen showing you the malware infections that Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware has detected.Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image. Make sure that everything is Checked (ticked) and click on the Remove Selected button.
   

STEP 6: Run a computer scan with HitmanPro

1. Download HitmanPro from the below link, then double click on it to start this program.
   HITMANPRO DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will open a new web page from where you can download HitmanPro)
2. HitmanPro will start and you’ll need to follow the prompts (by clicking on the Next button) to start a system scan with this program.
   
3. HitmanPro will start scanning your computer for malware, as seen in the image below.
   
4. Once the scan is complete,you’ll see a screen which will display all the infected files that this utility has detected, and you’ll need to click on Next to remove these malicious files.
   
5. Click Activate free license to start the free 30 days trial and remove all the malicious files from your computer.
   

If you are still experiencing problems while trying to remove Certified Toolbar Toolbar and Search from your machine, please start a new thread in our Malware Removal Assistance forum.