Under Tools/Internet Options the address stills shows "about:blank" which was my origional settings.

Going to the Search-Explorer web site the instructions say that to uninstall the Toolbar you click on the logo on the left and a dropdown menu will have an uninstall option on it. Mine doesn't!! As far as uninstalling the "Sidebar" I followed the instruction in their FAQ's section carefully, several times, and it makes no difference what so ever.

I've even gone so far as to download AD-Ware to try to find where they hid the dll file and what registry changes they made. They found an IEGator.dll and some registry keys referring to it. It is sitting in the Windows/downloaded program files folder. In fact there are several files in this folder that all refer to this program. I haven't touched them as they can't be transfered to a temp file so I can see if this program doesn't work if I move them. I am afraid to remove them permanently as I don't want to totally screw-up IE as I don't have it on a CD, having upgraded time and again over the years from the Microsoft Upgrade sight.

I think it's super shady that the instructions Search-Explorer give in their own FAQ don't work to remove the program...then again, what would you expect from spyware folks?

In Internet Explorer > Tools > Internet Options > Advanced.

Once you're in advanced scroll down the list of boxes until you see two which are Install on Demand. They will have a check mark by default uncheck them so they're blank / empty.

In Internet Explorer > Tools > Internet Options > Advanced.

Once you're in advanced scroll down the list of boxes until you see two which are Install on Demand. They will have a check mark by default uncheck them so they're blank / empty.

I have the same exact problem now with the stupid casino advertisement. This is what it displays when redirecting

http://click.dotcomtoolbar.com/redirect.asp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eyahoo%2Ecom&linkid=%2Fredirectexe%2Easp

Am now calling all honest, hardworking people to put an end to this websites shannigans by hiring junior hackers to teach the bastards a lesson.

BTW. for anyone.. just look for any redirect.exe..

seams they keep changing the numbers... I had redirect2.exe redirect4.exe AND redirect5.exe running

just make sure to uninstall it from your add/remove program area 1st.

BTW.. something I had to do with a friends computer.. she had it also.. but didn't have it in the add/remove.. I took a chance and reinstalled dotcom www.dotcomtoolbar.com and then unstalled it from add/remove.. did a search for "redirect" and DELETE!! walla..

And another showing what it does to your system and how difficult it is to remove:
http://www.pestpatrol.com/PestInfo/S/StopSign.asp

You can also run Trendmicros online scan. Housecall
It might identify some dotcom files you've missed. They detect it as SPW_DCTOOLBAR.A
Link to Housecall:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

- cleaned the registry (I think)
- Removed dotcom from Add/Remove Programs
- Deleted all of the redirect5.exe files
- Cleaned up some other random virus I had
- Reset my IE settings

But hey, you clicked I agree and now they want to stay for life.
Others reserve the right to give you crap later. Trickle downloads. Stop Sign is a good example.

Lots of crapware out there, entering your computer by different means.
Hard to remove.
Best prevent it.
Use Windows update to patch the holes.
Tighten security in Internet Explorer or use Firebird or Mozilla.
Use a pop up blocker. (Google toolbar works well
Firebird mozilla have one built in.

What I did, when I noticed it recurring, was add the IP address to my list of blocked IP's via my firewall, and it never "installed" again, even though the redirect5.exe and the data.dll files still existed (recently deleted them, too, however).

If you type an invalid address and your search address crops up with dotcom domain (or anything else for that matter)... try going to:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file
(you can use notepad) and you may find something like:

213.222.11.11 auto.search.msn.com

Remove that line and save the hosts file
(remember to make a backup of it first).

Then you may find that this will solve your problem.

So if you want to delete your DOTCOMTOOLBAR or you have the problem of being redirected to a search-site in Internet Explorer when typing an invalid web address, just make sure you've done ALL of following ELEVEN steps:

1. Go to Control Panel - Add/Remove Software. Uninstall your DotComToolbar here and all other software you don't want on your system.

2. Open Internet Explorer, go to Tools - Internet options - Advanced. Once you're in advanced, scroll down the list of boxes until you see two which are Install on Demand. They will have a check mark by default; uncheck them so they're blank / empty.

3. Download Spybot Search & Destroy (www.download.com) and scan & clean your system.

4. Download Hijack This! (www.download.com) and scan your system. Delete all suspicious keys. If you're in doubt of what is a suspicious key, just place your log-file on this forum, and I'm sure there will be some guys who would like to have a look at it.

5. Open the file C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC\HOSTS with Notepad, only if you habe this file on your system. It's possible that there is this line in the file: "213.222.11.11 auto.search.msn.com". If so, delete it!

6. Take care of the fact that there is no active process by the name of "redirectX.exe". X can be a number from 1-8. XP-users: press cntrl+alt+del, go to the other tab and close ALL processes with redirectX.exe.

7. Search (Start - Search - Files or folders) for files with the word "redirect" on your PC. Delete all exe-files with redirect in it.

8. Click Start - Run. Type: "regedit". Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE-SOFTWARE-Microsoft-Windows-CurrentVersion-Run. Delete all keys with redirect or wwweasy in it.

9. Scan your system with an up-to-date virusscanner. It's possible that you have a virus on your system which reinstalls the toolbar in a couple of days. Delete the virus if you have it.

10. If you still have the problem of being redirected to a site of dotcomtoolbar.com or abcsearch.com when typing an invalid web address in Internet Explorer, install the latest version of IE! Go to Tools - Windows Update in IE and update your system. Do you already have the latest IE-version? Delete and reinstall it!

11. To prevent in the future: install ZoneAlarm Pro and run this all the time. Look out for dangerous sites (like pron).

It does make me wonder if someone is out there building these programs to keep AdAware and companies like them in business. Hmm.

Thanks again for taking the time to type out help to us Newbies.

or Adware:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Scroll up a few messages to Laurens' post and follow all of the steps, that will get rid of the dotcom b*ll once and for all.

In the future, be very careful about answering "yes" to any installation dialogs that come your way while browsing on the internet - if in any doubt, say no. Personally, I only allow Adobe Acrobat and Macrovision to be installed as part of my browser experience. Also, I use the following programs regularly to keep my browser clean and to keep my PC running clean and fast; there is some overlap between the programs, but if you use all of them and keep them updated you will eliminate 99.99% of the spyware crap out there. Go up to google.com and run a search to find these free programs:

1. *HijackThis
2. *Lavasoft AdAware
3. Spybot - Search and Destroy
4. SpywareBlaster
5. SpywareGuard

The * programs at a minimum.

Also, make your %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file read only (start~run; cmd.exe; at the prompt, type:

Silvia: if you are not able to uninstall the DotComToolbar in your Add/Delete Software screen, just skip this step and continue with the next steps. You've probably uninstalled the program before, and sometimes Windows "forgets" to delete the program from this list when it's actually been deleted. That won't do any harm so just leave it there and continue with the next steps.

Step 6 of my 11 steps should be extended with the remark to terminate al running processes by the name of wwweasy.exe or easywww.exe-processes as well.

Step 7 should be extended with the remark to delete all wwweasy.exe or easywww.exe-files as well.

3.5. Download Ad-Aware (www.download.com) and scan & clean your system.

As you've read from other people too: Ad-Aware rocks and it never hurts to scan your system by this software, even though you can kill the DotComToolbar without it.

Mozilla and FireFox are basically the same program. Only difference is that Mozilla also has a built in email and news program. I prefer my email through Pegasus. So I use Firefox