How to remove "urlseek20.vmn.net" and the mybrowserbar.com malware

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If you install PDFCreator, without asking, the program installs a program called PDFforge toolbar. Afterwards, if you get a 404 error (webpage not found) when surfing the web, the PDFforge toolbar hijacks your browser and automatically redirects you to urlseek20.vmn.net using mybrowserbar.com.

To fix this problem, go to Add or Remove Programs and uninstall “PDFforge toolbar.”  Luckily it’s that simple.  

I didn’t think there would be a problem downloading and installing PDFCreator because it is hosted on Sourceforge.net, but I was wrong. The developers secretly install the PDFforge toolbar to make some money off of ad revenue from urlseek20.vmn.net. It’s underhanded and wrong, but luckily it is simple to uninstall.

98 thoughts on “How to remove "urlseek20.vmn.net" and the mybrowserbar.com malware”

  1. Hey guys! Like some ppl here, I uninstalled PDFForge toolbar using Add/Remove programs, but it still re-directed my browser after 404s! Spigot installed an add-on that was still active called “SearchSettings Class”.
    If you already uninstalled and still getting redirects, go into ‘Manage Add-Ons” and chances are this will be enabled in there!

  2. in my case the culprit was Youtube Downloader Toolbar…for those who cant find PDFForge, try to look for the above in the Add/Remove programs utility….

  3. THANKS! Not even my Norton’s caught this! Proves exactly what I thought about the Norton’s! Just removed the toolbar, restarted Firefox and all better!

  5. I could not find neither;
    a)PDF forge, nor
    b)Search settings 1.2.1,
    But i found “Youtube downloader Toolbar V1.0″ that manage to solve the trouble.

    Anyway, i use Vista> Setting> Control Panel> Program & Features> UNINSTALL “Youtube downloader Toolbar V1.0″.

    sHaring is cAring, Adioz, Welcome World Cup!

  7. Thank you sooooo much for taking the time to share this information with the world!!!!!!! That thing was driving me nuts!

  9. I think we are all mistaken. I too removed the software and thought I was done with mybrowserbar. I think the all traffic is still being sent thru to mybrowserbar.com

    I have google analytics for my small business and noticed that everytime I would go to my business website, the traffic source would say mybroswerbar.com

    I think there is something installed on my computer that directs traffic thru mybrowserbar even with the toolbar not active on my computer.

    Unless u have a way to check, you would think that the problem is solved.

  10. My problem is, Ive never installed anything PDF-y or sourceforge-y. If anything, I just got AVG antivirus.
    this damn thing hasnt left anything in my add-ons or programs, so how do I get rid of it?

  11. I have Vista and Firefox running on my work laptop. I got this after installing a new version of PDFcreator, which I had used successfully for several months. I disabled PDFForge from the Firefox addon list and uninstalled the program from add/remove programs. Seems to have solved the problem.

  12. I found your blog first by scroogling (http://www.scroogle.org check it out) the phrase “remove mybrowserbar” …

    I removed the PDF toolbar and the SearchSettings from the add/uninstall programs utility and the prob went away just fine :o ) … Thanks!

  14. Thanks for posting! It was hijacking my home page everytime and couldn’t figure out why until I ran across this page. Uninstalled and now all is well. Using Firefox and Win 7. THANKS!

  15. I’m impressed. It took years before Malware crept its way into my Firefox. I wonder how long before it creeps into my Chrome? I will sooth my worries with some Avatar 3D soundtrack.

  16. Pingback: mybrowserbar.com page appears if page not found

  18. In my case the crap came in with Youtubedownloader (setup version 256) hidden as bienesoft/youtubedownloader toolbar

  21. Thanks for advice. Mine was installed with youtubedownloader toolbar too, once i uninstalled that it mybrowserbar had the gall to ask for feedback, the second part something about how to improve the software. by not installing malware would be a good start!

  23. Mine was in Dealio as part of Free Easy Burner. Mongrels!!! It isn’t a simple search error fixing program. It hijacks properly working pages on some sites. Does it consistently on Ebay. Anyway, it’s hopefully gone now. At least it no longer hijacks pages.

  25. Thank you so much for the info. I found it at add/remove programs in control panel as
    “Search settings 1.2.3″
    I wish they would have asked my opinion …I would have given them an earful.
    Thanks again.

  26. I had the same thing except i got it off the mozilla add-on site (wow) it came hidden with this youtube downloader i was trying out. I sorted my “Uninstall a Program” window by “Installed On” and pinpointed this program with no icon, named, of course, “Youtube downloader toolbar”. After removing this the tracker was gone :D

  27. I had the same problem. I had no PDFforge toolbar. But i had this Dealio toolbar. Removing it fixed the problem :D

  32. Mine came under Dealio toolbar and also asked for survey. Cant tell where it came from unless attached to Pinnacle Studio 14 that I just put in. Regardless thanks for the tip.

  34. Many thanks for this thread

    I got infected with SearchSettings too and it was driving me nuts. Tried all my anti-malware (Malwarebytes, IOBit Security, AVG, AdAware), but couldn’t detect/remove it.

    In desparation, booted up in Safe Mode and started systematically removing non-essential software via Contol Panel>Add/Remove Apps, and on closer inspection noticed that the YouTube Downloader Toolbar app had a config file which contained the word “SearchSettings” – Ahhaa!! – but unable to uninstall this in Safe mode.

    A Google search on this topic led me to this thread, where I discovered I’m not the only person to have their lives wasted with this rubbish. Restarted in Normal mode and removed the app via Control Panel, and all seems OK now.

    Strangely enough, I had YouTube Downloader Toolbar installed for over 6 months, but it was only in the last couple of weeks that it started hijacking my browser, so I didn’t immediately realise that it was the culprit.

    Thanks again for the thread

    Best wishes

    Dave

  35. I found another Toolbar that was installed causing the same problems as above. This one I do not beleive was listed. VMN ToolBar 3.1 once uninstalled urlseek20.vmn.net stopped rerouting web sites.

  36. in case anyone else is having this problem for me it is caused by WebBlog toolbar
    found here:

    C:\Program Files (x86)\wbtooltb

    just run the uninstaller in that folder

    also, found it using hijackthis – it had this entery:
    O3 – Toolbar: Webblog – {C3947F4E-8894-4C04-98E0-DF182C706DDF} – C:\Program Files (x86)\wbtooltb\wbtoolDx.dll

    hope this helps

  37. Thanks so much for the tip, trying today.

    I did find pdfforge Toolbar v1.1.2 by Spingot, INC. – 4.99MB

  39. Hi, I suggest to disconnect your PC from internet when installing new SWs. As an example PDFCreator in such case repro a failure during installation of pdfforge, but this failure is what we want ;)

  40. You need to get rid of two installed programs in Control Panel – these are

    “anti phishing domain advisor” and “weblog”.

  41. hah in add/remove i believe parts of the panda antivirus tools did this to me… changed the url icon to “vmn” and i found something similar to ‘panda url filter’ in the add/remove programs list.. removing that and another toolbar tool in c/program files/panda””’/ seemed to do it.

  42. I am using also Pdf creator for a long time and I am very pleased of the program.
    Also i have recently installed version 0.9.7 of the software with the browser toolbar component.
    I think that this toolbar it is very useful to search anything, on yahoo, ebay and amazon.
    It gives the opportunity to connect to ebay website automaticall that from my point of view is very good because I am an ebay client.
    Having less free time, this toolbar is giving me the opportunity to quickly access ebay, amazon and to seek necessary information on yahoo search.
    Like other search toolbars, web page image results are visable in a search tray for easy review of not only the visual images of the site but also the written headlines.
    This is not spyware or adware.

    Searching through other threads I found these links that I think can help everyone

    http://www.spigot.com/uninstall.html
    http://www.spigot.com/network_error_assistant.html

  43. Yes windows is ugly – I tend to use Linux as a desktop and forgot how vile windows can be:

    To remove this nastyness:
    C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Anti-phishing Domain Advisor

    There is an unistall feature

    There is also an entry in msconfig.exe \ start up tab..

    For visicom or something

    This creates
    C:\Documents and Settings\{user}\Local Settings\Application Data
    antiphishing-mystart3_6dn
    and this all came about when some software installed mystart tool bar
    although mystart toolbar was removed it still continued to redirect to urlseek20.vmn.net when invalid addresses was put in to browser.

    They suck and on their main site they claim they are not malicious yeee surely not, then why did they put the installation files in documents and settings all users?

    Why not in c:\program files

  44. If any one is still looking for a solution :

    C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Anti-phishing Domain Advisor

    There is uninstall option there –

    There is an uninstall option and yes you will find it in msconfig – startup too

    start run msconfig – goto start up tab look for something with Visicom in it untick that too if its there after uninstall – reboot

  45. Thanks Maria! Yes everyone you also have to remove the antiphishing domain advicer in control panel.

  47. Bloody useless thread.. Doesn’t anyone “hack” their own program files anymore? ;)

    I have Youtube Downloader installed, and I like that program very much.
    Unfortunely, that also means my browser is hijacked by “mybrowserbar”.

    I simply need to know which files I need to modify/delete to disable (or give new instructions to) mybrowserbar since I do not want to remove my Downloader..

  48. What the fuck do you mean hack your own program files? If you were really as smart as you are trying to make out I’m sure you could delete a simple malware app, it’s not even hidden anywhere.

    Btw this also comes with AceFTP – they make you install the Mysearch toolbar and the antiphishing toolbar if you want to install the program. Bunch of cheeky, scamming bastards also asked for my feedback on why i uninstalled it, though I let them know exactly why

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