Uninstalling Bearshare

[Harrys mum]

I downloaded Bearshare somehow......I was looking for music sites I could buy songs for my walkman.

Now, if I open a new window I get the Bearshare search page. I've tried searching all over the web for ways to get rid of it, but cannot make head nor tail.
There's loads of places that say they remove it but I'm not game to try from the links.

I do not have it on my 'add/remove programs' and can't find it anywhere else either.

I'm running XP on the computer.

Any ideas?

[Guest]

go here and download , run it in full scan and then click take action , that will remove all malware and more

http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html?part=dl-10804572&subj=dl&tag=button


then go here , run full scan and remove what ever is found , this will remove spyware

http://www.superantispyware.com/

keep them both and run weekly

• this is supposed to do it

[Guest]

To remove BearShare software that is installed under Windows 2000, Windows XP follow these steps:

• Click the Start button, click Control Panel menu item, and then double-click Add or Remove Programs icon.
• In the Currently installed programs box, click the BearShare program, and then click Remove.
• If you are prompted to confirm the removal, click Yes.

[Harrys mum]

Thanks Val....but.......it isn't one of the programs in the add/remove list. I can't find it anywhere, except when I open a new window and it comes up as the default search page. Google was my default until this arrived and I've tried to make Google the default again, but no luck.

[TrevorFranklin]

The problem with Bearshare is it is one of the many programs that end up hijacking your web browser.
It is also full of spyware, it takes note of what sites you visit and passes this on for spam pop-ups etc.

It can be removed, but is troublesome if you do not have a full understanding of what you need to do

It has many claws in processes that run on your computer and needs a lot of registry keys deleted to make sure all this is cleaned.
There are many sites that claim it has the fix and encourage you to download their programs DO NOT, as most of these are just adding more spyware, or trick you into paying for something that does not do its job

First download malwarebytes and run it to see if it will detect the spyware elements

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Or Superantispyware

http://www.superantispyware.com/

Trev

[TrevorFranklin]

I forgot to say that you need to reboot your computer in what is called 'safemode' so that the bearshare program does not load in the background, as it often stops antispyware programs running.

1. Print out these instructions as your need to reboot your pc later.
2. Reboot your PC and tap the “F8 key” continuously before you get the startup menu,
This will open a bootup menu for your (if it just boots into windows, you have missed the boot menu, so carry out step 2 again until you get this menu screen)
3. use your arrow keys to move to “Safe Mode with Networking” and press your Enter key, and your PC will boot into Safe Mode.
4. go to the malwarebytes site and save the installation file to your desktop.
5. double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe. This will execute the installation of MBAM onto your pc, after that your need update its database to the latest version.
NOTE: If you have problem running mbam-setup.exe (Bearshare may make it not run, as it recognises and blocks that file name), you can rename the setup file mbam-setup.exe to explorer.exe or iexplore.exe on your desktop. Then double-click the file and follow the install steps.
6. reboot your PC make Malwarebytes fully functional
7. reboot back into safemode again (see step2), so that Bearshare is not running
8. from your programs list or desktop icon if you told MWB to add one when it installed, run malware Bytes and perform a full scan
9. After “Perform full scan” finishes, click on the “Show Results” button
10. Now click on the Remove Selected button to uninstall all the listed trojans,
11, reboot your pc and your pc should hopefully now be Clean

Stay away from P2P sharing sites, they are full of infected files etc

[Harrys mum]

Thank you Trevor. I will try that. I sort of knew I had to start up the computer in safemode for that reason, but I've never done it before so was a bit scared.

I'm printing all the instructions.

Thanks again.

[TrevorFranklin]

Did it work for you?