Manual Removal Guide for NWS-Search

The following instructions have been created to help you to get rid of "NWS-Search" manually.
Use this guide at your own risk; software should usually be better suited to remove malware, since it is able to look deeper.

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Threat Details:

Categories:

• hijacker

Description:

This hijacker changes the IE start page to a dubious search engine and displays porn popups every now and then.

Removal Instructions:

Files:

Please use Windows Explorer or another file manager of your choice to locate and delete these files.

• The file at "<$FAVORITES>\!SEX SEARCH ENGINE.url".
• The file at "<$FAVORITES>\~ Porn Movies ~.url".
• The file at "<$FAVORITES>\-= FREE SEX THUMBNAILED GALLERIES =-.url".
• The file at "<$FAVORITES>\1st! XXX-TV.US - FREE XXX THUMBS DAILY!.url".
• The file at "<$FAVORITES>\Uncensored Sex Pics and Live Cams.url".
• The file at "<$LOCALSETTINGS>\Temporary Internet Files\delself.bat".
• The file at "<$WINDIR>\defcolors.txt".
• The file at "<$SYSDIR>\band.exe".
• The file at "<$SYSDIR>\svcpck.dat".
• A file with an unknown location named "file.exe".

Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If NWS-Search uses rootkit technologies, use our RootAlyzer or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins.
You will have to use a global search for files without a name specified. Be extra careful, because just the name might not be enough to identify files!

Important: There are more files that cannot be safely described in simple words. Please use Spybot-S&D to remove them.

Registry:

You can use regedit.exe (included in Windows) to locate and delete these registry entries.

• Delete the registry key "{CE7C3CF0-4B15-11D1-0BED-709549C10020}" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\".
• Delete the registry key "{CE7C3CE2-4B15-11D1-0BED-709549C10000}" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\".
• Delete the registry value "{5F7AB1DB-A899-46C1-8345-B72B4567EE86}" at "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\WebBrowser\".
• A key in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ named "IEMozgObj.IEMozgObj", plus associated values.
• A key in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ named "IEMozgObj.IEMozgObj.1", plus associated values.

If NWS-Search uses rootkit technologies, use our RegAlyzer, RootAlyzer or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins.

Browser:

The following browser plugins or items can either be removed directly in your browser, or through the help of e.g. Spybot-S&D or RunAlyzer.

• Please check your bookmarks for links to "http://b0O.net/cat".
• Please check your bookmarks for links to "http://b0O.net/searchasst.html".

Final Words:

If neither Spybot-S&D nor self help did resolve the issue or you would prefer one on one help,

1. Please read these instructions before requesting assistance,
2. Then start your own thread in the Malware Removal Forum where a volunteer analyst will advise you as soon as available.