The following instructions have been created to help you to get rid of "CoolWWWSearch.Aboutblank" 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 piece of malware changes the IE start page to about:blank and redirects to a malicious search site. It also creates a popup about spyware removal and PC performance.
Search Bar, Search Page and SearchAssistant are set to the a local file, which redirects to different websites. Vital for removal of this is to remove the dbbd.dll.
Also, the IE web settings need to be restored.

Affiliated with various rougue antimalware scanners, i.e. advertises for them.
Removal Instructions:

Autorun:

Please use Spybot-S&D, RunAlyzer or msconfig.exe to remove the following autorun entries.
  • Entries named "Network Service".

Files:

Please use Windows Explorer or another file manager of your choice to locate and delete these files.
  • A file with an unknown location named "dbbd.dll".
  • The file at "<$SYSDIR>\dbbd.dll".
  • The file at "<$WINDIR>\svchost.exe".
  • The file at "<$SYSDIR>\invjoy.dll".
Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If CoolWWWSearch.Aboutblank 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 "{7C4E7460-1DDB-11D9-B94D-00A0A35E601D}" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\".
  • Delete the registry key "{72707722-B643-46E5-A79E-CEA639707325}" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\".
  • Remove "{72707722-B643-46E5-A79E-CEA639707325}" from registry value "CLSID" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PROTOCOLS\Filter\text/html\".
  • Remove "{72707722-B643-46E5-A79E-CEA639707325}" from registry value "CLSID" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PROTOCOLS\Filter\text/plain\".
  • Delete the registry key "{5D5E9681-0AA2-11D9-B94D-00A0DE78EE89}" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\".
  • Remove "{5D5E9681-0AA2-11D9-B94D-00A0DE78EE89}" from registry value "CLSID" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PROTOCOLS\Filter\text/html\".
  • Remove "{5D5E9681-0AA2-11D9-B94D-00A0DE78EE89}" from registry value "CLSID" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PROTOCOLS\Filter\text/plain\".
  • Delete the registry key "{079F5101-A82B-4FDD-BD32-E153EE7AF3B9}" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\".
  • Remove "{079F5101-A82B-4FDD-BD32-E153EE7AF3B9}" from registry value "CLSID" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PROTOCOLS\Filter\text/html\".
  • Remove "{079F5101-A82B-4FDD-BD32-E153EE7AF3B9}" from registry value "CLSID" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PROTOCOLS\Filter\text/plain\".
  • Delete the registry key "{E119FE57-021C-4345-B492-3EC2288DC9D7}" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\".
  • Remove "{E119FE57-021C-4345-B492-3EC2288DC9D7}" from registry value "CLSID" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PROTOCOLS\Filter\text/html\".
  • Remove "{E119FE57-021C-4345-B492-3EC2288DC9D7}" from registry value "CLSID" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PROTOCOLS\Filter\text/plain\".
  • Delete the registry key "{BAAEB42D-AAF8-4F2A-80BF-51FF1D8D230B}" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\".
  • Remove "{BAAEB42D-AAF8-4F2A-80BF-51FF1D8D230B}" from registry value "CLSID" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PROTOCOLS\Filter\text/html\".
  • Remove "{BAAEB42D-AAF8-4F2A-80BF-51FF1D8D230B}" from registry value "CLSID" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PROTOCOLS\Filter\text/plain\".
  • Delete the registry key "{3596F0AC-586C-41F9-8222-515171E50549}" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\".
  • Remove "{3596F0AC-586C-41F9-8222-515171E50549}" from registry value "CLSID" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PROTOCOLS\Filter\text/html\".
  • Remove "{3596F0AC-586C-41F9-8222-515171E50549}" from registry value "CLSID" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PROTOCOLS\Filter\text/plain\".
If CoolWWWSearch.Aboutblank 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 "websearch.drsnsrch.com".
  • Please check your bookmarks for links to "about-blank.ws".
  • Please check your bookmarks for links to "213.159.118.226".

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.