EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar

Once again, Mindspark Interactive Network has outdone itself by releasing yet another malicious toolbar called EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar. It is recommended that you remove this program from your computer because it is set to hijack your browser’s homepage/new tab page and replace it with its promoted search engine. This search engine has been modified to display commercial advertisements in its search results, and our research suggests that some of those ads can be malicious. Apart from that, this toolbar is just annoying, and its so-called unique functions are next to useless as they are just links to third-party websites. Furthermore, EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar makes lots of modifications to your browsers’ files and computers’ registry, and you need to fix them because otherwise some elements of this program will remain on your PC and make your browser unstable. Please continue reading to learn more.

Applications such as EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar are nothing new to us at Pcthreat.com. We have found that this malicious toolbar was developed and released a malware developer known as Mindspark Interactive Network, which specializes in releasing large numbers of similar applications to generate advertising revenue. In the past, this company has also released similar toolbars called PackageTracking Toolbar, YourTemplateFinder Toolbar, and StudyHQ Toolbar, among others. The main purpose of all of these toolbars is to make money, so do not expect them to provide you with useful functions as the present ones are there just for show.

As always, we must inform you about how EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar is distributed because it is vital to avoid such applications in the future. First of all, its download is featured on its dedicated promotional website at Easyhomedecorating.com. This minimalistic website contains little information about what this toolbar is all about. Its colorful pictures gloss over the fact that EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar is an advertising tool — not something you can use. Regardless, the second method for distributing this toolbar is software bundling, which is a common practice in the malware business. So this program can be found in software bundles that are distributed via shady freeware websites. Its install can be hidden inside the installer so always select custom/advanced installation settings where possible to reveal all additional content and remove it from the installation. Now let us talk functionality.

The overall theme of this particular toolbar is home decorating. As per usual it was the all so familiar bookmarks to third-party websites. One of the bookmarks was named Design Inspiration that contains links to websites showcasing interesting and unique ideas for decorating. The second bookmark has a link to Ikea.com and Bhg.com. The third bookmark just displays pictures of nicely-decorated rooms, and the forth one has a lot of links to online retailers. So this is what you get regarding functionality. However, it must be said that when installing this toolbar on Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer it offers you to change the homepage/new tab page to Home.tb.ask.com. Home.tb.ask.com is an Ask.com-based search engine that is distributed by Mindspark. Our research suggests that this search engine is legitimate, but nonetheless, it may feature additional advertising supplied by Mindspark which is never a good thing. Of course, you can opt out from installing this search engine by unchecking its checkbox once the toolbar’s installer is launched.

As mentioned in the introduction, this application makes lots of changes to your browsers’ files and adds registry keys in the Windows registry. So let us go over some of the main modifications. Depending on your OS’s architecture, this program will create files and registry keys in different locations, and if you are using a 64-bit operating system, then it will probably create analogous entries to both paths. For example, if you are using a 64bit operating system, then the 32-bit version of EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar will be installed in %PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\EasyHomeDecorating, but the 64-bit version will be installed to %PROGRAMFILES%\EasyHomeDecorating. However, if you are using 32-bit operating system, ten it will install it to %PROGRAMFILES%\EasyHomeDecorating. As mentioned, it creates files in the browsers’ directories such as %LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage and %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\*.default. This program creates hundreds of files that have to be deleted. However, doing so manually is next to impossible so we will show you how to delete the most malicious files. So if you want to wipe out all traces of this application, then you have to use an anti-malware program.

In conclusion, EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar is an unreliable and even malicious application because its developers use deceptive tactics to distribute (mainly via software bundles.) Furthermore, its installer is set to change your browser’s homepage to a shady search engine that displays advertisements. Lastly, its provided functions are next to useless as they are only links to third-party websites. So there is no reason to keep this application, and the sooner you remove EasyHomeDecorating Toolbar, the better.

Uninstall this toolbar via Control Panel

Windows XP

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Click Control Panel.
3. Select Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find the program.
5. Click Remove.

Windows Vista and 7

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Go to Control Panel and find the program.
3. Right-click on it and click Uninstall.

Windows 8/8.1/10

1. Simultaneously press the Windows Key+R keys.
2. Type Control Panel and click OK.
3. Go to Uninstall a program.
4. Find the application and click Uninstall.

Remove the browser extension/change the homepage

Microsoft Internet Explorer

1. Open the browser.
2. Press Alt+T and click Internet Options.
3. Enter a new address in the Home page bar.
4. Click OK.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Open the browser.
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+A.
3. Click Extensions and Remove the extension.

Google Chrome

1. Open the browser.
2. Press Alt+F.
3. Click More Tools.
4. Click Extensions and Remove the plug-in.

Delete the leftover files

1. Simultaneously press Windows Key+E.
2. Delete the following directories after entering their addresses in the address box.

• %LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage\http_EasyHomeDecorating.dl.tb.ask.com_0.localstorage-journal.
• %LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage\http_EasyHomeDecorating.dl.tb.ask.com_0.localstorage.
• %LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage\http_EasyHomeDecorating.dl.myway.com_0.localstorage.
• %LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage\chrome-extension_balolfgkbghecnfkhhfgpelcbkfgjinp_0.localstorage-journal.
• %LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage\chrome-extension_balolfgkbghecnfkhhfgpelcbkfgjinp_0.localstorage.

Delete the remaining registry keys

1. Simultaneously press Windows Key+R.
2. Type regedit in the box and click OK.
3. Locate and Delete the following keys.

• HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{8F149EA7-5BD3-47B8-B83F-53A9D2FCC9E0}.
• HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{8F149EA7-5BD3-47B8-B83F-53A9D2FCC9E0}.
• HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{A04E43E6-BC32-41C1-8C3D-ECD31589D6EC}.
• HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{A04E43E6-BC32-41C1-8C3D-ECD31589D6EC}.
• HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{D34961D3-9D10-4B1C-A9E0-0A2CEB1A9163}.
• HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{D34961D3-9D10-4B1C-A9E0-0A2CEB1A9163}.