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  1. #1
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    Default Bing search engine being a persistent PITA

    I almost always use Google, like most of the rest of the world. Every now and then Bing somehow manages to rear it's head now that I am using Chrome instead of Firefox (which is just way too resource heavy and sloooooow).

    I have gone into Chrome settings>search engine and made sure that Bing is not mentioned.

    However, if I open up a new tab (which defaults to a Google search tab - under my instruction), and a term like "Erik Pilani Paliani" ( a musician), click the entry that says google search
    and THEN click the spyglass on the right it changes it from Google to Bing. How invasive of Microsoft! I haven't got much time for Google's morals either, but this is against what I have set in my parameters.

    How can that be?
    Regards, FenceFurniture

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  3. #2
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    Charmsearching.com seems to be the problem (when I press the back arrow the address bar briefly shows it). Malware bytes didn't find it in a scan, and the recommended SpyCatcher5 didn't find it either.
    Regards, FenceFurniture

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  4. #3
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    you may be able to find charmsearching in chrome's extensions, and be able to remove it. Or you can reset chrome to default (chrome--> settings-->advanced-->reset).

    I'd recommend duckduckgo as a replacement search engine for both google and M$ - it will actively block tracking and other privacy invasions. Daft name, but it works.

  5. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bernmc View Post
    I'd recommend duckduckgo as a replacement search engine for both google and M$ - it will actively block tracking and other privacy invasions. Daft name, but it works.
    Thanks Bern. I have to wonder about the number of hits it gets compared to ggggle? Maybe it doesn't matter until I start finding that I'm not getting results.

    OTOH, if we don't start using ddg then it will never get big...
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    They've been around since 2008 and deal with 2 billion+searches a month, so they aren't a little fish. I haven't noticed any issues with results - I still find what I'm looking for. (I'm extremely privacy-conscious on the internets, so I'm always looking out for things to limit the pervasive intrusions).

    About DuckDuckGo

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    A year or so I moved over to DuckDuckGo on all my devices. Absolutely no regrets and I do a lot of searches every day.

    Brian

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    Yes, DDG is the solution

  9. #8
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    Thanks for your replies chaps. How do I know that charmsearching won't invade ddg as well though? I mean, the dickhead writing the theing would surely be targeting any of the bigger search engines wouldn't they?
    Regards, FenceFurniture

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  10. #9
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    Charmsearching is a browser hijacker, so it will potentially invade/interfere with any search engine - you need to track it down and remove it.

    There'll be guides on the net (you need to be careful with them - they'll often offer a malware removal app that may or may not work, and may or may not install it's own hijacker! But you can usually page well down and find manual removal instructions. (A quick DDG found this - How to get rid of Charmsearching.com Redirect - virus removal guide (updated) - No idea if it works or how legit it is).

    As a last resort, you can try completely removing the offending browser(s) along with their data, and re-installing.

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    Further to Bernmc's comments I stopped using Chrome after I had to re-install it several times after it became unusable due to hijacking (from memory) but that was in its early days.
    CHRIS

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    I've been recommending BCuninstaller to remove packages and those without uninstallers. Its a ruthless predator for evil and recalcitrant software

    On scanning for evil, Chrome has a decent one inbuilt Settings --> Privacy -->Advanced --> Clean Up Computer


    Browser hijackers are troublesome. Purge them utterly.


    Give Firefox another try. It has just undergone a complete rewrite and is very fast indeed. They've updated the JavaScript engine and its 400% faster. Neato.

    The plugins/addons are rather nice too.

  13. #12
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    Hi Brett,

    The new Edge browser is very good. Despite it having Bing as default ( as you would expect from MS), it's trivial to set up a different default search engine.

    I persevered with DDG for about six months, but it is really inferior to Google in terms of comprehensive search results, so have reverted.

  14. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by woodPixel View Post
    Browser hijackers are troublesome. Purge them utterly.

    Give Firefox another try. It has just undergone a complete rewrite and is very fast indeed.
    Yes, but purge it with what? Won't this thing just invade FF as well? (that's like, the other FF )
    Regards, FenceFurniture

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    The only way it will "invade" the browser is if you let it. Clean install of Firefox, first addon to install is UBlock Origin, and No Script if you are feeling particularly worried. This combination re-civilises 99% of the internet.
    Semtex fixes all

  16. #15
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    Update:
    Charmsearching hadn't found its way into Firefox, so I have been able to use that for Google searching
    I reset Chrome, and that appears to have eradicated it - for the moment at least.

    FWIW, do NOT download SpyHunter5, which is recommended to get rid of CS. You get to do a free scan immediately, but you have to wait 48 hours to actually get rid of it. If you do another scan the 48 hours starts all over again. They are the most aggressive marketers I have come across. In the 3 days before I do the "eradication" they sent me a message about every two hours urging me to upgrade or do another scan (scam?). It got so bad that I started sending them fairly hostile replies ("you are welcome to uninstall"). But I just kept on saying that for every message they sent they would get a short one back, which should waste some of their time too.

    So after three days of them hassling me, the big moment came when I was able to do the remediation (the scam found a Trojan and 21 trackers). Here is the report at the end of that process:

    SpyHunter farce.jpg


    What a joke! It did absolutely DUCK-ALL! Just as well I wanted to be certain it would work before I paid them anything. The discounts on upgrading got bigger and bigger as time went on too.

    Of course I sent them jeering email with that screenshot. Funnily enough I haven't heard a word back.
    Regards, FenceFurniture

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