SimplePictureEdit Toolbar Removal Guide

If you installed SimplePictureEdit Toolbar on your computer, then you should know that many cyber security experts have classified as a potentially unwanted program and suggest removing it. We happen to agree with this move because we also find this program useless and unreliable. In fact, its purpose is to replace your web browser’s homepage/new tab page address to show you commercial advertisements in the search results of its featured search engine. Furthermore, this search engine is guaranteed to collect information about you personalize the promoted links you see. We find this problematic because there is no telling whether the promoted content is safe and there is a good chance that some of it is not.

SimplePictureEdit Toolbar was published by a software developer named Mindspark Interactive Network, a company that for the last few years has been releasing garbage applications very similar to this particular toolbar. Its newer releases include MyDigitalCalendar Toolbar, QuickWeatherAlert Toolbar, ProductManualsFinder Toolbar, and many others. In fact, this company has released hundreds of toolbars and other shady browser extensions throughout the years.

SimplePictureEdit Toolbar is its newest release that is sure to be followed by another one. Mindspark brands itself as a serious well-meaning company that offers its users free applications which brings us to how this new toolbar is distributed. We have found that like most of its clones, SimplePictureEdit Toolbar is featured on its dedicated distribution website. This site is at Free.simplepictureedit.com, and it features your basic marketing text that claims that this toolbar will provide you with free photo effects and enable you to edit your pictures easily. However, this program is nothing more than a means of secretly replacing your browser’s homepage address.

This application is compatible with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. While Chrome and Firefox install it as a browser extension, Internet Explorer installs it an application, so it does not show up in the add-ons menu. Once you install this extension on your browser, it will immediately replace your browser’s homepage with its featured Hp.myway.com search engine. This search engine was also created by Mindspark, but it redirects the search queries you enter through Google Custom Search because it does not have its own search algorithm. Still, research has shown that Mindspark has sway over the search results you see and can modify them to push their agenda. The search results can feature promoted links and advertisements from questionable advertisers that promote questionable services and applications. Reimage is a good an example because it is a useless anti-malware and PC optimization program that was classified as a potentially unwanted program.

Furthermore, we take issue with Hp.myway.com having the ability of automatically gathering information about you. It uses browser cookies, web beacons, and other legitimate means to gather as much information about you as possible. According to its privacy policy, this search engine can gather information that can include “your IP address, your browser type and language and other browser-related information, a time-stamp, the keyword query, search query text, search results clicked, pages viewed, search history, the content of any of our undeleted cookies,” and so on. Evidently, Mindspark can obtain all of the information they need to customize and personalize the content you see and make it more appealing and clickable. As a result, it can jeopardize your computer’s security.

In summary, SimplePictureEdit Toolbar is a waste of hard drive space. It offers nothing of value and behind the gimmicky feature of photo editing we see its true purpose. It was created to replace your browser’s homepage/new tab page in order to how you promotional links and ads featured on it. To remove it, please consult the instructions included below.

Uninstall this toolbar via Control Panel

Windows XP

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Click Control Panel and select Add or Remove Programs.
3. Find the unwanted toolbar and click Remove.

Windows Vista/7

1. Click Start and then click Control Panel.
2. Then, go to Uninstall a program.
3. Find the application among other programs and click Uninstall.

Windows 10/8.1/8

1. Right-click the Start menu/Start screen.
2. Select Programs and Features.
3. Locate the application and right-click it.
4. Click the Uninstall button.

Remove the toolbar from your browser

Google Chrome

1. Press Alt+F.
2. Select More tools.
3. Click Extensions.
4. Locate the extension.
5. Click Remove.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+A.
2. Choose Extensions.
3. Locate the toolbar.
4. Click Remove.