Winload Toolbar Removal Guide

Winload Toolbar, associated with Conduit.com is a browser extension that is supposed to make your online activities easier and improve browser functionality. It seems to be geographically particular as the majority of installations are in Germany. The installation process happens in German, however, their EULA is in English, and in various contexts the developers seem to have chosen either language pretty much by chance.

This toolbar is available for download at many different websites and is supported by all major browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. You should note this toolbar is not useful one bit and may cause a considerable amount of frustration and harm. That is why it is highly advisable to remove Winload Toolbar.

This program is in your computer either because you got it via drive-by download or specifically chose to install it. If it is the latter, you should note that you probably have installed Amazon Icon, PC Optimizer ausführen (a.k.a. PC Optimizer PRO) and Pricealarm, because not to do that, you needed to specifically un-check boxes during the installation process. Those programs may be harmful or at the very least useless, so you should remove them, too.

During the installation, it will also try to change your default web search, home page; it will automatically select the option to get messages from Winload and to receive unrelated search results if the right ones are not found. It can be quite confusing, as this part is going to be in German. If you have not opted out, you will see that your homepage is set to www.giga.de/androidnews.

When Winload Toolbar is already installed, the first thing you will notice is how annoying it is. If you try to search for something, your search results will get redirected to “WebCrawler” search and if you select a result, it will redirect you to an unrelated page. The toolbar will also collect data on your browsing history and will show relevant advertisements. You will notice that both your computer and your Internet browser will become slower.

This toolbar has been created using Conduit platform which is very alarming, because a lot of browser hijackers are associated with it. While this one can not be exactly classified as a hijacker because it does ask for your consent before changing the settings, it is really close to being that. It is undeniably the best option to delete Winload Toolbar and make sure you have a reliable security tool installed.

Fortunately, the removal of this toolbar is fairly manageable, if a bit frustrating because of the numerous add-ons you have gotten along with the original product. If you follow the instructions below, you should get rid off Winload Toolbar in no time. However, it is highly advisable to scan your computer with SpyHunter afterwards to make sure you got all of the components and there are no infections left in your computer’s system.

How to remove Winload Toolbar:

Windows 8:

1. Go to Metro UI screen.
2. Right-click any program and select uninstall on the bottom of your screen.
3. “Programs and Features” will open, select and uninstall the following programs: Winload Toolbar, Window Utils, Optimizer Pro v3.1.
4. Download and install SpyHunter, scan your computer to make sure it is clean.

Windows Vista/7:

1. Click Start, then Control Panel.
2. Select Uninstall a program.
3. Uninstall the following programs: Winload Toolbar, Window Utils, Optimizer Pro v3.1.
4. Download automatic safety tool at http://www.411-spyware.com/spyhunter.
5. Install it and scan your computer to be certain it is not infected.

Windows XP:

1. Click Start, then Control Panel.
2. Select Add or remove programs.
3. Uninstall the following programs: Winload Toolbar, Window Utils, Optimizer Pro v3.1.
4. Download this security tool http://www.411-spyware.com/download-sph,
5. Install it and scan your computer to make sure it is safe.

When removing Window Utils, a dialogue box will pop up and say that you will need to remove some components manually. This means that you will have to remove them from your Internet browser following the instructions below.

Internet Explorer:

1. Click Alt+T; select Internet Options.
2. On the General tab there is “Home page” on the top, you can either choose “Use default” or delete the current address and enter a new one.
3. Underneath you will see Search. Click Settings on its right.
4. Select and Remove the unwanted search engine.
5. On the same tab, you will see Toolbars and Extensions above Search Providers. Click it.
6. Select and Disable the unwanted extensions.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Click Alt+T, select Options.
2. On the General tab you can change your homepage by either entering a new address or clicking the Restore to Default button.
3. Go back to Tools, click on Add-ons.
4. Select Extensions and Disable the unwanted plug-ins.

Google Chrome:

1. Click Alt+F..
2. Select Settings.
3. Under On startup select Open a specific page or set of pages.
4. Click Set pages and enter the URL of the page you want to open when Chrome starts.
5. Go back to Settings.
6. Under Search, click Manage search engines… button.
7. Select the search engine you want to delete and click the X on the far right.
8. Select the search engine you want to be default and click Make default.
9. Close the tab and you will be in Settings again.
10. Click Extensions on the left.
11. Delete the unwanted add-ons using the Bin button on the left of each program.