Sweetpacks Search (search.sweetpacks.com) and Sweetpacks Toolbar is a typical adware program that may come bundled with other software you may download from distrusted server. Installing the preferred program also loads Sweetpacks Toolbar without asking for your consent. This approach allows the toolbar to be integrated to your Internet browser. Moreover, the adware will place some icons on the menu bar that may look useful, when in fact; you do not need them at all. It serves redundant function on the browser.
Aside from toolbar, Sweetpacks Search will override your existing home page. The adware places a search box that resolves to search.sweetpacks.com. It contains own search engine that many users described as worthless. Using Sweetpacks Search gives undesirable results. It reveals irrelevant links that are way beyond the search term. Along with the useless result is too much display of advertisements aiming to earn a pay-per-click revenue for the site owner.
To remove Sweetpacks Toolbar and Sweetpacks Search from the affected browser, you need to remove add-ons and extensions individually. Running a scan of effective anti-malware program also helps in finding and deleting components that are hidden in the system. See the Sweetpacks removal section below for complete instructions.
What are the Symptoms of Sweetpacks Toolbar and Search Infection?
Sweetpacks Search replaces the home page with its own search box. It usually use the search engine from address search.sweetpacks.com.
Sweetpacks Toolbar adds many useless toolbar icons on the affected Internet browser.
Threat Summary
| Threat: | Sweetpacks |
| Type: | Browser Hijacker/Toolbar |
| Brief Description: | Unwanted extension that produces malicious toolbar and also hijacks home page of infected browser. |
| Removal Tool: | ▼ DOWNLOAD MalwareFox |
Sweetpacks Search (search.sweetpacks.com) and Sweetpacks Toolbar is a typical adware program that may come bundled with other software you may download from distrusted server. Installing the preferred program also loads Sweetpacks Toolbar without asking for your consent. This approach allows the toolbar to be integrated to your Internet browser. Moreover, the adware will place some icons on the menu bar that may look useful, when in fact; you do not need them at all. It serves redundant function on the browser.
Aside from toolbar, Sweetpacks Search will override your existing home page. The adware places a search box that resolves to search.sweetpacks.com. It contains own search engine that many users described as worthless. Using Sweetpacks Search gives undesirable results. It reveals irrelevant links that are way beyond the search term. Along with the useless result is too much display of advertisements aiming to earn a pay-per-click revenue for the site owner.
To remove Sweetpacks Toolbar and Sweetpacks Search from the affected browser, you need to remove add-ons and extensions individually. Running a scan of effective anti-malware program also helps in finding and deleting components that are hidden in the system. See the Sweetpacks removal section below for complete instructions.
What are the Symptoms of Sweetpacks Toolbar and Search Infection?
Sweetpacks Search replaces the home page with its own search box. It usually use the search engine from address search.sweetpacks.com.
Sweetpacks Toolbar adds many useless toolbar icons on the affected Internet browser.
Procedures to Remove Sweetpacks
Removal steps on this page will help you get rid of the threat effectively using tools and virus scanners. Please make sure that you will carry out the guide in exact order.
Procedure 1: Uninstall Sweetpacks from Windows Control Panel
1. Begin the removal process by uninstalling the adware program from Windows. To do this, we need to open Control Panel. Please ensure that you are logon with the Administrative privilege to access this function.
Accessing Windows 10 Control Panel
- Click on the Windows Start button at lower left corner of the screen.
- Type Control Panel on the search box, and click on its icon on the search result.
- Alternatively, you can just press Windows + X on the keyboard to display Quick Access Menu. Then, click Control Panel.
How to access Control Panel in Windows 8
- The easiest way to access Control Panel on Windows 8 is through the Search function.
- Simply press Windows Key + Q on your keyboard to display the Charms Bar. Alternatively, you can drag mouse pointer to lower-right portion of desktop until the Charms Bar slide-out.
- Click on the Magnifying Glass icon and search for 'Control Panel'. Click the item on the result to access this feature.
How to access Control Panel in Windows XP, Windows Vista/ 7
- Click on Start button that can be found on bottom left corner of the screen.
- From the list, choose Control Panel to access settings of Windows and make the needed changes.
2. Under Programs, click on Uninstall a program. It will open a program and features window where-in you can uninstall, change, or repair installed software.
3. Look for adware title or any suspicious name that was installed recently. To do this, you need to arrange the items chronologically. Click on 'Installed On' to display the latest program that looks unfamiliar.
As observed, this threat is also linked to known malware. You may also look for and delete the following names that were identified with Sweetpacks: Sweetpacks, SweetIM, and 1clickdownloader
4. Click on Uninstall button to remove the program automatically.
5. If it prompts for confirmation, please click OK to proceed.
Procedure 2: Scan and remove Sweetpacks files with MalwareFox Anti-Malware
To remove Sweetpacks, download MalwarFox Anti-Malware. This tool is effective in getting rid of Trojans, viruses and malware.
1. After downloading, please install the program using the default settings.
2. At the end of the installation, please make sure that it will download necessary updates.
3. Once update has completed, MalwareFox will launch.
4. Select SCAN from the main window to start detection process.
5. Computer will be thoroughly scanned and all infections will be displayed. Remove all threats detected by this anti-malware program after the process.
Procedure 3: Scan Computer in Safe Mode Using Installed Anti-virus Program
1. In troubleshooting a PC, one common step is to boot operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. The same approach will be used in the removal of Sweetpacks. Please execute instructions based on your Windows OS version.
Start Windows 8 / Windows 10 in Safe Mode with Networking
- Please restart the computer and as soon as it begins to start, please press Shift + F8 keys.
- Instead of seeing Advance Boot Options, latest version of Windows will display Recovery Mode. Continue with the given steps until you reach Safe Mode function.
- Click on 'See advanced repair options'.
- Then, click on Troubleshoot.
- Next, please select Advanced options.
- On the next window, please choose Windows Startup Settings.
- Lastly, click on Restart button. Windows 8 / Windows 10 will now restart and boot into Advanced Boot Option wherein you can run the system in Safe Mode with Networking.
Start in Safe Mode with Networking (Windows XP/Vista/7 Instruction)
- Please restart the computer and just before Windows start, press F8 on your keyboard repeatedly. You will be presented with Advanced Options Menu.
- From the selections, choose Safe Mode with Networking. Please use keyboard's arrow up/down to navigate between selections and press Enter to proceed.
2. Once your Windows is running in Safe Mode, open your installed anti-virus programs and update it to the most recent version by automatically downloading necessary updates.
3. Thoroughly scan the computer and remove all identified threats. Do not restart or turn off the computer after the scan process. You still need to run another scan. Please follow the next procedure.
Procedure 4: Run extra scan with Junkware Removal Tool
To make sure that no more malicious files linked to Sweetpacks are inside the computer, we must run another effective scanner. This time, use Junkware Removal Tool. No installation is necessary with this tool.
1. Click the button above to start the download process. Save the file to your preferred location.
2. Junkware Removal Tool will close all running applications later. So, before executing the file, please Bookmark or Print this page. And then, close all programs.
3. Double-click the JRT.exe file to initiate the tool.
4. It will prompt you to "Press any key to continue."
5. Junkware Removal Tool will create a Restore Point and proceed with the scan. Please wait for the scan process to finish.
6. After scanning the computer, JRT will open a Notepad containing scan logs. It may have not find Sweetpacks relevant entities, but it will surely delete any malicious items not found in the previous scans.
Procedure 5: Reset Affected Internet Browser
Reset browser settings of Google Chrome:
1. Open Google Chrome browser.
2. In the address bar, type this: chrome://settings/ and then, press Enter.
3. Navigate at the end of the page and click on Show advanced settings.
4. At the bottom of the page, click on Reset settings to remove all changes made by Sweetpacks.
Reset Internet Explorer Settings:
1. Open Internet Explorer software.
2. Navigate to top menu and click Tools > Internet Options.
3. On Internet Options window, select Advanced tab.
4. In order to reverse modifications caused by Sweetpacks, click on Reset button to bring back Internet Explorer's settings to their default condition.
Reset Firefox to its default state:
1. Open Mozilla Firefox program.
2. Navigate to top menu and Open Help Menu. Then, select on Troubleshooting Information.
3. Click on Refresh Firefox button to erase the effect of Sweetpacks.
Protect your PC from Sweetpacks or Similar Attack
Turn On Safe Browsing Features
Google Chrome's Protection from Dangerous Sites
With Google Chrome's Dangerous Site Protection feature, you will have lesser risks browsing the web. It will display a warning when the site you are trying to visit is suspicious, thus, you can prevent Sweetpacks infection. To enable protection from dangerous sites, please do these steps:
1. Open Google Chrome.
2. In the address bar, type this: chrome://settings/ and then, Press Enter.
3. Once on the settings page, click on Show advanced settings... at the bottom of the page to see the rest of the Chrome setup.
4. Locate Privacy section and mark 'Protect you and your device from dangerous sites'.
5. Please restart Google Chrome. New settings keep your browser safe while surfing the web.
Internet Explorer - Activate SmartScreen Filter
Internet Explorer versions 8 and 9 has this feature called SmartScreen Filter. It helps detect phishing web sites and protect you from downloading malicious programs including Sweetpacks. To turn on SmartScreen Filter, follow these steps:
1. Please open Internet Explorer.
2. On top menu, select Tools (IE 9). For IE 8, please look for Safety menu.
3. Select SmartScreen Filter from the drop-down list and click on Turn on SmartScreen Filter.
4. Please restart Internet Explorer.
Mozilla Firefox - Block Attack Sites and Web Forgeries
Phishing and Malware Protection is a built-in feature on Firefox version 3 or later. It warns you when a page you are trying to visit contains phishing content or an attack site designed to drop threats such as Sweetpacks. To help you keep safe while browsing the Internet using Firefox, please follow this guide:
1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. On top menu, click on Open Menu. Then select Options from the list.
3. Select Security and put a check mark on the following items:
- Warn me when sites try to install add-ons
- Block reported attack sites
- Block reported web forgeries
Edge Browser - SmartScreen Filter
SmartScreen filter is a built-in feature in Microsoft Edge browser that can help you deter malicious programs such as Sweetpacks. It can block malicious web sites and downloads.
1. Open Microsoft Edge browser.
2. Click on More Actions button located at top right corner of the screen.
3. Select Settings from the drop-down list.
4. Under Settings menu, go to Advanced Settings section and click on View Advanced Settings.
5. Scroll down to "help protect my PC from malicious sites and downloads with SmartScreen Filter". Turn it to ON.
6.You may now restart Microsoft Edge browser.
thankyou this was helpful !
For me, this worked:
Download RegSeeker. Its free.
Boot into Safe Mode
Open Reg Seeker
Choose Find in registry
Type into Search For: Sweet
Check all the Keys
Check Keys,Value,Data,Group similar Keys
Uncheck Search Files
Uncheck Match Whole Word
Click on Search
Delete all entries that show up.
Restart into Safe Mode.
Repeat above moves.
And again if necessary.
Remove Backups with Sweet in the name.
SweetIM & SweetPacks Bundle all gone :)
I have two Sweepack BHO files left that were picked up by HijackThis and I can’t remove them manually or by HijackThis. The toolbar is still in my explorer even though I uninstalled it through my Programs feature in the Control Panel. I ran MalwareByes and my Kaspersky. What else can I do to get rid of this virus? Thanks.
I continually change default for my IE 8 from Sweetpacks to Google. Then I click on Sweetpacks and click remove. It removes it, and only google is there. But then in a couple hours, “sweetpacks search” is back in my search box. I do the whole thing over again. Somehow it keeps reinstalling itself.
Any ideas?