Linkury Smart bar. How. The. Hell. Do. I. Uninstall it???

[-Slacker-]

Slows my browser down for no benefit. I don't remember why I installed it, or if it was even by choice.

I just want the damn thing killed with fire.

 

[TeeJay1952]

Add Remove Programs in Control Panel

 

[Slugbait]

I don't remember why I installed it, or if it was even by choice.

Probably a result of the Next->Next->Next Syndrome. In other words, it was bundled with something else you installed (burning software, from what I googled) and you didn't notice it and uncheck it during the install wizard.

Others have had the same issue, but Google was unable to repro. First remove it from the Chrome extensions list. If it comes back it may be because something is resident in memory, so try loading Windows in Safe Mode and try again. If successful, uninstall from Control Panel (if necessary).

If this fails, uninstall Chrome, and hunt down the BHO wherever it resides in the registry. Then re-install Chrome.

 

[-Slacker-]

I took the caveman approach and searched/deleted every file that has "linkury" in it's name. So far it doesn't seem to have returned.

 

[corkyg]

It's pretty easy with CCleaner. Add that to your toolbox.

 

[Linkury]

Hi,
The Linkury Smartbar is often distributed along with other installations, there is no need for CCleaner or any other software in order to uninstall it.

To make things clear:
In order to remove the Linkury Smartbar installation go to control panel -> Add/Remove Programs (xp) or Programs and Features (vista and above) -> Linkury Smartbar.

In addition, you can change your browser settings such as your homepage and default search provider by seeing your browser's options menu where you can restore everything to its default state.
You might find this page helpful as well: http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?answer=95426

We are always available via email at it@linkury.com and would love to answer any questions that might come up.

The Linkury Team

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Hi,
The Linkury Smartbar is often distributed along with other installations, there is no need for CCleaner or any other software in order to uninstall it.

To make things clear:
In order to remove the Linkury Smartbar installation go to control panel -> Add/Remove Programs (xp) or Programs and Features (vista and above) -> Linkury Smartbar.

In addition, you can change your browser settings such as your homepage and default search provider by seeing your browser's options menu where you can restore everything to its default state.
You might find this page helpful as well: http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?answer=95426

We are always available via email at it@linkury.com and would love to answer any questions that might come up.

The Linkury Team

They do exist!
Glad to see another company rep on the boards.

 

[wirednuts]

i love it when reps from companies log in to to give direct feedback to complaints. it not only can make complainers seem over dramatic, it gives a lot more comfort to us who arent sure if these software packages are legit or not.

 

[pcslookout]

i love it when reps from companies log in to to give direct feedback to complaints. it not only can make complainers seem over dramatic, it gives a lot more comfort to us who arent sure if these software packages are legit or not.

That is very true.

 

[webmistresskat]

removing this malware by the recommendation of using Control Panel for the latest Windows, does not work at all, as Linkury remains invisible in the Control Panel. I Myself have tried to uninstall the wretched thing by uninstalling all MSN Messenger prog's, but still it remains. Moral to this story - DO NOT INSTALL MESSENGER PLUS! ... and just manually delete it. Furthermore, in all browsers with the latest windows platform, you are only able to disable Linkury, not remove it. The developers won't give you any correct informations as to how to EFFECTIVELY uninstall Linkury. They can bleat until the cows come home, but facts are facts. It sucks. It is malware and it makes you vulnerable to attacks from hackers who know the weaknesses of Linkury, which was what brought my attention to the matter of attempting to remove Linkury.

 

[Slugbait]

Moral to this story - DO NOT INSTALL MESSENGER PLUS!

That has actually been recommended for a decade now. Some history:

Previously, Patchou bundled LOP with his Plus! add-on. It was an insidious ad-ware program that was almost impossible to get rid of, and on some machines (especially laptops) it could completely obliterate performance, rendering the machine almost unusable.

Initially, Patchou's installer defaulted to install LOP, in order to "trick" the Next->Next->Next users into installing it. After a few years, some pressure was applied, and Patchou changed his installer so LOP wasn't installed by default...but when you got to the "sponsor" pane of the install wizard, he used social engineering to trick users into checking the "Yes" box out of "support" for the developer (re: pity plea).

In addition, if your anti-malware program detected LOP, and you allowed the program to remove it, your only option was to flatten your machine...Patchou even posted that warning on his web site. There was no workaround: you re-installed Windows and apps from scratch. Of course, most people didn't investigate other potential removal options, and lost their machines.

As you can imagine, the MSN Messenger Team hated Patchou. As did several million other people.

With the rebranding of MSN to Windows Live about five years ago, the Messenger client team saw a huge turnover of team members. And for some odd reason, the new Windows Live Messenger team loved Patchou and saw him as an asset instead of some sort of sewer rat...so, some fraking moron on the WLM team came up with the bright idea to anoint Patchou with the status of MVP. Which was curious, since Patchou had only contributed input to the MVP community once over that entire previous year...a large group of MVPs raised that glaring point of non-contribution, and several MVPs threatened to leave the program if Patchou was allowed to stay specifically because he bundled LOP.

I think Patchou's MVP status lasted just over 27 hours before it was revoked.

More recently, Patchou sold Plus! to another company, and earlier this year he left that company. The company obviously changed the "sponsor" program recently, since more complaints about Linkury can now be found on a google search...apparently, Linkury will install even if you specify during the install wizard NOT to install Linkury.

Whether this is an honest bug or an intentional dishonest design, I do not know. For now, I will give Yuna Software the benefit of the doubt that this was a ship-stopper bug that they missed. Otherwise now, much more than ever before, it would be wise NOT to install Messenger Plus!, or you'll get Linkury.

Best removal instructions I found for Linkury:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...48?msgId=53bbe43f-f343-e011-9577-d485645a8348

 

[Linkury]

removing this malware by the recommendation of using Control Panel for the latest Windows, does not work at all, as Linkury remains invisible in the Control Panel. I Myself have tried to uninstall the wretched thing by uninstalling all MSN Messenger prog's, but still it remains. Moral to this story - DO NOT INSTALL MESSENGER PLUS! ... and just manually delete it. Furthermore, in all browsers with the latest windows platform, you are only able to disable Linkury, not remove it. The developers won't give you any correct informations as to how to EFFECTIVELY uninstall Linkury. They can bleat until the cows come home, but facts are facts. It sucks. It is malware and it makes you vulnerable to attacks from hackers who know the weaknesses of Linkury, which was what brought my attention to the matter of attempting to remove Linkury.

Hi,
It is very surprising that the Add/ Remove feature did not resolve your problem.
Maybe you mean that your browser's settings are not back to normal? if so, please see this following link:
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/...rch-engine-in-firefox-google-chrome-ie/24378/
We are not Malware and We DO give correct info on how to remove the software -- it is very important to us to help users.
If you come across any further difficulties you are more then welcome to email us at it@linkury.com where we can communicate more clearly.

The Linkury Team.

 

[theBerry]

Dear Linkury Team,

Kindly explain this before I lose it on you totally. Why are there still active keys in my registry? Why is it that when I open up explorer I get a message saying "An unknown program tried to install Linkury toolbar"?

Don't bother wasting keystrokes by answering the usual dribble, your software is substandard, and your answers are designed for pensioners running Windows 95.

If I detect any sort of malwareizm while I go through my logs, you will pay for it dearly. I accept all major currencies, all blood types, and all forms of public humiliation and disrepute.


Kind Regards,

Chris Berry

 

[daJoneses]

I find it very interesting that after hitting accept (my bad) automatically when upgrading doubleTwist, the Linkbury Toolbar installer was telling me to close my browsers so it could be installed. That lead me to this thread. Actually I registered just to post (although I do lurk here often).

After hitting the [x] to close the program, not long later I get warned that the Windows Task Scheduler is trying to add a scheduled task named OpenCandyHelperRun. I find it further odd that while I may have had IE open -- I don't recall offhand -- I also get a warning that IE closed a webpage due to "a malfunctioning or malicious add-on", and that Data Execution Prevention (DEP) was trying to use my system memory incorrectly. For once I'm glad that DEP actually caught something -- I'm betting it was this addon attempting to install to IE, which was I'm guessing closed at the time.

Looking into that led me here: http://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?showtopic=18938 . Apparently doubleTwist installs OpenCandy, which as far as I can tell is listed as adware/malware due to it being not only installable via drive-by clicking, but also just by being buried in the EULA (which nobody reads anyway).

Maybe Linkury uses this - I don't know or care. doubleTwist was the only software I've added (upgraded in this case) in days -- maybe even weeks -- so there's no doubt as to the culprit.

I know I'll be doing full malware and virus scans tonight. Just how I wanted to waste my entire evening. So, hope this helps. I'd trusted doubleTwist until now -- but now I'm certainly junking that and everything associated with it, OpenCandy, or Linkury. I neither asked for or wanted any extra crapware, thanks.

 

[Ben90]

I miss the good ol' days of next-next-next-done. Useless crap like this should be illegal.

 

[lxskllr]

Using libre programs avoids a lot of this. I'm not aware of any that engage in these underhanded tricks. Even if you use Windows, using as much libre software as possible benefits computer security, and reduces hassle.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Dear Linkbury,
Who the hell would want to install your stupid tool bar? No one that's who. That's why you have to trick unsuspecting people into installing it.
Thank you,
Useless tool bar hater.

 

[zCypher]

This thread pleases me.

 

[Rare]

I love how the Linkury member thinks he can redirect us to pages to solve our problems, uninstall via control panel is a farce and they are very aware of this. The program is embedded into the system and is in constant "use" so it cannot be stopped until the program is terminated, find the program, terminate, uninstall. Or if Linkury feels like saving us the trouble and unloads an unistall agent that has been verified, that will suffice.

 

[Fool_Me_Once...]

I’ve registered here so I can tell this “Linkury Team” what a Frakking Bas*ers they really are!

Linkury Team (it@linkury.com),

You guys are as slimy as they come!!! You guys are a very good example of “Black Hats” trying everything in your power to look legit. And for what? To make a few fast bucks? Shame on you!

You know full well that your instructions DOES NOT REMOVE your FULL INSTALLATION! The core purpose (adware/malware) of your TROJAN is left intact! TRICKING most users into thinking that it has been COMPLETELY REMOVED while its real purpose, adware/malware, processes are still running freely and intact in the background! These Social Engineering attempts to further protect your TROJAN really makes this a new, all time low!

It took me a while but I managed to manually root out both your Linkury and Opencandy programs out of my system!! I know, because I know which application your TROJAN came with and I have tracked its installation processes.

Frakking Bas*ers!

Hi,
The Linkury Smartbar is often distributed along with other installations, there is no need for CCleaner or any other software in order to uninstall it.

To make things clear:
In order to remove the Linkury Smartbar installation go to control panel -> Add/Remove Programs (xp) or Programs and Features (vista and above) -> Linkury Smartbar.

In addition, you can change your browser settings such as your homepage and default search provider by seeing your browser's options menu where you can restore everything to its default state.
You might find this page helpful as well: http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?answer=95426

We are always available via email at it@linkury.com and would love to answer any questions that might come up.

The Linkury Team

 

[Fool_Me_Once...]

Slugbait,

In this case it may not be the “Next-> Next-> Next-> Syndrome.” Even though there was some pseudo legal mumble jumble about the Linkury Smartbar, I DID NOT have the option TO SKIP its installation.

That’s what raised the red flag for me in the first place!

 

[Gabe Aufiero]

System restore worked for me for a similar issue, the program name didn't show up in searches and remove program didn't work. good luck

 

[RobertVanWaning]

Hi, It is very surprising that the Add/ Remove feature did not resolve your problem. .. [Et cetera ] The Linkury Team.

Even Revo Uninstaller Pro failed to uninstall the 'Linkury Smartbar' This is the first time this quite forceful and drastic uninstaller failed. It made me nervous: Why on Earth would you want us to keep your program (or whatever it is) when we want to get rid of it? I'm afraid this is only because you have bad intentions.

 

[Mikepimpnig]

I would like to start off by saying that I made an account for this website on my computer for the sole purpose of reviewing this program.

First thing I would like to say is fuck off Linkury Team.

Your program was installed to my computer without me knowing. It took an extremely long and annoying process to get it off of my browser and delete each file that was giving me trouble associated with it. If you are going to install something to my computer, make it look at least presentable. I opened my browser, my home page and my search engines were set to your crappy search engine. Every time I tried to change it, it would give me an error. When I tried to reset my home page to live.com it set back to your website and the same thing goes for the search engine. Your program basically makes me want to commit suicide.

Linkury, you suck, and fuck you for making me waste so much of my time on getting rid of this eyesore.

 

[garverrachel]

System Restore did it! Magic!