[batpark]

With my W8.1 pc, I seem to have inadvertently downloaded and installed a new super-browser called SmartBrowser and it is driving me nuts. I was using Firefox and would like to return to Firefox and to recover the array of bookmarks I had assembled there. I'd be pleased to delete SmartBrowser.

 

I'm afraid I can hardly describe the erratic behavior I now experience; hope you will bear with me in this attempt.

 

Here is what I now see – several tool bars and a screen showing a google-like bar with a set of icons beneath it.

-----

On the very top line(bar) of my home screen I now see a Firefox icon and a down arrow. Clicking the arrow shows three icons: IR, Chrome, and Firefox; and clicking each brings up the appropriate icon. So, apparently, I can choose any of these browsers. I selected Firefox.

 

To the right of the icon on the top bar is a navigation slot that works conventionally. For example, I can type in google.com and I get a conventional google page. I can drag the google icon from the navigation bar to a line below the navigation bar (line two) and drop it there, thereby bookmarking of it. But that bookmark doesn't work as it did with my prior Firefox; in FF I could see a Properties option by right clicking the bookmark; now what I get makes me think I am working in IE, not Firefox !?

 

The third bar says “Search- Mozilla Firefox”.

 

The fourth bar is labeled File, Edit, History, Bookmarks, Tools, Help. (And if I click Help I confirm I am in Firefox.)

 

The fifth line shows a navigation bar with this in it

http://www.safesear....20160212-165-ff

 

A sixth bar has elements Search, Images, Maps, Video, News, Shopping, none of which I want to retain.

 

And, finally, below the sixth bar I see a white screen with a search bar (looks like a Google search bar but I suspect it is a Yahoo search). BUT unlike the Google search slots I used to get, this one has an array of icons beneath it, including Facebook, Amazon, CNN, etc).

 

Just one more bit of information. SOMETIMES, after clicking a combination of things (that, unfortunately, I can't recall) I DO SEE MY OLD SET OF FIREFOX BOOKMARKS. So I <<believe>> they are all still there and recoverable.

 

Can anyone make sense of all this? I obviously welcome help your help. ….. batpark

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Download : ADWCleaner to your desktop.  Make sure you get the correct Download button.  Sometimes the ads on BleepingComputer will mimic the real Download button which should say: Download Now @BleepingComputer

 

NOTE: If using Internet Explorer and you get an alert that stops the program downloading, click on the warning and allow the download to complete.

 

Close  all programs, pause your anti-virus and run AdwCleaner (Vista or Win 7 => right click and Run As Administrator).

 

 

Click on Scan  and follow the prompts. Let it run unhindered. When done, click on the Clean button, and follow the prompts. Allow the system to reboot. You will then be presented with the report. Copy & Paste this report on your next reply.

 

The report will be saved in the C:\AdwCleaner folder.

 

 

 

Junkware-Removal-Tool

 

Please download Junkware Removal Tool to your desktop.  Make sure you get the correct Download button.  Sometimes the ads on BleepingComputer will mimic the real Download button which should say: Download Now @Author's site

• Pause your anti-virus.  Close all browsers.

Run the tool by double-clicking it. If you are using Windows Vista, 7, or 8; instead of double-clicking, right-mouse click JRT.exe and select "Run as Administrator".

The tool will open and start scanning your system.

Please be patient as this can take a while to complete depending on your system's specifications.

On completion, a log (JRT.txt) is saved to your desktop and will automatically open.

Post the contents of JRT.txt into your next message.

 

 

 

Please download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and save it to your Desktop. 

 

Note: You need to run the version compatible with your system. If you are not sure which version applies to your system download both of them and try to run them. Only one of them will run on your system, that will be the right version. 

 

•  

Right click to run as administrator (XP users click run after receipt of Windows Security Warning - Open File). When the tool opens click Yes to disclaimer. 

Press Scan button. 

It will produce a log called FRST.txt in the same directory the tool is run from.  

Please copy and paste log back here. 

The first time the tool is run it generates another log (Addition.txt - also located in the same directory as FRST.exe/FRST64.exe). Please also paste that along with the FRST.txt into your reply. 

[RKinner]

 

Download : ADWCleaner to your desktop.  Make sure you get the correct Download button.  Sometimes the ads on BleepingComputer will mimic the real Download button which should say: Download Now @BleepingComputer

 

NOTE: If using Internet Explorer and you get an alert that stops the program downloading, click on the warning and allow the download to complete.

 

Close  all programs, pause your anti-virus and run AdwCleaner (Vista or Win 7 => right click and Run As Administrator).

 

 

Click on Scan  and follow the prompts. Let it run unhindered. When done, click on the Clean button, and follow the prompts. Allow the system to reboot. You will then be presented with the report. Copy & Paste this report on your next reply.

 

The report will be saved in the C:\AdwCleaner folder.

 

 

 

Junkware-Removal-Tool

 

Please download Junkware Removal Tool to your desktop.  Make sure you get the correct Download button.  Sometimes the ads on BleepingComputer will mimic the real Download button which should say: Download Now @Author's site

• Pause your anti-virus.  Close all browsers.

Run the tool by double-clicking it. If you are using Windows Vista, 7, or 8; instead of double-clicking, right-mouse click JRT.exe and select "Run as Administrator".

The tool will open and start scanning your system.

Please be patient as this can take a while to complete depending on your system's specifications.

On completion, a log (JRT.txt) is saved to your desktop and will automatically open.

Post the contents of JRT.txt into your next message.

 

 

 

Please download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and save it to your Desktop. 

 

Note: You need to run the version compatible with your system. If you are not sure which version applies to your system download both of them and try to run them. Only one of them will run on your system, that will be the right version. 

 

•  

Right click to run as administrator (XP users click run after receipt of Windows Security Warning - Open File). When the tool opens click Yes to disclaimer. 

Press Scan button. 

It will produce a log called FRST.txt in the same directory the tool is run from.  

Please copy and paste log back here. 

The first time the tool is run it generates another log (Addition.txt - also located in the same directory as FRST.exe/FRST64.exe). Please also paste that along with the FRST.txt into your reply. 

[batpark]

RKinner: Thank you for your (painful) advice.
 

The steps you outline seem daunting and I am not sure I have the smarts to follow all that. But I will try, starting next week on my return from an out-of-state trip.

 

FWIW, I have three additions and corrections to my original posting that may be significant. First, the name of that new browser that started all the trouble is Fast Browser, not Smart Browser (as I mistakenly called it earlier). Second, I should make it clear that the only anti-malware I have on this W8.1 pc is a Avast free ant-virus account. And finally, I DID manage to recall (and write down) the steps that now get me to a working browser, one that shows all my old Mozilla Firefox bookmarks. After I reboot the W8.1 pc:

1. I view the apps (by clicking the arrow beneath the Start tiles) and I click Mozilla Firefox.

2. I see a message that says, “Your homepage has been changed by another application.” and I am offered two choices: “a)Returrn to my previous homepage, and b)Continue with the new homepage.” – I click b).

3. I then get the homepage (hopefully) shown in the attached screen shot. It contains parts of my old homepage, including my bookmarks toolbar; and parts of the new Fast Browser including the google-like slot with those icons below it.

Does any of this new info lighten all those steps in the suggested fix?  ...... batpark

 

NOTE; I am having a problem with attaching screenshot. Will do so later.

[RKinner]

Not really.  There's only 3 scans and they are fairly quick.