What is Note mini?
The Malwarebytes research team has determined that Note mini is a search hijacker. These so-called "hijackers" manipulate your browser(s), for example to change your startpage or searchscopes, so that the affected browser visits their site or one of their choice.
This particular one also adds advertisements to your search results in the form of recommended searches.
How do I know if my computer is affected by Note mini?
You may see this entry in your list of installed Chrome extensions:
and these warnings during install:
and this browser menu option:
How did Note mini get on my computer?
Browser hijackers use different methods for distributing themselves. This particular one was downloaded from the webstore:
after a redirect from their website:
How do I remove Note mini?
Our program Malwarebytes can detect and remove this potentially unwanted program.
- Please download Malwarebytes for Windows to your desktop.
- Double-click MBSetup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
- When your Malwarebytes for Windows installation completes, the program opens to the Welcome to Malwarebytes screen.
- Click on the Get started button.
- Click Scan to start a Threat Scan.
- When the scan is finished click Quarantine to remove the found threats.
- Reboot the system if prompted to complete the removal process.
- No, Malwarebytes removes Note mini completely.
- If you have allowed the notifications you can read here how to disable them.
We hope our application and this guide have helped you eradicate this hijacker.
As you can see below Malwarebytes Browser Guard, and the full version of Malwarebytes would have protected you against the Note mini hijacker. It would have blocked their website, giving you a chance to stop it before it became too late.
Technical details for experts
Possible signs in FRST logs:
CHR Extension: (Note mini) - C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\apgpmkollndblcfccbaapjkfipfgfdnm [2021-04-28]Alterations made by the installer:
File system details [View: All details] (Selection) --------------------------------------------------- Adds the folder C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\apgpmkollndblcfccbaapjkfipfgfdnm\1.1_0 Adds the file background.js"="4/15/2021 5:53 PM, 37262 bytes, A Adds the file jquery.js"="4/15/2021 1:10 AM, 266057 bytes, A Adds the file manifest.json"="4/28/2021 8:51 AM, 911 bytes, A Adds the file popup.html"="6/11/2016 8:11 AM, 568 bytes, A Adds the file popup.js"="4/15/2021 1:10 AM, 1693 bytes, A Adds the folder C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\apgpmkollndblcfccbaapjkfipfgfdnm\1.1_0\_metadata Adds the file computed_hashes.json"="4/28/2021 8:51 AM, 3983 bytes, A Adds the file verified_contents.json"="4/15/2021 5:54 PM, 1949 bytes, A Adds the folder C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\apgpmkollndblcfccbaapjkfipfgfdnm\1.1_0\css Adds the file popup.css"="6/11/2016 8:17 AM, 1550 bytes, A Adds the folder C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\apgpmkollndblcfccbaapjkfipfgfdnm\1.1_0\img Adds the file 128.png"="4/28/2021 8:51 AM, 1509 bytes, A Adds the folder C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Extension Settings\apgpmkollndblcfccbaapjkfipfgfdnm Adds the file 000003.log"="4/28/2021 8:51 AM, 28 bytes, A Adds the file CURRENT"="4/28/2021 8:51 AM, 16 bytes, A Adds the file LOCK"="4/28/2021 8:51 AM, 0 bytes, A Adds the file LOG"="4/28/2021 8:51 AM, 371 bytes, A Adds the file MANIFEST-000001"="4/28/2021 8:51 AM, 41 bytes, A Registry details [View: All details] (Selection) ------------------------------------------------ [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Chrome\PreferenceMACs\Default\extensions.settings] "apgpmkollndblcfccbaapjkfipfgfdnm"="REG_SZ", "FD79A3C4A6F2BBD17A214F878762A4A88BA9E8079B58C71286EB153D24D389D5"Malwarebytes log:
Malwarebytes www.malwarebytes.com -Log Details- Scan Date: 4/28/21 Scan Time: 10:05 AM Log File: 6ec8ce44-a7f8-11eb-9512-080027235d76.json -Software Information- Version: 4.3.0.98 Components Version: 1.0.1273 Update Package Version: 1.0.39889 License: Premium -System Information- OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 CPU: x64 File System: NTFS User: {username}-PC\{username} -Scan Summary- Scan Type: Threat Scan Scan Initiated By: Manual Result: Completed Objects Scanned: 233978 Threats Detected: 12 Threats Quarantined: 12 Time Elapsed: 2 min, 52 sec -Scan Options- Memory: Enabled Startup: Enabled Filesystem: Enabled Archives: Enabled Rootkits: Disabled Heuristics: Enabled PUP: Detect PUM: Detect -Scan Details- Process: 0 (No malicious items detected) Module: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Key: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Value: 1 PUP.Optional.SearchEngineHijack, HKCU\SOFTWARE\GOOGLE\CHROME\PREFERENCEMACS\Default\extensions.settings|apgpmkollndblcfccbaapjkfipfgfdnm, Quarantined, 337, 930412, , , , , , Registry Data: 0 (No malicious items detected) Data Stream: 0 (No malicious items detected) Folder: 2 PUP.Optional.SearchEngineHijack, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Local Extension Settings\apgpmkollndblcfccbaapjkfipfgfdnm, Quarantined, 337, 930412, , , , , , PUP.Optional.SearchEngineHijack, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\DEFAULT\EXTENSIONS\APGPMKOLLNDBLCFCCBAAPJKFIPFGFDNM, Quarantined, 337, 930412, 1.0.39889, , ame, , , File: 9 PUP.Optional.SearchEngineHijack, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Secure Preferences, Replaced, 337, 930412, , , , , BF421AB39418671FA94C6A843965A1ED, 2D689B5F1798FB1F111CD6D38C9AD8A5FACBB33C4A37F1118F0CF8B3B6E9B499 PUP.Optional.SearchEngineHijack, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Preferences, Replaced, 337, 930412, , , , , 001F16DE5120CB662CEA9A8ED855FF0A, 1DA3811B5DA149677F14FB9F0363FE25E567D9472A056697C081481034533701 PUP.Optional.SearchEngineHijack, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Extension Settings\apgpmkollndblcfccbaapjkfipfgfdnm\000003.log, Quarantined, 337, 930412, , , , , 438B64EB42EC35F87E12A69BD4CE3CE8, 8EFB32D41FF1E6B86D30340CA57D2C8BFCF633F1CAE190CFBDABAB4B03F2253D PUP.Optional.SearchEngineHijack, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Extension Settings\apgpmkollndblcfccbaapjkfipfgfdnm\CURRENT, Quarantined, 337, 930412, , , , , 46295CAC801E5D4857D09837238A6394, 0F1BAD70C7BD1E0A69562853EC529355462FCD0423263A3D39D6D0D70B780443 PUP.Optional.SearchEngineHijack, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Extension Settings\apgpmkollndblcfccbaapjkfipfgfdnm\LOCK, Quarantined, 337, 930412, , , , , , PUP.Optional.SearchEngineHijack, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Extension Settings\apgpmkollndblcfccbaapjkfipfgfdnm\LOG, Quarantined, 337, 930412, , , , , 9453AAA0451CBCEAF82545EB67DB57A3, D8AC61D885633BA0B4615B3F22EA72C7FC01C2C49F3E75C5AF2B615ED396D455 PUP.Optional.SearchEngineHijack, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Extension Settings\apgpmkollndblcfccbaapjkfipfgfdnm\LOG.old, Quarantined, 337, 930412, , , , , 41102C7EC51347C270E877FC77C7FA8F, C17A47B6AD796FED1BB916DCCB568C28CB1A33CBAAEF55AD59D98DB1621DF501 PUP.Optional.SearchEngineHijack, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Extension Settings\apgpmkollndblcfccbaapjkfipfgfdnm\MANIFEST-000001, Quarantined, 337, 930412, , , , , 5AF87DFD673BA2115E2FCF5CFDB727AB, F9D31B278E215EB0D0E9CD709EDFA037E828F36214AB7906F612160FEAD4B2B4 PUP.Optional.SearchEngineHijack, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\DEFAULT\EXTENSIONS\APGPMKOLLNDBLCFCCBAAPJKFIPFGFDNM\1.1_0\BACKGROUND.JS, Quarantined, 337, 930412, 1.0.39889, , ame, , 0EA39B4C6FEC35E9FF9E8AB262F582A3, 5D500CED4AA1A0CE1DA163187E377ABD1186A66F7FAA51EEAE2D1BFD1D65DFD9 Physical Sector: 0 (No malicious items detected) WMI: 0 (No malicious items detected) (end)As mentioned before the full version of Malwarebytes could have protected your computer against this threat.
We use different ways of protecting your computer(s):
- Dynamically Blocks Malware Sites & Servers
- Malware Execution Prevention