PackageTracking Toolbar

PackageTracking Toolbar is a malicious application that is a bit of everything. It is part adware and part browser hijacker, but it is classified just a bad toolbar. We recommend that you remove it from your computer as soon as possible because it will modify your browser’s setting and impose a potentially unreliable search engine on you, among other things. It can also display advertisements inside the search engine’s search results, and we suspect that that some of those ads come from illegitimate advertisers. So, all things considered, this application is an undesirable one, and we invite you to read this whole description if you want to know more.

This unique, yet malicious application was released by a software developer called Mindspark Interactive Network. This company was started in 1999 and since then has built a reputation as a developer of unreliable software. It specializes in creating desktop applications, but it is best known for its malicious toolbars and other browser extensions. Apart from rolling out this particular toolbar, this company has recently also released YourTemplateFinder Toolbar, PDFConverterHQ Toolbar, and FlightSearch Toolbar. These toolbars are very similar to PackageTracking Toolbar, and thus, should be deleted as well. And, they are all distributed using the same methods.

While researching this toolbar we have found that it has its very own dedicated promotional and distribution website at Packagetracking.net. However, Mindspark does not hesitate to use deceptive methods to distribute its product. This company is known to distribute its toolbars by bundling them with other malicious software and making arrangements to put them on various shady freeware distributing websites. In most cases you should be given the opportunity to opt out from installing this toolbar, but different software bundles are configured differently. Nevertheless, in most cases you should get rid of it by opting for advanced installation setting and unchecking its respective checkbox.

This toolbar has a built-in package-tracking application, but there is no guarantee that it will work as it is supposed to. In addition to that, PackageTracking Toolbar has two drop-down menus named International Tracking and Regional Carriers. In a nutshell, these two menus are nothing more than a cluster of mailing-related links. International Tracking section features links to twelve overseas websites that allow you to track you’re the location of your shipments. Regional Carriers section is very similar as it features links to different websites, but they appear to provide the same international shipping services. Furthermore, this toolbar has a More drop-down menu on the right edge of the screen. This menu contains a selection of links to websites that give printable coupons, but we cannot vouch for their legitimacy. Also, this menu has a link to a website called Uship.com and Facebook.com.

Also, PackageTracking Toolbar features a search engine that is automatically set as your browser’s homepage and new tab page after installing the toolbar. The Home.tb.ask.com search engine is a custom search engine owned by Mindspark, but it uses Ask.com’s search engine to process the search queries. However, this custom search engine is likely to feature third-party advertisements of unknown origin. It may promote malicious software that can compromise your computer’s security. Now let us move on to the modifications it does to your system.

PackageTracking Toolbar creates hundreds of registry keys that can be found in the Windows Registry. This registry is a database that stores settings for the Windows operating system and third-party applications. Malicious applications also enter their registry keys to enable or modify certain features. Most of the registry keys are located in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE if the OS has 32bit architecture and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node if the OS has 64bit architecture. It also creates dozens of so-called CLSID's that look like this: {2C799845-295C-46B3-B258-7790A9F6DC05}, {3A987815-C16D-471F-B432-B735A19DB5F2}, and so on. Most of these registry keys are located in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft and HKCU]\ SOFTWARE\Microsoft.

Furthermore, PackageTracking Toolbar modifies certain browser files. For example, Most of the files for Firefox are located at C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\36iwse76.default\extensions and %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\*.default. For Chrome, it creates a lot more scattered files, such as in %LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage. However, most of the modifications for Internet Explorer are made in the registry level. After uninstalling this toolbar, some files and registry entries tend to remain, so we recommend removing them to ensure your computer’s security.

So this is what PackageTracking Toolbar is all about. Its sole purpose is to generate advertising revenue for its dishonest developers who prey on inattentive users who carelessly install software from unreliable sources. Given the fact that this toolbar hijacks the browser’s homepage and is apt to display advertisements in its search results, it is nothing short of malicious. So please use our recommended software or manual instructions to remove PackageTracking Toolbar altogether.

Uninstall this program via Control Panel

Windows 10/8.1/8

1. Right-click on the Start menu/Start screen.
2. Click Control Panel and go to Uninstall a program.
3. Find the program and right-click on it, and then click Uninstall.

Windows 7/Vista

1. Click Start located at the bottom left side of the screen.
2. Select Control Panel and click Uninstall a program.
3. Find the malicious program and click Uninstall.

Windows XP

1. Press the Windows Key and click Control Panel.
2. Go to Add or Remove Programs and Remove the software.

Remove this toolbar from your browser

Microsoft Internet Explorer

1. Press Alt+X.
2. Click Manage Add-ons.
3. Click Toolbars and Extensions.
4. Remove the unwanted extension.
5. Click Close.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+A.
2. Click Extensions.
3. Find the unwanted toolbar.
4. Click the Remove button.

Google Chrome

1. Press Alt+F and open More tools.
2. Select Extensions.
3. Find the add-on.
4. Click Remove.

Remove leftover files

1. Press Windows Key+E.
2. Type the following address into the address bar: C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage.
3. Delete the following files.

• http_packagetracking.dl.tb.ask.com_0.localstorage-journal.
• http_packagetracking.dl.tb.ask.com_0.localstorage.
• http_packagetracking.dl.myway.com_0.localstorage-journal.
• http_packagetracking.dl.myway.com_0.localstorage.

1. Then go to C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86.)
2. Delete PackageTracking_dh, dhUninstall PackageTracking.dll, and dhres.dll.

Remove the leftover keys in the Windows Registry.

1. Press Windows Key+R.
2. Type regedit in the box.
3. Click OK.
4. Delete the following registry keys.

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AppDataLow\Software\PackageTracking_dh.
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet.
• Explorer\DOMStorage\packagetracking.dl.tb.ask.com.
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet.
• Explorer\SearchScopes\{79e5f137-ae72-4090-ae49-4516954fe3a4}.
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet.
• Explorer\SearchScopes\{79e5f137-ae72-4090-ae49-4516954fe3a4}.
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PackageTracking_dh.
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\PackageTracking_dh.