What is BarDiscover?
BarDiscover is an old adware application that was first detected in 2010. It is usually classified as adware, but in some cases it might function as a browser hijacker as well, considering that it can make you use a different search engine. It is very likely that BarDiscover has been and still is distributed bundled with freeware. Therefore, you should be cautious whenever you are about to install a new program on your computer. It is not troublesome to remove BarDiscover manually, but it would be better to avoid such applications completely rather than keep in removing them on a regular basis.
Where does BarDiscover come from?
As you can probably tell, the main home page for BarDiscover can be still accessed via bardiscover.com. However, there is no direct download link for the application there, and the page itself functions merely as a search engine. Since we cannot download BarDiscover at the main home page, we can make an assumption that the application is included into setups of other freeware applications.
Hence, each time you download a program from cNet, Softpedia, Software Informer and other third party file hosting websites, make sure that you do not install BarDiscover or any other potentially unwanted application on your computer. Do not go through the installation steps automatically.
What does BarDiscover do?
We have already mentioned in the first paragraph, that in some cases BarDiscover may behave as a browser hijacker. In fact, this infection can change your search engine to bardiscover.com. After the installation, the program can override all of your previous browser settings. As a result, all of the search keywords that you enter into your browser are processed by BarDiscover and not your previous search engine. Consequently, the search results displayed by BarDiscover are usually full of sponsored results and even commercial ads.
It is of no surprise that BarDiscover displays commercial advertisements. After all, it is an adware application, and it needs to sustain itself by promoting third party content. However, BarDiscover cannot be responsible for the safety of the third party content or any other unrelated website that you are redirected to once you click a commercial outgoing link. Therefore, whenever you click something via BarDiscover, you do it at your own risk.
How to remove BarDiscover?
Removing BarDiscover is necessary if you want to avoid various security threats and you wish you keep your computer clean. Based on our security research, BarDiscover can be removed manually via Control Panel. It removed the adware completely, but afterwards you should still reset your browser settings to default and invest in a powerful computer security application. With a computer security tool of choice you will be able to run a full system scan and delete other unwanted applications (if any).
Manual BarDiscover Removal
Windows 8
- Move mouse cursor to the bottom right of the screen.
- Click Settings on Charm bar and go to Control Panel.
- Select Uninstall a program and remove BarDiscover.
Windows Vista & Windows 7
- Open Start menu and click Control Panel.
- Go to Uninstall a program and remove BarDiscover.
Windows XP
- Click Start menu and select Control Panel.
- Open Add or remove programs and uninstall BarDiscover.
Reset browser settings to default
Internet Explorer
- Press Alt+T and click Internet options.
- Open Advanced tab and click Reset.
- Select Delete personal settings and click Reset.
- Press Close.
Mozilla Firefox
- Press Firefox button and navigate to Help.
- Click Troubleshooting information.
- Click Reset Firefox at the top right of a new tab.
- Press Reset Firefox on a pop-up box and click Finish.
Google Chrome
- Press Alt+F and go to Settings.
- Scroll down to Users and highlight your account.
- Click Delete.
tested removal of BarDiscover*
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