Why is it so hard to get rid of Iminent Toolbar from Chrome? I was intending to install a totally different program when I got this pesky thing. This toolbar changed my default homepage to search.iminent.com and installed its extension on my Chrome browser without asking my consent. I tried uninstalling it through the Control Panel but my system did not allow me to do this. If I remove it via changing my browser settings it just comes back within a few minutes. I’m at my wit’s end now. Thank you in advance for any helpful advice!
If you’ve ever had your web browsers hijacked by Iminent Toolbar or any malware, download the antimalware program to help you detect and easily remove Iminent Toolbar from your computer.
Overview of Iminent Toolbar
Iminent Toolbar was initially designed as a funny browser extension that will enhance users’ online communications by helping them to express their emotions with thousands of animated emoticons, emojis and symbols. This application can be installed on most browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer as a standalone browser extension. Some web users who are active in instant messaging and chatting are more likely to have this toolbar installed on their browsers for they are not content with the emoticons and stickers within the instant messaging clients.
After this program is installed successfully, it is able to work on many communication platforms including Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Outlook as well as Facebook. It will show up on every web page you visit and allow you to insert emoticons and symbols directly into the context of any text box.
Does all these sound great to you? Do not forget that there is no such thing as a free lunch even this toolbar is distributed free of charge to public. All users must accept its terms and conditions for using it. And it is time to realize Iminent Toolbar is a malicious browser toolbar in fact.
On the screenshot above you can see there are four key changes that the toolbar makes on your computer. Basically, it will replace the default start page and homepage of your browsers with Seach.iminent.com/_PARAM_ and the search engine will also get changed to the same website. Users may think this is its affiliated site and agree to add this extension without thinking twice. When Iminent Toolbar has completed the installation, users will see such a notice within their browsers. It claims that users can manage their extensions on the browser settings, but actually it is not that easy to get rid of what Iminent Toolbar brings to your system.
The toolbar of Iminent is deemed as a malicious browser hijacker in the database of some security products for it does not bring anything good to computer users and not allow them to change the browser settings. Iminent Toolbar virus will take over the browser settings when it comes into your computer. Users will be notified that the settings will get changed, but they don’t know they will lose the control to their browsers. Once this browser hijacker has been activated, users’ browsing activities will be disturbed severely.
Its icon and toolbar will show on each web page you open. While browsing the web, the browser installed with Iminent Toolbar will redirect users to random websites and pop up a slew of spammy ads on screen. The situation could get even worse if users ignore the ads. Even if you are viewing a normal and absolutely legitimate website, you will still receive unwanted pop-ups or get redirected to malicious websites.
On the other hand, this malicious toolbar can be bundled with other potentially unwanted program and some legitimate software by the software developer or dishonest advertiser who uses it as an additional source of income. If you enter its official site http://www.iminent.com, you will find that the download source of Iminent Toolbar is unavailable on the download page for unknown reason. However, this toolbar has been distributed for many years in other insidious ways so we still can see discussions about how to delete Iminent Toolbar malware on the Internet every now and then. Since it will make lots of changes to the computer and browsers without users’ permission, users will have to do rather tough work for removing it from the PC.
No matter how this annoying toolbar gets installed on the computer, its users will always suffer from malware attacking. During the software installation, the developer will trick users into installing additional programs that users don’t need. As shown on the screenshot above, users may be offered with an option to install extra software during the installation steps of Iminent Toolbar. If users do not read each step carefully and quickly click on “Next” or “Accept” to get the installation done, it will certainly end up with additional software on the computer.
Usually the unwanted programs invited by the rogue toolbar are malicious programs which will automatically install more intrusive browser extensions and adware. The unknown programs on your PC and a barrage of advertisements will make your computer exceedingly slow and even freeze at times.
Intrusive toolbars and other potentially unwanted programs (PUP) always support each other by making the option of installing extra programs selected by default. Once the unexpected program complete the installation, it is hard to get rid of them completely.
There will be a lot of irritating programs running on the infected system and the user cannot use the computer normally. For instance, a malevolent program can download a command file from a specified URL and the file will be saved as a batch file hidden in folders to be executed. Malicious files will be generated and become invisible to users, so most of users are fail to uninstall unwanted program via Control Panel and delete infections totally.
There is another important reason that all users are suggested to remove Iminent Toolbar from browsers if they have installed it. If any user uses the search provider of Search.iminent.com, he or she will not get any useful search result. Instead, users will be served with advertising contents and unwanted redirects. Moreover, this pesky toolbar collects users’ information when they visit the site and install one or more application components, including the computer’s Internet Protocol (IP) address, type of browsers or version, operating system or version or the webpage they visiting.
Please be alert to the possibility that it might also store users’ identifying information without users’ knowledge and use the information to monitor and analyze users’ browsing habits so as to serve the ads based on their interests. To harden your browsers against malware and personal privacy concerns, you should use an antivirus which is able to detect PUPs and viruses and treat them as malware by flagging them for removing.
If your antivirus software fails to pick up or delete Iminent Toolbar, you can remove it through a reliable malware removal tool.
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