Converters Now developed by Mindspark Interactive is a Browser Extension for Google Chrome and is promoted at their website like a very useful tool for converting PDF and Doc files, alongside with dictionary, and other useful tools. While this might appeal to you the extension hijacks your New Tab page, changing it to Search.MyWay.com
While active, this extension monitors user’s online activity, recording visited websites, clicked links, bought products, and other browsing information. This information is later forwarded or sold to Mindsparks ad network to better deliver user Targeted Ads.
Browsing the internet with ConvertersNow will result in displaying additional ads, sponsored content, and sometimes even pop-up ads injected into various pages or websites throughout your browsing sessions.
CovertersNow has been marked as a Browser Hijacker by several anti-virus programs and it is marked for removal.
About Browser Hijackers
Browser hijacking is actually a type of unwanted software, commonly a browser add-on or extension, which then causes modifications in the web browser’s settings. There are plenty of reasons why you may experience a web browser hijack; however commercial, advertising, and marketing are the major purposes for their creation. Usually, the idea would be to force users to visit particular websites that are aiming to improve their site visitor traffic and generate higher ad income. Though it might appear harmless, these tools were created by vicious individuals who always try to take advantage of you, so that they can easily earn money from your naivety and distraction. Browser hijackers could also let other vicious programs without your knowledge further damage your PC.
How you can recognize a browser hijack
Signs that an internet browser is hijacked include: the home page of your respective web browser is changed all of a sudden; your web browser is constantly being redirected to pornography websites; default web engine is changed; you are finding new toolbars you haven’t witnessed before; unstoppable flurries of popup ads show up on your computer screen; your web browser starts running sluggishly or presents frequent glitches; Inability to navigate to certain sites, particularly anti-malware and also other security software websites.
So how does a computer get infected with a browser hijacker
Browser hijackers could use drive-by downloads or file-sharing networks or even an e-mail attachment in order to reach a targeted computer system. Many web browser hijackings come from add-on applications, i.e., browser helper objects (BHO), toolbars, or plug-ins added to browsers to provide the extra features. Also, certain freeware and shareware can put the hijacker inside your computer through the “bundling” technique. Some of the most well-known hijackers are ConvertersNow, Conduit Search, Babylon Toolbar, OneWebSearch, Sweet Page, and CoolWebSearch.
Browser hijackers might record user keystrokes to collect potentially important information leading to privacy issues, cause instability on systems, drastically disrupt user’s browsing experience, and eventually slow down the PC to a stage where it becomes unusable.
Removal
Some hijackers could be removed by deleting the freeware they were included with or by eliminating any extension you’ve recently added to your computer. Having said that, most hijackers are quite tenacious and need specialized applications to eradicate them. Furthermore, manual removals require deep system knowledge and therefore can be very difficult task for beginner computer users.
You might opt for automatic browser hijacker removal by just installing and running efficient anti-malware software. If you want to eliminate persistent hijackers quickly and effectively, install the top-rated, award-winning Anti-Malware tool Safebytes Anti-Malware.
What To Do If You Cannot Install Any Anti-virus?
Malware can cause several kinds of damage to computing devices, networks, and data. Certain malware goes to great lengths to prevent you from installing anything on your computer system, particularly anti-virus software. If you’re reading this article now, you might have perhaps recognized that a malware infection is the cause of your blocked web traffic. So what to do when you want to download and install an anti-malware program such as Safebytes? Although this kind of issue will be tougher to circumvent, there are some actions you can take.
Install in Safe Mode
If the malware is set to load immediately when Windows starts, entering safe mode could block the attempt. Since only the minimal applications and services start-up in Safe Mode, there are seldom any reasons for issues to occur. You will have to do the following to remove malware in Safe mode.
1) At power-on/startup, hit the F8 key in 1-second intervals. This should bring up the Advanced Boot Options menu.
2) Make use of the arrow keys to choose Safe Mode with Networking and hit ENTER.
3) When this mode loads, you will have an internet connection. Now, use your web browser to download and install Safebytes.
4) After installation, do a complete scan and let the software program remove the threats it finds.
Download the security software using a different internet browser
Certain viruses may target vulnerabilities of a specific browser that obstruct the downloading process. If you’re not able to download the security software using Internet Explorer, this means malware may be targeting IE’s vulnerabilities. Here, you must switch to another web browser like Chrome or Firefox to download the Safebytes application.
Create a portable USB antivirus for removing viruses
Another way is to download and transfer an anti-malware program from a clean PC to run a scan on the infected computer. Try these simple steps to clear up your affected computer using portable anti-malware.
1) Download Safebytes Anti-Malware or Microsoft Windows Defender Offline onto a clean PC.
2) Insert the pen drive on the same computer.
3) Double-click on the downloaded file to run the installation wizard.
4) Choose the drive letter of the USB drive as the location when the wizard asks you where you would like to install the anti-virus. Follow the instructions to complete the installation process.
5) Now, plug the pen drive into the infected system.
6) Double-click the EXE file to open the Safebytes tool from the pen drive.
7) Simply click “Scan Now” to run a complete scan on the infected computer for malware.
Benefits and Features of SafeBytes Security Suite
In order to protect your personal computer from a variety of internet-based threats, it’s important to install an anti-malware program on your personal computer. But with countless numbers of antimalware companies out there, these days it’s hard to decide which one you should buy for your personal computer. A few of them do a good job in eradicating malware threats while many will ruin your PC by themselves. You need to pick out a tool that has got a good reputation and detects not only computer viruses but other kinds of malware also. When considering trustworthy software programs, Safebytes Anti-Malware is undoubtedly the strongly recommended one.
Safebytes is one of the well-established PC solutions firms, which offer this all-inclusive anti-malware program. Using its outstanding protection system, this utility will automatically detect and eliminate most of the security threats, which include viruses, adware, browser hijackers, PUPs, trojans, worms, and ransomware.
There are lots of amazing features you will get with this particular security product. Listed below are some of the highlighted features included in the product.
Anti-Malware Protection: Using a critically acclaimed anti-malware engine, SafeBytes offers multilayered protection which is designed to catch and eliminate threats which are concealed deep in your PC.
Live Protection: SafeBytes provides real-time active supervision and protection from all known computer viruses and malware. It will constantly monitor your pc for hacker activity and also provides end-users with advanced firewall protection.
Safe Browsing: Through its unique safety score, SafeBytes notifies you whether a website is safe or not to visit it. This will make sure that you’re always certain of your safety when browsing the world wide web.
High-Speed Malware Scanning Engine: SafeBytes’s very fast malware scanning engine cuts down scan times and extends battery life. At the same time, it’ll effectively detect and remove infected files or any internet threat.
Lightweight: SafeBytes is a lightweight application. It consumes a very small amount of processing power as it works in the background therefore you won’t observe any computer performance difficulties.
24/7 Online Tech Support: You can get high levels of support 24/7 if you are using their paid software.
To conclude, SafeBytes Anti-Malware is pretty great for securing your computer against all sorts of malware threats. There is no doubt that your computer system will be protected in real-time once you put this software program to use. For top protection and the best value for money, you can’t get better than SafeBytes Anti-Malware.
Technical Details and Manual Removal (Advanced Users)
If you’d like to carry out the removal of ConvertersNow manually instead of employing an automated tool, you may follow these steps: Proceed to the Windows Control Panel, click on the “Add/Remove Programs” and there, choose the offending program to remove. In case of suspicious versions of web browser extensions, you can easily get rid of them via your browser’s extension manager. It’s also advised to factory reset your web browser to its default condition to fix corrupt settings.
If you decide to manually delete the system files and Windows registry entries, use the following checklist to make sure you know precisely what files to remove before executing any actions. But bear in mind, this is often a tough task and only computer professionals could accomplish it safely. Furthermore, certain malicious programs are capable to defend against its removal. Doing this malware-removal process in Safe Mode is recommended.
Files:
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\ConvertersNowTooltab
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Sync Extension Settings\jbfdncemokhjnhoiohfdjahheefaiaec
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Sync Extension Settings\jbfdncemokhjnhoiohfdjahheefaiaec
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Extension Settings\jbfdncemokhjnhoiohfdjahheefaiaec
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Extension Settings\jbfdncemokhjnhoiohfdjahheefaiaec
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\jbfdncemokhjnhoiohfdjahheefaiaec
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\jbfdncemokhjnhoiohfdjahheefaiaec
Registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\ConvertersNow
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ConvertersNow
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Google\Chrome\PreferenceMACs\Default\extensions.settings, value: jbfdncemokhjnhoiohfdjahheefaiaec
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStorage\convertersnow.dl.tb.ask.com
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStorage\convertersnow.dl.myway.com
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..Uninstaller
ConvertersNowTooltab Uninstall Internet Explorer
When opened you will be greeted with general settings window. These are settings for power toys themselves, Here you can check for updates, change the looks of power toys, run it on system startup and run them as administrator. Set them up so they best suit your needs.
The color picker will let you as the name suggests pick colors, it will sample colors from running applications and windows, snap their values, and place them in the clipboard. A useful application if you are working as a graphic designer, want to create some cool word document, or just want to compare the difference between colors.
After the Color Picker is activated, hover your mouse cursor over the color you would like to copy and left-click the mouse button to select a color. If you want to see the area around your cursor in more detail, scroll up to zoom in. The copied color will be stored in your clipboard in the format that is configured in the settings (HEX by default). The editor lets you see the history of picked colors (up to 20) and copy their representation in any predefined string format. You can configure what color formats are visible in the editor, along with the order that they appear. This configuration can be found in PowerToys settings. The editor also allows you to fine-tune any picked color or get a new similar color. Editor previews different shades of currently selected color - 2 lighter and 2 darker ones. Clicking on any of those alternative color shades will add the selection to the history of picked colors (appears on the top of the colors history list). Color in the middle represents your currently selected color from the history of the colors. By clicking on it, the fine-tuning configuration control will appear, which will let you change the HUE or RGB values of the current color. Pressing OK will add newly configured color into the history of the colors.
FancyZones is a window manager utility for arranging and snapping windows into efficient layouts to improve the speed of your workflow and restore layouts quickly. FancyZones allows the user to define a set of window locations for a desktop that are drag targets for windows. When the user drags a window into a zone, the window is resized and repositioned to fill that zone. When first launched, the zones editor presents a list of layouts that can be adjusted by how many windows are on the monitor. Choosing a layout shows a preview of that layout on the monitor. The selected layout is applied automatically.
Only 3 options here but maybe some are important to you. This extension lets you enable SVG file preview in File Explorer, enable Markdown preview, and enable SVG thumbnails. Turn on each one you might need.
Image Resizer is a Windows shell extension for bulk image-resizing. After installing PowerToys, right-click on one or more selected image files in File Explorer, and then select Resize pictures from the menu. You can specify your own sizes if you want, you can resize when dragging files, you can overwrite files or make new copies of new sizes, and many more options. A very useful tool I am sure plenty of users can use since this eliminates the need for pictures or any other image application for common resizing tasks.
The PowerToys Keyboard Manager enables you to redefine keys on your keyboard. For example, you can exchange the letter A for the letter D on your keyboard. When you select the A key, a D will display. You can also exchange shortcut key combinations. For example, the shortcut key, Ctrl+C, will copy the text in Microsoft Word. With the PowerToys Keyboard Manager utility, you can exchange that shortcut for ⊞ Win+C). Now, ⊞ Win+C) will copy text. If you do not specify a targeted application in PowerToys Keyboard Manager, the shortcut exchange will be applied globally across Windows. PowerToys Keyboard Manager must be enabled (with PowerToys running in the background) for remapped keys and shortcuts to be applied. If PowerToys is not running, key remapping will no longer be applied.
PowerRename is a bulk renaming tool that enables you to:
PowerToys Run is a quick launcher for power users that contains some additional features without sacrificing performance.
PowerToys Run features include:
This guide uses PowerToys to display common keyboard shortcuts that use the Windows ⊞ key. Windows key keyboard shortcuts can be used while the guide is being shown and the result of those shortcuts (active window moved, arrow shortcut behavior changes, etc) will be displayed in the guide. Releasing the Windows ⊞ key will make the overlay disappear. Tapping the Windows ⊞ key will display the Windows Start menu.
Hey, you made it till the end, thank you for reading and I hope to see you soon. 
That being said, now when services are back we stopped and reflected on the platform itself and on its users. If Facebook is vulnerable so are its users, but sometimes users themselves are responsible for being a target. We step back and take a look at posts that manifest on Facebook and have come with some advice on what things you should never post on Facebook and on other social platforms.
