[Alex Ethridge]

I have done something recently and gotten two browser annoyances that I would like to get rid of.

To be clear, I don't want them just disabled; I want them OUT! -- completely removed from my system.

See attachments.

[TheShooter93]

The first attachment looks like an ad. This you can't get rid of, as it's not on your computer. You can turn on pop-up blocker within your web browser, or if you use Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome, download an ad-on such as Adblock Plus that will do the same thing.

The second attachment looks like the default screen that shows up when you create a new tab. This is just something the web browser displays, there isn't any way to get rid of it.

[throoper]

Is the second shot what opens when you click "New Tab"?
It should be a blank page. If it's not it's likely an Add-on that's doing it.
Click Help>Restart with Add-ons disabled and see if New Tabs open blank as they should.

[Alex Ethridge]

The first attachment looks like an ad. This you can't get rid of, as it's not on your computer.

This ad pops up at various, unrelated sites, Lowes.com and ebay.com, for example. The ad is identical everywhere it pops up except for the sites' logos. This blekko and coupon stuff started immediately after I attempted to get a driver that seemingly was unavailable without downloading some download manager crap. I finally surrendered and installed their download manager and the driver I was looking for wasn't there.

I already have (and always have had) Firefox set to block pop-ups. It works on everything else but not this.

Is the second shot what opens when you click "New Tab"?

That's exactly what opens, that screen shot.

Click Help>Restart with Add-ons disabled and see if New Tabs open blank as they should.

I get a blank page.

To be clear, I want this OFF my system, not just disabled.

[TOGG]

I don't know about the irritating coupon popup but have you checked the blekko Help page for details about how to remove it?;http://help.blekko.com/

[throoper]

Originally Posted by Alex Ethridge

That's exactly what opens, that screen shot.I get a blank page.

To be clear, I want this OFF my system, not just disabled.

First you'll need to uninstall the download manager you put in as that's likely causing the blekko search.
If that doesn't do the trick, check the other Add-ons to see if one of them is related to it. If it isn't obvious what one, disable them one by one until you find it.

That may also solve the pop-up problem.

Of course this assumes they are only running from a Firefox extension and you haven't downloaded malware to your computer.
I strongly suspect just an extension if it stops when they are disabled.

[Alex Ethridge]

I think I'll just uninstall and reinstall Firefox as a last resort. I did a word search in my firefox profile and found "blekko" in about 15 configuration files of the type I am afraid to edit. I also found and removed "blekko" from about twenty places in the Registry; but, nothing has stopped it.

[dvk01]

uninstalling firefox does NOT remove extensions
you need to look in the extensions list & see what is there
If nothing relevant has been installed, then it is a hidden extension & is malware & we can then move to malware forum to fix this
when you did the search of config files where did it say blekko was

[throoper]

Originally Posted by dvk01

uninstalling firefox does NOT remove extensions
you need to look in the extensions list & see what is there
If nothing relevant has been installed, then it is a hidden extension & is malware & we can then move to malware forum to fix this
when you did the search of config files where did it say blekko was

I echo that.
It's perfectly normal for extensions to write data to various files in the Profile and references may also write to the Registry.
Just disable the Add-ons "one by one" until you find the offender, then uninstall it.

Also, have you uninstalled the "download manager" that seems to have started this?

[Alex Ethridge]

uninstalling Firefox does NOT remove extensions

When I uninstall a program, I usually go in and delete its main folder, its common files folder and in some cases delete entries in the registry unique to that program. So, I think in this case it would have gotten rid of blekko as it has disappeared from Firefox since I deleted the "blekkotb_soc" folder and the "{7d9e1adc . . .}" folder from my profile folder.

when you did the search of config files where did it say blekko was

It was easier to do a screen shot of the result. See attachment.

Also, have you uninstalled the "download manager" that seems to have started this?

Yes, I uninstalled that several days ago just after I discovered it was just useless bait.

Anyway, thanks for all the help. Blekko appears to be gone for now and I hope for good.

I'm marking this thread solved.