if there is a 180 search assistant thing in your start menu, you can click 'uninstall' empty your interent temp files.
if that dosnt work check here :
http://forum.japantoday.com/180_search_assistant_Alert/m_146034/tm.htm
or
1. First, the "automated" uninstall, via "Add or Remove Programs", which did not work for me, and
2. Second, the manual, more complicated, uninstall, which did work for me.
I suggest trying the "automated" uninstall first, and then, if it fails, try the manual uninstall which should never fail. I appreciate any feedback on success and/or failures with removing this spyware.
"Automated" Uninstall 180 Search Assistant
* These (automated) uninstall instructions are from
http://www.180searchassistant.com/uninstall.html, in case they ever change and become different from shown here. Manual uninstall instructions are after these automated uninstall instructions, in the probable case that the automated uninstall does not work.
* "Start"
* "Settings"
* "Control Panel"
* "Add or Remove Programs"
* Make sure you are connected to the Internet. (This is truly disgusting software.)
* Click "Uninstall 180search Assistant" (Yes, it does show up in "Add or Remove Programs", it is called "Uninstall 180search Assistant", not "180 Search Assistant" or "180search Assistant". By the way, always check "Add or Remove Programs" to remove annoying spyware, such as this, before using Ad-Aware or similar anti-spyware software to clean your system, as it will do a better and more thorough job.)
* A web page pops up and reads,
"We are sorry that you are thinking about uninstalling 180search Assistant. In case you did not realize it, 180search Assistant is permission-based search assistant application that sponsors free software and content sites. If you have 180search Assistant installed, then you have either downloaded free software we sponsored or visited a website sponsored by 180search Assistant. Removing 180search Assistant might remove or disable software applications you like and use everyday."
* Do not pay attention to any of that ridiculous nonsense. What 180search Assistant does, is not assist you in any way what-so-ever. Instead, it pops up very annoying ads. Popup blockers like Google's toolbar, will not block these popups as they are spawned from a program on your computer, not from a webpage you are visiting. The program is so secretive, that many people who have it installed do not realize it and think the popups are coming from the websites they are visiting! Imagine if this were your website and your business. Good riddance!
* Click "CONTINUE UNINSTALL"
* The web page now reads,
"180search Assistant does NOT show pop-up ads - it only shows you websites we match up to targeted keywords that you type into shopping sites or search engines. Uninstalling 180search Assistant will NOT prevent you from getting pop-up ads. Uninstalling 180search Assistant will prevent you from seeing products and offers that you might miss out on the next time you are searching or shopping online."
* More non-sense and outright lies. The reality is, 180search Assistant DOES show very annoying pop-up ads. In fact, it is so geared to show popup ads, its uninstall feature is a popup ad itself. The uninstall feature itself is annoying. Can this software get any more annoying to the user it is supposedly helping? Unfortunately, yes...
* Click "CONTINUE UNINSTALL" for the second time.
* The web page now reads,
"You have requested to uninstall 180search Assistant. Sorry you did not find 180search Assistant worth your while. Note: You must select 'yes' at the prompt to complete the uninstall."
* Click "CONTINUE UNINSTALL" for the third time.
* The web page now reads,
"You have successfully uninstalled 180search Assistant. Sorry you did not find it worth your while. Please come again."
* Done? Perhaps, but probably not. As far as I know, this uninstall does not work.
* "Add or Remove Programs" will probably freeze up. (If it didn't, then great! Maybe you are done! But, continue reading just in case you have to perform the much more complicated manual uninstall below.) The freezing is because msbb.exe, the 180 Search Assistant spyware program itself, is frozen, not Microsoft's Add or Remove Programs program. (How quickly we blame Microsoft for everything.) msbb.exe is the spyware and the uninstall program, all in one.
* Close down the msbb.exe program, if it is or is not frozen, just to be sure it is shut off. I do not believe the uninstall closes the program down either way, but closing it down makes certain it is gone:
* "CTRL-ALT-DEL"
* "Processes" tab
* Click "msbb.exe"
* Click "End Process"
* Check "Add or Remove Programs" to make sure the program is actually uninstalled. (For me, it is still there.)
* Check "Windows Task Manager" to make sure msbb.exe is no longer running. (It will be there again, if you invoke it again, such as running the uninstall under "Add or Remove Programs". If it is still there, close it down as previously explained.)
* Done? You are done if the process is gone and the listing under "Add or Remove Programs" is gone. If not, continue on...
Manually uninstall 180 Search Assistant
* Be sure to try the normal uninstall method (above) before doing this.
* Find 180 Search Assistant using Windows' Search:
* "Start"
* "Search"
* "For Files or Folders..."
* "All files and folders"
* Enter "msbb" in "All or part of the file name:"
* Click "Search"
* Wait for full results.
* You will see the install files in "C:\Program Files\180Solutions" and prefetch files in "C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch". Delete them all. You may delete them directly out of the "Search Results" window you are looking at.
* Visit "C:\Program Files" on your computer
* Delete "180Solutions"
* Visit "C:\Windows\System32"
* Check out all the "mdbb..." files. If you have more than the few that are mentioned here below, and they all have the same date/time stamp, then please contact me and let me know of the newer files... then delete them too!
* Delete "msbb.log" (or you may view it in NotePad to view what they are logging from you)
* Delete "msbb_kyf.dat"
* Delete "msbbau.dat"
* Now to delete it out of your (hidden) startup menu (not your un-hidden startup menu):
* "Start"
* "Run..."
* Type "msconfig" and press Enter (This brings up the "System Configuration Utility" which shows all the startup programs. For your information, "Start", "Programs", "Startup" does not show a full list.)
* "Startup" tab
* See "msbb" in the startup? Ok, this was just to show you that it does exist there. This is not how you delete it. You can disable it from here, but let's just delete it completely instead. Close down "System Configuration Utility", here's how to remove it:
* "Start"
* "Run..."
* Type "regedit" and press Enter
* Go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run"
* Delete "msbb" entry (This removes 180 Search Assistant from the "System Configuration Utility" startup menu. Go see that it is gone.)
* Go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall"
* Delete "msbb" directory (This removes the annoying and false "Uninstall 180search Assistant" entry in "Add or Remove Programs" now that we have already manually deleted the program's files and directories. Go see that it is gone.)
* Go to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software"
* Delete "180solutions" directory
* Delete "msbb" directory
* Go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE"
* Delete "180solutions" directory
* Delete "msbb" directory
* Please, if anyone knows of any other registry entries or anything else this annoying spyware program leaves on your sytesm, do not hesitate to contact me and let me know so that I can append this information to this uninstall tutorial.
* Check out
http://www.pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/n/ncase.asp for additional uninstall instructions that list even more processes, registry entries, directories and files to delete. There are so many different configurations of 180 Search Assistant that it is very hard to list them all. My uninstall instructions worked for my particular configuration, but yours may be different. So please check out that link. Whenever I get the time, I will append the knowledge from that article into this one.
* Done! At last!
An optional last step would be to search your registry for additional entries that are not listed here. Before you do this, please read the section of this article that explains certain registry entries that I have discovered that seem to be, but are not, related to 180 Search Assistant.
You may go ahead and search and delete, at your own risk, any more registry entries you find. What text should you search? Try some of the name variations of the program listed near the top of this article. Please contact me if you find additional entries.
but still post your HJT log in case