I’ve had my computer infected by Conduit which is proving pretty difficult to remove completely. First off, why didn’t Avast protect me from getting this in the first place? It has been around for a while and I should have not been infected if Avast was doing it’s job. I had to run Malwarebytes to find it in the first place. I removed it with that program, but found it did not do it completely. I’ve removed a lot of what I can find, but I am still getting a message that it is looking for a dll file on startup which it can’t find because I deleted it. I’ve searched the registry and found items for Conduit that I’ve deleted but there are some entries that I can’t delete. I don’t think it is running anymore since I don’t see any evidence of it, but I have a problem with going to SafeZone automatically, which when I talked to one of Avast’s people on their help line, told me it was interfering with their product. How can I completely remove Conduit?
Conduit is a toolbar, bundled with software, it isn’t a virus or infection.
Malwarebytes removes it, ADWCleaner is another tool that will remove it for you.
Here’s the logs I came up with.
Yes, toolbar with capability to totally criple the system and make it incredibly slow and practicly unusable. When we clean it, system reborns, users get amazed cause it hasn’t worked so fast a long time…
Hi, tonynace
Please download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and save it to your desktop.
Note: You need to run the version compatibale with your system. If you are not sure which version applies to your system download both of them and try to run them.
Only one of them will run on your system, that will be the right version.
[*]Double-click to run it. When the tool opens click Yes to disclaimer.
[*]Press Scan button.
[*]It will make a log (FRST.txt) in the same directory the tool is run. Please attach it to your reply.
[*]The first time the tool is run, it makes also another log (Addition.txt). Please attach it to your reply.
I ran ADWcleaner and finally got rid of the popup I saw at startup and all the Conduit entries I found in the registry except for iSyncConduit.dll which I believe is Apple software, but I’ve attached the logs from Farbar anyway.
Download attached fixlist.txt to your Desktop.
NOTE: => It’s important that both files, FRST and fixlist.txt are in the same location or the fix will not work.
Run FRST/FRST64 and press the Fix button just once and wait.
If the tool needed a restart please make sure you let the system to restart normally and let the tool completes its run after restart.
The tool will make a log on the Desktop (Fixlog.txt). Please attach it to your reply.
Note: If the tool warned you about the outdated version please download and run the updated version.
===============================================
Please download AdwCleaner by Xplode and save to your Desktop.
Double click on AdwCleaner.exe to run the tool.
[*]Click on the Scan button.
[*]After the scan has finished click on the Clean button.
Press OK when asked to close all programs and follow the onscreen prompts.
Press OK again to allow AdwCleaner to restart the computer and complete the removal process.
[*]After rebooting, a logfile report (AdwCleaner[S0].txt) will open automatically.
[*]Post logfile will also be saved in the C:\AdwCleaner folder.
I already ran AdwCleaner but it didn’t auto save the log file so when I ran FRST it rebooted without asking so I lost the file. However, it did seem to fix some issues. I’ve attached the Fixlog.txt file.
How is the situation now?
:‘( I am infected with conduit, too. Is there anyone who can help? I search google, but cannot understand those manual guide on the Internet. I am not a computer-savvy at all :’(
Everything seems to be OK, but what did the log file tell you? I don’t think Conduit was running anymore because I had sufficiently disabled it with Malwarebytes and manually removing components, but I still had leftover registry entries and files that gave me that popup message on startup which I hadn’t been able to get rid of, but AdwCleaner took care of that. By the way, my other question wasn’t answered. Why did Avast allow me to get infected in the first place?
Try following the steps given to me. If you don’t understand, find somebody who’s a little more computer savvy to help.
Avast didn’t detected it, because this wasn’t in first place defined as virus. It is Potentially Unwanted Program or Adware, and majority of antivirus products doesn’t detect this software. That is why we have tools like Malwarebytes and Adware cleaner that are specialized for removing these nasties.
We’re done, only to remove used tools 
Please download DelFix by “Xplode” to your Desktop.
Run the tool and check the following boxes below;
[] Remove disinfection tools
[] Create registry backup
[*] Purge System Restore
Now click on “Run” button. Wait for the programme completes his work.
All the tools we used should be gone.
Tool will create and open an log report (DelFix.txt)
Note: The report will also be stored on C:\DelFix.txt
I don’t need DelFix log report.
Open your own topic and someone will assist you…
Why did I need those programs deleted? I may want to use them sometime in the future and it even deleted a program I hadn’t used in this process, HijackThis. Fortunately, it didn’t delete Malwarebytes, but I see that the latest Avast is supposed to have anti-malware protection as well, so do I still need Malwarebytes?
Hi tonynace,
MBAM and AdwCleaner as non-residental anti malware solutions form an excellent additional protection next to your residential av solution and for us here on these forums that is avast! of course. I also have SAS non residental installed next to avast! and the three (MBAM, AdwCleaner & SAS) combine beautifully on my laptop. I think qualified removal expert, TwinHeadedEagle, would come up with a similar advice. When running these programs always take care you have the latest program and definition updates ready to scan with. You may thank TwinHeadedEagle for his cleansing support and I wish you to stay safe and secure on the World Wide Interwebs a.o. through avast! av,
polonus
Why did I need those programs deleted?bc most of the tools used are tools you need to be trained to use, and only needed when a removal expert tell you to download and instruct you how to run
as said, malwarebytes you can keep … remeber to always update it before you start a scan as they have very frequent updates
aslo recomended if you use removable drives / usb stick MCShield usb protector www.mcshield.net it is free and a install and forget program
Thanks everybody for the help!