SweetIM - How to remove

SweetIM is browser hijacker infection that can be installed to your computer bundled with other software. In many cases one does not know about this toolbar installation before it makes changes to Internet browser settings. Add-on becomes active if a computer user does not take off a checkbox when installing the main software. SweetIM Virus replaces original home page and default search engine to search.sweetim.com. This malware distribution method is called bundling and is the most popular among all distribution methods. How can you avoid this happening? Simply pay close attention to the installation process of freeware. Usually additional software like this is marked as default option, so if you do not change anything, it will get installed eventually.

This infection operates as browser add-on. It was developed to fit all most common web browsers, so it does not matter whether you use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox – either one of them can be infected. If SweetIM is added to the extension list of your web browser, it will automatically change both homepage and default search engine without asking you for permission. Those settings can not be changed manually until you completely remove the virus from your computer.

Although the webpage to which an infected computer’s user is redirected to looks like an ordinary search page, there are points one should know. First of all, when you perform any search on this search engine, you will be given SweetIM ads among top results. It means that you may get not exactly what you searched for. Usually websites affiliated to SweetIM are of a low-quality, sometimes can be even dangerous and implement other malware onto your system.

Another issue to consider is your privacy and the right to chose. The changes made to your PC were without your consent and you were not left any option to undo the changes. Talking about your privacy, SweetIM Virus is known to monitor your Internet browsing behaviour and send this data to remote servers. Information gathered might be used for various purposes, such as targeted advertising.

Once you made up your mind to remove SweetIM, a simple uninstall procedure will not be enough. It is highly recommended to perform a full system scan before doing anything else. You should do this using anti-malware program like Spyhunter for this. In many cases toolbars are distributed by Trojans therefore you should make sure similar infections are removed and only then move on to the manual removal procedure. We have developed a step-by-step SweetIM manual removal guide which can be found below this article, so feel free to take a look at it.

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Manual removal of SweetIM virus

How to remove SweetIM using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like SweetIM install some of their components as regular Windows programs as well as additional software. This part of malware can be uninstalled from the Control Panel. To access it, do the following.

• Start→Control Panel (older Windows) or press Windows Key→Search and enter Control Panel and then press Enter (Windows 8, Windows 10).
• Choose Uninstall Program (if you don't see it, click in the upper right next to "View by" and select Category).
• Go through the list of programs and select entries related to SweetIM . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make SweetIM easier to find.
• Click the Uninstall button. If you're asked if you really want to remove the program, click Yes.
• In many cases anti-malware programs are better at detecting related parasites, thus I recommend installing Spyhunter to identify other programs that might be a part of this infection.

How to remove SweetIM from macOS

Delete SweetIM from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the SweetIM app.
5. Select it and right-click it (or hold the Ctrl and click the left mouse button).
6. In the dropdown, click Move to Bin/Trash. You might be asked to provide your login password.

TopHow To remove SweetIM from Google Chrome:

• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select More Tools→Extensions
  
• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.
  
• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select Settings
  
• Select Manage Search engines
  
• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list
  
• Go back to settings. On Startup choose Open blank page (you can remove undesired pages from the set pages link too).
• If your homepage was changed, click on Chrome menu on the top right corner, select Settings. Select Open a specific page or set of pages and click on Set pages.
  
• Delete malicious search websites at a new Startup pages window by clicking “X” next to them.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to SweetIM, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on a Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on theReset browser settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How To remove SweetIM from Firefox:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (Or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything SweetIM related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on the Firefox menu in the top right corner, select Options → General. Enter a preferable URL to the homepage field and click Restore to Default.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to SweetIM, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• ChooseTroubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on theReset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program to identify malicious entries.

How to remove SweetIM from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.

• Click on the three-dot menu on the browser toolbar and Select Settings

• Select Privacy and Services and scroll down. Press on Address bar.

• Choose Manage search engines.

• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list: open the three-dot menu and choose Remove.

• Go back to Settings. Open On start-up.
• Delete malicious search websites at Open specific page or pages by opening the three-dot menu and clicking Delete.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to SweetIM, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings

• Click on Edge's menu button and select Settings. Click on the Reset Settings button on the left.
• Press the Restore settings to their default values option.

• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove SweetIM from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall SweetIM and other suspicious extensions.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences and choose General tab. Enter preferable URL to the homepage field.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings(older versions) If you are still experiencing any issues related to SweetIM, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Reset Safari…
  
• Select which options you want to reset (usually all of them come preselected) and click on the Reset button.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

 

Manual removal