I have been battling Babylon

[Bill Bos]

I have been battling Babylon. I believe I have gotten all of the entries out of the registry, but I am not sure. I wonder if I did a repair install if it would construct a new registry without all of the extraneous crud such as hidden Babylon entries?

Bill Bos

 

[Brink]

Hello Bill,

Sorry, but no. A repair install will not affect registry entries for an installed program/game like this. A repair install is mostly for repairing Windows itself instead.

Depending on how long ago you installed Babylon, you could do a system restore using a restore point (if available) dated before you installed it. This will remove all traces of Babylon.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Bill Bos]

Hi Shawn:

Your information sure does help. thank you so much even though it wasn't what I was hoping for.

Babylon is a malware program. I don't know how it got on my machine. It is a search bar that takes over your browser. It comes right back when you remove it by normal means. The removal procedures given on line and by the Babylon Company don't work. You have to find and the individual files and entries Babylon installs on your system.

I was using a utility named "Find in Registry" in a registry cleaning program named "RegSeeker". The culprits I cleaned out were a registry entry named "Browser Manager" and all files and registry entries that had "Babylon" in their names. At one time I found 47 "Browser Manager" entries in the registry. After I was done I thought I might just as well run the registry cleaner in "RegSeek". I had run it before and it seemed to work smoothly. After it was done, I tried to reboot my C: drive. The boot process seemed to go OK, but then after the Microsoft Logo with the "Starting Windows" message, a black screen with the mouse arrowhead cursor was presented. The system just stalled there.

I was thinking that it wasn't completing the boot process, so I tried running Startup Repair. That was why I didn't get right back with you. This did not change the start up behavior. Also, Start Repair returned the message "Boot status indicates that the OS booted successfully". Does this indicate that the boot process is OK and the problem is in the system installation? Now should I run Repair Install to fix the system installation?

I could easily do a System Restore, but then I would have to go through the whole Babylon removal process again. The removal process that I did may have worked.
I don't know. Your observations will be greatly appreciated.

I should have given you the information on my computer system. It is a dual boot installation with two Windows 7 systems. One is the back up for the other. That is why I can communicate with you even though one system is down.

The specifics are:

Windows 7 Professional SP1, 64 bit
Processor: Intel Core i5 cpu [email protected] GHz 2.66GHz
RAM: 8.00 GB

Hard Drive: Western Digital 1TB

. Drive Volumes
Label Size Ltr Files
1wd1000_001 147GB C or H Win 7-1 system
1wd1000_002 83GB E Downloads and installation
1wd1000_003 83GB F Data
1wd1000_004 144GB G Future Linux
1wd1000_005 195GB H or C Win 7-2 system

The Win7-1 system on volume 1wd1000_001 is the one that Babylon severely corrupted

 

[Brink]

Sorry Bill. Personally I prefer the scorched Earth approach when it comes to malware, and format the HDD to do a clean install of Windows 7.

If you have not already, then you may considering doing a full scan of your system with Windows Defender Offline at boot, and with Malwarebytes free.

 

[Bill Bos]

Shawn:
You probably are right. But, I think I will try a repair install. There is nothing to lose. I have tried Melwarebytes and couple of others that claimed that they could remove Babylon. None of them worked. If you do a web search on Babylon you will see that it has been a problem for quite some time. It may be that it is mutating. Also the Babylon Company has convinced the Anti virus people that Babylon is not malware. I will let you know how it works out. It is getting late and I am going to quit for the evening.

Thanks.
Bill Bos

 

[Bill Bos]

I did try to do a Repair Install. I couldn't even get started, because the system wouldn't install. I tried system restore and found a restore point that had just a few of the Babylon entries. I used the Find in Registry Utility in RegSeek to find them and remove them. My system is up, running and appears to be Babylon free.

This discussion is getting well beyond the original question of what does W7 Repair Install do to the registry. It probably should be continued on another thread that is devoted to Babylon removal. My battle with Babylon has been a long one. I feel that I have it reasonably under control, but there is more to do. You are right a scorched earth policy is best. This is an invasion and you want to clobber them at the beech. That means use System Restore if possible. To do this, you have to make sure that you have clean system restore points available. You have to hit them with System Restore as soon as the problem appears. If you fool around with it, you will find that all of your system restore points are contaminated. Then it becomes a much more difficult problem, and you will find that you have to do a clean reinstall or fool around trying to find the individual culprit files and remove them, like I did.

I would like to take some time to summarize what I have found and post it so that it might be useful to others and used as a basis to refining the information.

Thanks again Shawn. Once again you have been a great help.

Bill Bos

 

[Brink]

Anytime Bill. I would recommend posting about Babylon in the System Security forum area where some of our great security experts may be able to help.

 

[Bill Bos]

Thanks Shawn. Will do, but it will be a while before I can doit.

Bill Bos

 

[Ex_Brit]

To uninstall the Babylon from Computer

Just a note here. I'm reading the Babylon saga with interest. We've had several cases of this over at McAfee Security Forums and Babylon is indeed legitimate software. It's offered with a number of programs (one I can think of right now would be Incredimail but there are many others) as an optional extra download, a common practice these days unfortunately, and is based in the Middle East apparently. If you don't uncheck that optional extra download it will install along with the main software you are installing. Other companies that are doing this that immediately come to mind are Adobe and Oracle but dozens of others do this to keep their costs and therefore the cost to you down or even free.

I 'contracted' it once and a simple uninstall using Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a Program got rid of it. Now that doesn't mean that there isn't malware out there masquerading as Babylon, perhaps there are, but I think they are getting an unnecessarily bad rap. Of course if you have malware that's masquerading as Babylon then mea culpa. I guess I was 'lucky'.

Some suggestions I and others posted on our forums over at McAfee:


1. System Restore would be my best one to cure any major problem such as this.

2.

In IE "Go to "Tools--Internet Options--General" then look down to see the wording--"Change How Webpages are Shown in Tabs" clck on there, at the bottom it shows 3 different options of how to use the TABS. I took the last one. Babylon Search is gone!!"

3. A rather expensive removal tool: Babylon Toolbar Removal Tool - CNET Download.com


4.

To uninstall the Babylon from Computer

1: Click on Start Menu and Click on Control Panel, and then:

2: On Windows Vista or Windows 7, go to "Uninstall Programs" under "Programs and Features ":

In XP it is Add/Remvoe Programs.

3: Select the Babylon you wish to uninstall from the list and click "Uninstall":

4: Follow the steps of the uninstaller application:

To uninstall the Babylon from Firefox

1: On the Menu Bar, go to "Tools" -> "Addons":

2: Select the Babylon you wish to uninstall from the Extensions list - then click "Uninstall":

3: When prompted to do so, restart Firefox:



After this if you are still see the Babylon

Press on Windows Key and R key together on the keyboard
Now you will get a Run Window. Inside the Run window Type REGEDIT and press on Ok.
Now you can see a Registry. (Be Care Full While using registry)

Do note that editing the registry incorrectly may cause your computer to become unusable.

Got to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Babylon and delete Babylon
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Babylon and delete Babylon

And restart the computer. Now it will be gone.

Don't Forgot to change your home page to Google after this fix

5. We even had Babylon post in our forums about it:

Dear Sir/Madam

Babylon Offers a full service for all its products and features valid from the Babylon Store and on the world wide web
You can gain a full support and assistance on how to remove Babylon from your computer by the following ways :


Phone-18668086361 (US)
Email: [email protected]
Website for Chat and Q& A : http://support.babylon.com/

Babylon holds more than 150 Million Clients worldwide, with reputation for 15 Years, Babylon has no intention to destroy that reputation and therefor offers help and assistance for anyone who seeks for , in order
To make sure the Software will work or be removed if the client requires it ,feel free to contact us
Thank you in Advance

Babylon

There are many other posts I could copy but that should keep one occupied for now.