How To Stop 404 Errors Redirecting To search.conduit.com

(a.k.a.: How to remove the Conduit search virus)

There’s an evil Firefox plugin distributed with some downloadable software which reconfigures Firefox to redirect to search.conduit.com whenever it encounters a 404 error from any website. I know it’s evil because it’s installed without your consent.

It’s also confusing and massively annoying because you don’t get to read the text of the 404 page which could actually help you find what you were looking for. Instead, you get to look at Conduit’s crappy search engine. I know it’s crappy because they need to install malware just to get you to visit it.

I searched forever to find how to remove this beast, and it seemed to keep on coming back all the time! I’d like to stamp this Conduit malware on the head and get it detected by virus scanners. So please submit it as malware to your chosen security software firm, and link to this article so that others can find the antidote easily.

Now that I seem to have got it successfully removed, here’s how to disable redirection to search.conduit.com on 404 errors. I’m using Windows 7 but I imagine these instructions will work on other systems too:

Step 1: Disable the Conduit plugin

Go to Firefox -> Add-Ons -> Plugins, and click Disable next to the Conduit plugin.

If it doesn’t appear in the list, proceed to Step 2 anyway.

Step 2: Remove the Conduit plugin

In the address bar, visit: about:plugins

Find the Conduit plugin in the list, and note the Path: for the Conduit plugin.

If you can’t find the Conduit plugin in the list, proceed to Step 3.

Otherwise, Close Firefox.

Open the directory containing the Conduit plugin in Windows Explorer, and delete the File: for the plugin.

Note that merely removing the plugin isn’t enough to stop the bad behaviour. You still need to proceed to Step 3.

Step 3: Delete the Conduit config entries

Open Firefox again and visit: about:config

Click “I’ll be careful, I promise!” in the warning box.

In the Search field enter “conduit“.

Right-click on each of the preferences and select Reset for each one.

Please share this article with your friends so we can put Conduit and their malware out of businsess.