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hello, can someone help me get rid of a toolbar/ or a virus, i don't know what it is/
it's called Gqs.donedrive
I have absoluteley no idea how it got there, it just showed up and now I can't remove this annoying little green leprechaun x.x

Edited by JorgeM because: Move to Viruses, spyware forum category
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Brief expert note: the item reported as Gqs.donedrive in this thread behaves like a browser-installed adware/toolbar rather than deep system malware. ’s suggestion to run an on‑demand scanner and ’s follow‑up that a step‑by‑step removal cleared the issue are consistent with the usual cleanup pattern: remove visible components, then hunt for persistent startup entries and leftover files.

Practical, ordered checklist for similar toolbar/adware removals:

  1. Create a System Restore point and back up important files before changes.
  2. Boot to Safe Mode (with Networking if an online scan is needed).
  3. Check Control Panel / Programs and Features for any similarly named entry and uninstall it.
  4. Inspect browser extensions/add‑ons for the toolbar, remove unknown entries, and reset homepage/search settings; also check browser shortcut “Target” fields for added parameters.
  5. Run an on‑demand anti‑malware scan (as suggested earlier) and remove detected items.
  6. Review Startup, Scheduled Tasks and services (Task Manager → Startup, msconfig or an autorun viewer) and disable/delete suspicious entries.
  7. Verify the hosts file (C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts) and reset networking state:
ipconfig /flushdns
netsh winsock reset
  1. Clear temp files, reboot, then re‑scan to confirm removal.

Troubleshooting and prevention: persistent toolbars often leave scheduled tasks, services or browser helper objects; removing those entries usually finishes the job. If removal fails, an offline rescue scan or bootable AV environment can find locked items. Prevent recurrence by using custom/advanced options during installs, avoiding bundled offers, keeping OS and browsers updated, and installing extensions only from trusted publishers. The sequence in this thread—manual cleanup plus an on‑demand scan—is the recommended approach for toolbar/adware like Gqs.donedrive.

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Member Avatar for orangepie

Hi gerbil, thank you for helping.

Fortunately it turned out it was not a virus, but just a toolbar with advertisement purposes ( with a smiling leprechaun :-D)

Anyways, I found a removal guide for the exact same thing and I followed the steps as shown there.
You recommended malwarebytes, so I downloaded it and did a scan. Things look good now. Thank you :-)

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