Find-Direct Cookie Threat Level:

Find-Direct Cookie is a “tracking cookie” that appears in fake security scans from Advanced Antivirus.

The “threat” of Find-Direct Cookie is just supposed to scare you into buying the fake antispyware, Advanced Antivirus, for $34.95-79.95.

Unless you like wasting money, don’t download Advanced Antivirus to remove Find-Direct Cookie. You’re not really infected with Find-Direct Cookie — you’re infected with fake anti-spyware that you need to remove.

Do You Have Find-Direct Cookie?

When you’re infected with badware — whether it’s Find-Direct Cookie, spyware, adware, a Trojan, or a virus — there are a few key symptoms. Have you noticed…

• Slow computer performance: It just takes one parasite like Find-Direct Cookie to slow your computer dramatically. If your PC takes longer than usual to reboot, or if your Internet connection is unusually slow, you may be infected with Find-Direct Cookie.
• New desktop shortcuts or switched homepage: Badware like Find-Direct Cookie may change your Internet settings to redirect your homepage to another site. Badware can even add desktop shortcuts to your PC.
• Annoying popups: Badware can bombard your computer with popup ads, even when you’re not online. Through these popups, you may be tricked into downloading more spyware.

How to Remove Find-Direct Cookie Manually

Before we get started, you should backup your system and your registry, so it’ll be easy to restore your computer if anything goes wrong.

To remove Find-Direct Cookie manually, you need to delete Find-Direct Cookie files. Not sure how to delete Find-Direct Cookie files? Click here, and I’ll show you. Otherwise, go ahead and…

Block Find-Direct Cookie sites:

Remove Find-Direct Cookie processes:

Detect and Remove Find-Direct Cookie files:

Note: In any Find-Direct Cookie files I mention above, “%UserProfile%” is a variable referring to your current user’s profile folder. If you’re using Windows NT/2000/XP, by default this is “C:\Documents and Settings\[CURRENT USER]” (e.g., “C:\Documents and Settings\JoeSmith”). If you have any questions about manual Find-Direct Cookie removal, go ahead and leave a comment.

How Do You Remove Find-Direct Cookie Files?

Need help figuring out how to delete Find-Direct Cookie files? While there’s some risk involved, and you should only manually remove Find-Direct Cookie files if you’re comfortable editing your system, you’ll find it’s fairly easy to delete Find-Direct Cookie files in Windows.

How to delete Find-Direct Cookie files in Windows XP and Vista:

1. Click your Windows Start menu, and then click “Search.”
2. A speech bubble will pop up asking you, “What do you want to search for?” Click “All files and folders.”
3. Type a Find-Direct Cookie file in the search box, and select “Local Hard Drives.”
4. Click “Search.” Once the file is found, delete it.

How to stop Find-Direct Cookie processes:

1. Click the Start menu, select Run.
2. Type taskmgr.exe into the the Run command box, and click “OK.” You can also launch the Task Manager by pressing keys CTRL + Shift + ESC.
3. Click Processes tab, and find Find-Direct Cookie processes.
4. Once you’ve found the Find-Direct Cookie processes, right-click them and select “End Process” to kill Find-Direct Cookie.

How to remove Find-Direct Cookie registry keys:

Because your registry is such a key piece of your Windows system, you should always backup your registry before you edit it. Editing your registry can be intimidating if you’re not a computer expert, and when you change or a delete a critical registry key or value, there’s a chance you may need to reinstall your entire system. Make sure your backup your registry before editing it.

1. Select your Windows menu “Start,” and click “Run.” An “Open” field will appear. Type “regedit” and click “OK” to open up your Registry Editor.
2. Registry Editor will open as a window with two panes. The left side Registry Editor’s window lets you select various registry keys, and the right side displays the registry values of the registry key you select.
3. To find a registry key, such as any Find-Direct Cookie registry keys, select “Edit,” then select “Find,” and in the search bar type any of Find-Direct Cookie’s registry keys.
4. As soon as Find-Direct Cookie registry key appears, you can delete the Find-Direct Cookie registry key by right-clicking it and selecting “Modify,” then clicking “Delete.”

How to delete Find-Direct Cookie DLL files:

1. First locate Find-Direct Cookie DLL files you want to delete. Open your Windows Start menu, then click “Run.” Type “cmd” in Run, and click “OK.”
2. To change your current directory, type “cd” in the command box, press your “Space” key, and enter the full directory where the Find-Direct Cookie DLL file is located. If you’re not sure if the Find-Direct Cookie DLL file is located in a particular directory, enter “dir” in the command box to display a directory’s contents. To go one directory back, enter “cd ..” in the command box and press “Enter.”
3. When you’ve located the Find-Direct Cookie DLL file you want to remove, type “regsvr32 /u SampleDLLName.dll” (e.g., “regsvr32 /u jl27script.dll”) and press your “Enter” key.

That’s it. If you want to restore any Find-Direct Cookie DLL file you removed, type “regsvr32 DLLJustDeleted.dll” (e.g., “regsvr32 jl27script.dll”) into your command box, and press your “Enter” key.

Did Find-Direct Cookie change your homepage?

1. Click Windows Start menu > Control Panel > Internet Options.
2. Under Home Page, select the General > Use Default.
3. Type in the URL you want as your home page (e.g., “http://www.homepage.com”).
4. Select Apply > OK.
5. You’ll want to open a fresh web page and make sure that your new default home page pops up.

Find-Direct Cookie Removal Tip

Is your computer acting funny after deleting any Find-Direct Cookie files? I recommend using a program like File Recover from PC Tools. File Recover saves deleted files that otherwise can’t be recovered by Windows operating sytem.

Want to save time finding Find-Direct Cookie files? Download Spyware Doctor, let it find the Find-Direct Cookie files for you, and then manually delete Find-Direct Cookie files.

How Did You Get Find-Direct Cookie?

Wondering how Find-Direct Cookie ended up on your PC? If you’re infected with Find-Direct Cookie or other badware, perhaps you were using…

• Freeware or shareware: Did you download and install shareware or freeware? These low-cost or free software applications may come bundled with spyware, adware, or programs like Find-Direct Cookie. Sometimes adware is attached to the free software to “pay” developers for the cost of creating the software, and more often spyware is secretly attached to free software to harm your computer and steal your personal and financial information.
• Peer-to-peer software: Do you use a peer-to-peer (P2P) program or other application with a shared network? When you use these applications, you put your system at risk for unknowingly downloading an infected file, including applications like Find-Direct Cookie.
• Questionable websites: Did you visit a website that’s of questionable nature? When you visit malicious sites that are fishy and phishy, badware may be automatically downloaded and installed onto your computer, sometimes including applications like Find-Direct Cookie. I recommend you use Firefox web browser, if you don’t already.

Understanding Find-Direct Cookie

If you’re infected with Find-Direct Cookie, you should know what you’re fighting. I’ll explain some definitions related to Find-Direct Cookie.

Find-Direct Cookie May Be Rogue Anti-Spyware

Rogue anti-spyware refers to anti-spyware/antivirus software of questionable value. Rogue anti-spyware may not be proven to protect your computer from spyware, may popup fake alerts or create many false positives about your PC being infected, or may use scare tactics to try to get you to purchase the application. Rogue anti-spyware software may be installed by a Trojan, come bundled with other software, or install itself through web browser security holes. While it is fairly rare, some rogue anti-spyware is created and distributed by known spyware or adware companies, and the rogue anti-spyware may install spyware or adware itself.

Often when you’re infected with rogue anti-spyware like Find-Direct Cookie, you’ll see a false popup security alert like this:

Rogue Anti-Spyware Tactics

Typically, rogue anti-spyware such as Find-Direct Cookie has one or more of the qualities listed below, which is why rogue anti-spyware is considered anti-spyware software of questionable value.

• False positives/fake alerts: Rogue anti-spyware may produce a large number of false positives or use fake alerts, noting that your computer is infected with spyware parasites or other threats that do not really exist.
• Copycat looks: Rogue anti-spyware may copy the look and feel of other legitimate or rogue anti-spyware applications. Often, rogue anti-spyware applications may appear as close clones of other rogue anti-spyware software.
• High pressure marketing: Rogue anti-spyware may use scare tactics or other aggressive advertising and marketing tactics to try to trick you into buying the rogue anti-spyware application. Often, rogue anti-spyware may produce false positives and fake alerts about your computer being infected.
• Poor detection/scan reporting: Rogue anti-spyware may produce poor reports when it scans your PC. For example, rogue anti-spyware may say your computer is infected 11 parasites, but not specify which spyware parasites or what type of parasites. Rogue anti-spyware may also report that your PC is infected with SafeAndClean, but not tell you which related files, DLLS, etc. were found on your computer.
• Weak scanning/detection: Rogue anti-spyware may not only poorly report on computer infection, but rogue antispyware may also poorly scan your PC. Rogue anti-spyware may skip over important folders and files of your computer that should be scanned to detect spyware.

Did Find-Direct Cookie use these tactics to trick you into buying Find-Direct Cookie?

Find-Direct Cookie May Be a Tracking Cookie

Tracking cookies are small files deposited onto your PC’s hard drive as you browse the Internet. Regular cookies work the same way, but unlike those harmless cookies that are designed to remember your account information so that you can use websites more easily, tracking cookies may collect and report information about your web browsing habits. Tracking cookies monitoring your web browsing habits may tell advertisers some of your personal information.

Because of Find-Direct Cookie’s and other tracking cookies’ possibly stealth methods, tracking cookies, even when installed without malicious reasons, may put your personal and financial information at risk. It may be a good idea to remove Find-Direct Cookie and other tracking cookies.

What Companies Learn from a Tracking Cookie Like Find-Direct Cookie

Marketing companies can learn a lot from tracking cookies. If you fill out a form online with your contact info and real name, enter a contest or sweepstakes, or click an ad to buy a product, it’s possible Internet advertisers using tracking cookies know your real name, your Internet Protocol (IP address), and other information about you.

Online marketing and advertising companies that hold this identifiable information about you and your web browsing habits may sell your personal info to other companies, or merge their information about you with other companies’ information about you. A tracking cookie may seem harmless, but in reality some tracking cookies allow companies to know quite a lot about your online and offline habits and lifestyle, and how to find you.