I recently got very annoyed by a startup error, which looked like in the picture below and said the following:
There was a problem starting C:\Users\username\AppData\Conduit\BackgroundContainer.dll
The specified module could not be found.
Apparently, Conduit is a “publisher network and platform” reponsible with some suspicious toolbars, according to MalwareBytes. It beats me when i installed their toolbar, but most likely i installed it alongside something else and it just slipped my attention.
Note to self and to readers – always check what kind of software/addons/plugins you install and be sure to check their company background or source location. It is basically a matter of ticking/unticking a box that says that you will also install “blabla” that will “blabla”, alongside your software of choice.
How did i fix it?
Using AdwCleaner , which was made to specificaly remove potentially unwanted programs like adware, toolbars and browser hijackers. You can download it from it’s authors website. After downloading, (preferably) close all running applications (especially browsers), run it and hit the “Scan” button. After waiting a bit you should see some files/registry keys that are infected. By hitting the “Clean” button and waiting to restart the PC the BackgroundContainer.dll startup error will be fixed (at least that was my case).
What didn’t work
At the suggestion of other bloggers, i tried Autoruns and CCcleaner. Neither of them work, but they are worth mentioning when similar cases occur.
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