Do you know what Chroomium Browser is?
Chroomium Browser is a suspicious application that was built on the Chromium engine as you may have guessed from its name. It is not enough that this program uses a strikingly similar look to Google Chrome, it also uses a misleading name. Of course, this is not the only application that uses this engine to create a clone of Chrome to fool users. Our researchers have found that this program is very similar to, for example, another browser application called Ghokswa. Because of certain suspicious traits this browser has exhibited, our researchers have classified it as a potentially unwanted program (PUP). We do not try to say that this PUP presents a serious threat to your Windows operating system or your files stored on your hard drive, but it might still cause some security-related issues, even if indirectly, through malware infections. Please read our full report to be able to decide it for yourself. If you feel that it can be risky to leave this application on board, you should know that it cannot be uninstalled simply via Control Panel. Although it is possible to remove Chroomium Browser manually, it involves deleting Windows registry keys, which should only be performed by more experienced users.
According to our researchers, it is not likely that you download this PUP from an official site because the one that looks like its promotional page, chroomium.com, loads a 500 internal server error page instead of useful content. This can, of course, mean that the website has not yet launched. So one thing is sure: You cannot download this application from its official web page. But it is still possible that it appears on your computer. The reason behind it is called software bundling. This means that this PUP might show up in a freeware bundle containing PUPs and most likely a number of malicious software installers as well. If you search the web for free stuff, including movies, books, and software, the results may contain unreliable and downright malicious websites. An inexperienced computer user may not be able to distinguish between reputable and questionable websites. Therefore, it is likely that he or she clicks on the wrong link and ends up on a fake website operated by cyber criminals. These sites have only one purpose: To promote third-party bundles and other products. That is why it is possible that no matter where you click on such a web page, you will initiate the download of a malicious bundle.
It is important for us to mention that it is still possible to deselect the unwanted elements if you carefully view every stage of the installation wizard. You should find checkboxes that offer you an opportunity to opt out. However, these may only be revealed if you go for custom install option. Sometimes you will only know the real content of such a package if you check the license agreement. But, if you allow an infected bundle onto your computer, it is likely that this PUP will be the least of your worries. That is why it is important to run a malware scanner on your PC to see what kind of threats are endangering your computer. However, as a first step to clean your system, we advise you to delete Chroomium Browser.
As a matter of fact, computer users may not even realize that this PUP is on board because it looks identical to Google Chrome. It also uses the original Chrome shortcut by altering its Target line to start itself instead of Chrome every time you click on the shortcut. This is rather misleading behavior and also questionable. It seems that this PUP tries to purposefully make you believe that you are using the legitimate and reputable Chrome browser. We can only think of one reason to do so: To use this opportunity for promoting affiliated third-party websites and tools. Our researchers have noticed that this PUP can install certain malware infections, such as newsearch123.com and yessearches.com. These are browser hijackers that may introduce you to unreliable third-party websites and thus cause system security risks for your computer. We do not recommend that you use this browser because it may not be reliable. The best would be to remove Chroomium Browser to eliminate even the slightest chance of being exposed to questionable web content, which might result in malware infections on your computer or your being scammed by cyber criminals on malicious websites.
As we have already mentioned, unfortunately, you cannot simply uninstall this application since it has no working uninstaller to run through Control Panel. Instead, if you want to manually handle this situation, you need to remove the Windows registry keys, value names, and folders created by this PUP during the installation. We do not recommend this procedure to inexperienced computer users because working with the registry has its own risks. One mistake might cause damage to your system or even cripple it. So if you decide to go for it, please do it with extra carefulness. Follow our instructions below step by step for a perfect result. If you are looking for an automated and easy solution, we can recommend that you install a reliable malware removal application that will also safeguard your PC from future attacks.
Chroomium Browser Removal from Windows
- Tap Win+Q and type in regedit. Hit Enter.
- Find these registry keys one by one and delete them all:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\chroomium
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\chroomium (64-bit!)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\chroomiumHTM
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\chroomium
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Clients\StartMenuInternet\chroomium (64-bit!)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\WSModules
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\WSModules
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\WSModules - Find these registry keys and ONLY delete the value name “progid” IF the value data is "chroomiumHTM":
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.htm\UserChoice
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.html\UserChoice
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.shtml\UserChoice
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.xht\UserChoice
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.xhtml\UserChoice - Exit the registry editor.
- Tap Win+R and type in or paste this path: “%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\chroomium Browser” (64-bit!) and hit Enter.
- Delete this folder.
- Navigate to %PROGRAMFILES%\chroomium Browser and delete this folder.
- Find the following paths and delete the given task names:
%WINDIR%\Tasks, "chroomiumBrowserUpdateCore"
%WINDIR%\System32\Tasks, "chroomiumBrowserUpdateUA"
%WINDIR%\System32\Tasks, "chroomiumCheckTask" - Reboot your system.
In non-techie terms:
Chroomium Browser is a deceiving application that tries to pose as Google Chrome; however, our researchers have found that this application might put your system security at risk by, for example, possibly installing browser hijackers. Due to the questionable behaviors this application has shown, it has been categorized as a potentially unwanted program (PUP). This PUP might arrive in a free software bundle and infect your system with several malware programs. Therefore, its presence is undesirable and potentially risky. We believe that you should remove Chroomium Browser if you want to keep your computer secure and clean of infections. It is also important that you check your PC for the presence of other infections by using a reliable malware scanner or antimalware application. The latter is the best choice if you want full-time protection of your computer from all existing malware infections.