The MyWay Searchbar, also known as the MyWay Speedbar, MyWay Search Assistant, MyWebSearch, MyAllSearch, and MyWeb Searchbar, is adware

Adware

Adware, or advertising-supported software, is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements to a computer. These advertisements can be in the form of a pop-up. They may also be in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the user during...

 or toolbar

Toolbar

In a graphical user interface, on a computer monitor, a toolbar is a GUI widget on which on-screen buttons, icons, menus, or other input or output elements are placed. Toolbars are seen in office suites, graphics editors, and web browsers...

 program that replaces an Internet browser's default search engine

Search engine

A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...

 with MyWay's website. Dell

Dell

Dell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...

 used to pre-install this software on some of their commercially sold PCs, but stopped after getting complaints from customers. This program is classified as adware by certain websites and anti-malware applications. Its status as adware is disputed. Some major antivirus companies, such as Sophos, claim that the current version is not Adware. Other companies, such as Malwarebytes, still detects this software as malware. It is still regarded as a Potentially Unwanted Program because of the complicated removal process (add or remove programs doesn't uninstall it completely, and it restarts itself when a user tries to disable it, resets IE, or reinstalls any supported browser), and because it takes up a considerable amount of system resources. Many antivirus companies such as Spybot, Superantispyware, and Panda detect and encourage removal for this software.

Complaints

Older versions of the program displayed pop-up advertisements onto the user’s screen and contained an adware function. Sophos, unlike many other antivirus companies, says that the most recent build of the MyWay Searchbar does not display pop-up ads and does not contain the adware function. Bitdefender and TrendMicro claim that the current versions still contains adware. Another common complaint is the textual ads displayed when searching on the MyWebSearch or MyWay websites. Users have reported an increased amount of ads while using this software. Users have also complained that the MyWay Searchbar tracks what websites they go to, although MyWay claims that the latest version of the Searchbar does not track users' habits. It is regarded as a PUP (potentially unwanted program) by many top security companies. It is also detected and deleted by most antivirus software.

Design

After a user installs the program, a toolbar appears in Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer

Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...

, Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...

, and Opera

Opera (web browser)

Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software with over 200 million users worldwide. The browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent,...

 web browser

Web browser

A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...

s, adding search functions and pop-up

Pop-up ad

Pop-up ads or pop-ups are a form of online advertising on the World Wide Web intended to attract web traffic or capture email addresses. Pop-ups are generally new web browser windows to display advertisements...

 blocking. The toolbar allows users to search on Google, Yahoo!, and Ask.com. MyWay is owned by InterActiveCorp.

Addons

• Smiley Central, lets the user add emoticon
  Emoticon
  An emoticon is a facial expression pictorially represented by punctuation and letters, usually to express a writer’s mood. Emoticons are often used to alert a responder to the tenor or temper of a statement, and can change and improve interpretation of plain text. The word is a portmanteau word...
  
  s to instant messages
  Instant messaging
  Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
  
   and Emails
  Email
  Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
  
  
• Cursor Mania, allows the user to set their cursor
  Cursor (computers)
  In computing, a cursor is an indicator used to show the position on a computer monitor or other display device that will respond to input from a text input or pointing device. The flashing text cursor may be referred to as a caret in some cases...
  
   to one of a selection of cursors
• Popular Screensavers, allows the user to set their screensaver
  Screensaver
  A screensaver is a type of computer program initially designed to prevent phosphor burn-in on CRT and plasma computer monitors by blanking the screen or filling it with moving images or patterns when the computer is not in use...
  
  to one of a selection of screensavers
• Zwinky, an online game with a virtual self
• Webfetti, puts one of a selection of templates onto a user's website