Conduit toolbar

History

In 2010 Conduit then-president Adam Boyden was featured in Forbes magazine online, in which he discussed the link between successful social gaming and marketing principles. In 2010 there were more than 100 million toolbars being powered by Conduit that were used at least once a month, which put Conduit at #29 on Google's list of top 1,000 sites on the Internet that year. In May 2011, Conduit completed the $45 million acquisition of Israeli startup Wibiya, an engagement platform that enables publishers to integrate a variety of web applications on their site via the Wibiya Bar product.

During this time Conduit moved away from the toolbar part of its business in order to focus on its mobile and browser engagement offerings. Ingrid Lunden of TechCrunch wrote that by spinning off the Client Connect business, the "split divided the company in two, with one part focusing on its mobile and engagement business and run by Shilo, and the other, Client Connect, merging with Perion". Lunden said further that, "Less than a month after browser-toolbar and mobile startup Conduit merged its Client Connect division with Perion, the company is making another change to its business. Conduit has announced that it will be discontinuing Wibiya, the social browser toolbar service that it acquired in 2011 for $45 million, as it shifts further away from its toolbar business." In late 2013 Conduit was valued at $1.5 billion.

Technology

Browser

Until 2013, one of Conduit's main businesses revolved around downloadable toolbars. Conduit allowed publishers to create and distribute their own toolbars for web browsers. Typically the toolbars were installed with another software product on which the toolbar is a piggyback program, with users given the option to not install the toolbar. Browsers that initially supported the toolbars included Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari. Google Chrome was added as a supported browser in 2011. Conduit uses Microsoft Bing to provide search results to the user.

Examples of toolbars have included a Zynga-designed toolbar that helps Farmville enthusiasts keep up-to-date with the status of their game, another is a toolbar from eBay that provides auction updates. The content is customized to the individual toolbar rather than generalized for all users. The toolbar can also be used for general information distribution as well, which has been used by companies to engage in marketing campaigns. Some of the companies and brands that have used Conduit's platform are Major League Baseball, Time Warner Cable, Fox News, Zynga, Chelsea Football Club, Groupon, Travelocity, μTorrent, and The Weather Channel. The toolbars have been described in online forums and news outlets as browser hijackers and are difficult to remove. It is said that most of Conduit's revenue comes from paid referrals from its search engine.

Conduit toolbars are automatically downloaded alongside certain freeware in order to provide its publisher with monetization. Conduit toolbars have rootkit capabilities that hook the toolbar deep into operating systems and can perform browser hijacking. Many conduit removal tools are also considered to be malware themselves. While not a virus, the program is referred to as a "potentially unwanted program" by some in the computer industry.

References

References

1. Wonham, Linc. (23 February 2011). "Conduit's Web App Network Goes Mobile". Website Magazine.
2. Fried, Ina. (7 February 2011). "Exclusive: Web App Publisher Conduit Expands Into Mobile". [[All Things Digital]].
3. (14 November 2011). "Conduit Mobile Enters The Music App Creation Wars". Music Ally.
4. Nakano, Chelsi. (16 July 2010). "Conduit Network Boosts Browser-Based Apps in a Big Way". CMSWire.
5. Dunaway, Gavin. (13 May 2011). "Big Names Grace Conduit's App Platform". ADOTAS.
6. Knight, Kristina. (4 May 2010). "Conduit's App Marketplace pushes past 100 million users". BizReport.
7. Hardawar, Devindra. (4 June 2010). "Conduit announces Google Chrome support for its massive app platform". [[VentureBeat]].
8. Wauters, Robin. (13 July 2010). "Conduit Reports Big Numbers: 250,000 App Publishers, 170 Million Users". [[TechCrunch]].
9. (14 July 2014). "How do I uninstall Search Protect by Conduit from my computer?". [[Norton AntiVirus.
10. (7 August 2013). "PUP.Optional.Conduit removal instructions". Malware Removal Guides.
11. Griffith, Erin. (14 September 2012). "Conduit Turns Toolbar Riches Into Massive Dividend". [[PandoDaily]].
12. [http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/solutions/10319 Kaspersky Labs support pages], 19 December 2013.
13. Feldman, Yaniv. (10 July 2013). "Israeli toolbar giant Conduit expected to split and acquire Perion". Geektime.
14. Matthew Kanterman and Elliott Gotkine. (17 September 2013). "Perion With Conduit Seen Besting AOL in U.S. Searches". [[Bloomberg News]].
15. (August 27, 2010). "Discussion of the Week: Adam Boyden". [[Forbes]].
16. Jon Fortt. (June 3, 2010). "Browser toolbars are back". [[CNN]].
17. Gannes, Liz. (May 23, 2011). "Conduit Buys Wibiya for $45M". [[All Things Digital]].
18. Ingrid Lunden. (October 7, 2013). "After Buying Wibiya For $45M, Conduit Discontinues Product As It Shifts Away From Toolbars". [[TechCrunch]].
19. Orr Hirschauge and Inbal Orpaz. (September 16, 2013). "$800 million company formed by Perion-Conduit merger". [[Haaretz]].
20. Steve Strauss. (June 28, 2009). "To get ahead in this e-world: Create and market content". [[USA Today]].
21. Wauters, Robin. (April 2, 2011). "Conduit Acquires Web Application Platform Wibiya For $45 Million: Sources". [[TechCrunch]].
22. (April 3, 2011). "Israeli Startup Wibiya Will Be Acquired By Conduit For Whopping 45$ Million". Technology Noise.
23. (2013-06-07). "How to Remove Conduit Search Toolbar and search.conduit.com redirect?". Anvisoft.
24. Govind, Rajesh. (19 February 2013). "How to uninstall Conduit Toolbar and change the IE10 homepage from "search.conduit.com" to the original one.". Microsoft.
25. Nobels, Ethan C.. (2010-12-15). "So long, uTorrent". First Arkansas News.
26. (26 October 2013). "Uninstalling Toolbars, 'Free Trials'". [[U-T San Diego]].
27. Payal Dhar. (21 October 2013). "A browser hijack is no joyride". [[Financial Chronicle]].
28. Kessler, Topher. (7 January 2011). "How to remove the Conduit 'Community Toolbar' in OS X". CBS Interactive.
29. Pilici, Stelian. (January 21, 2013). "Remove Conduit Toolbar and search.conduit.com (Uninstall Guide)". Malware tips.
30. Honorof, Marshall. (February 11, 2014). "How to Remove Conduit Search Adware". [[Tom's Hardware.
31. Tung, Liam. (September 9, 2014). "Malicious 'Kyle and Stan' ad network uses Amazon, YouTube to target Windows and Mac users". [[ZDNet]].
32. Virgillito, Dan. (September 11, 2014). "Kyle and Stan Malvertising Infects Thousands of Computers". VPN Creative.
33. (23 August 2013). "Game over in Download Valley?". Haaretz Daily Newspaper.
34. Keenan, Thomas P.. (August 1, 2014). "Technocreep: The Surrender of Privacy and the Capitalization of Intimacy". [[Greystone Books]].