Well, Mango Beta is here, meaning there are lots of new cool features. Some of them are either buried or not obvious. Here are some that I've found so far:
UPDATE: Thank you for everyone's participation. I have added several tips based on comments in the discussion
Custom Ringtones
1. Copy MP3 or WMA to Zune Collection. Choose Edit, and type in manually under Genre "Ringtone". The song must be less than 40 seconds and smaller than 1MB.
2. Go to Settings -> Ringtones + Sounds, tap Ringtone. Your custom ringtone will appear under a new tree called "Custom", above "Windows Phone"
Note that it is identified by the filename, rather than the track title.
Also, you can tap and HOLD a ringtone, and Delete will be offered (but only on the Custom ones; preloaded ones grey out delete).
Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Messenger is so damned easy that I didn't see it staring at me. Pick Messaging, slide right to Online. Set Chat Status (icon at bottom), hit +, and send a message to any Messenger contact. And/or if anyone sends you an MSN, you get a ding just like a SMS, and it appears under Messaging.
Mango automatically made my Windows Live account that my phone is registered under, which is also my Messenger account, work. Others have noted that it's not possible to have a second Messenger account -- only your PRIMARY Windows Live account is linked to Messenger.
Facebook chat is set up also from Messaging -> Online. Some people have had trouble with this... read down to see some possible solutions.
Dev Unlock Mango B2
You must have a dev unlocked phone to install Mango, but installing Mango relocks your phone. To unlock it again, run Windows Phone Developer Registration from the Beta 2 SDK tools.
Voice Activated SMS/Messaging
To allow Voice recognition from Messaging (like SMS, Messenger) while on Carrier Data, go to Settings -> Speech and check Enable Speech Recognition over Network.
This is REALLY cool. Put on a headset; leave your phone on the home screen. When someone sends you a Messenger, it announces that the person has sent you a message, Read It or Ignore. If you say, "Read it", the phone reads the message. You then have an opportunity to reply via speech!
Visual Voicemail
Evidently, this is in Settings -> Phone (or Phone app, slide up, call settings). But it doesn't show up for everyone -- it's carrier dependent (doesn't show up for Telus phone on Fido for me).
Exchange/Gmail Server Search
To search the server for older (for example, Exchange) go to Outlook, click the on-screen search button, make a search. At the bottom of the results, tap "search more in Outlook". When the server search is done, at the bottom of the results, you'll see "get more results" and "search all folders". Woohoo!
Bing Visual Search -- and OCR!
Tap Bing key. Click eyeball. You can snap QR codes, Microsoft codes, or TEXT. If you snap text, it will then detect it, and you can translate it (for example, from French to English). But as someone mentioned, you can translate from English to English... and the results come as text that you can then Copy and Paste! Quick and easy cloud OCR that you have to see to believe.
Skydrive, Office
Just, Wow!
Go to Office. Slide over to Locations and SkyDrive. You can see any of the documents on your SkyDrive, and edit things like Word. It's perfect.
Notes (OneNote, synchronized with SkyDrive and your Desktop OneNote as long as you're saving to Web) is really slick. Office 365 and SharePoint are under Locations.
Easy Ones
Music Controls - This one's easy. Play a song, pause it. Hit lock key. Controls are on the wallpaper. Unlock, hit volume keys -- Controls appear.
Multitasking - Hold down Back button. It's a beautiful implementation. To remove a task from the list, pick it, then hit back button once.
Outlook Threads - Just tap a conversation thread to expand it.
Outlook Account Linking - Outlook -> ... -> Link Inboxes
App Grouping - tap the letters above the groups of apps, just like the phone book (tapping "a" gets you all the letters, tapping "s" jumps to Settings)
App Find - tap magnifying glass on apps list
IE9 -- OMG. Best Mobile Browser Ever. 'nuff said. But is it possible to turn off Address Bar in Landscape? Takes up lots of space.
People/Groups - Tap People hub, tap Family or +. You can make your own Groups, and then SMS or email everyone in the group that has SMS or email. Or quickly call them, since they get big tiles.
People/History - Tap a contact in the People hub, slide to the right, and see History. It shows call/messaging history, and "search Outlook" at the bottom.
Really Nice Subtle features
- Improved buttons during a voice call (larger, blockier, and harder to mispress)
- People Tile is really pretty now
- XBox Live Hub, Avatar, Messages -- way, way nicer. Best game hub ever.
- Marketplace is much better organized; Games are split up into categories.
- Power Down (hold lock button) now "confirms" with a prompt to slide down
- Hardware Search button now always brings up Bing; on-screen search button for context-sensitive.
- Dithering on browser eliminates banding in most cases
Doesn't Work Anymore
The following appear to be broken in Mango:
- Homebrew - Chevron Ringtone Installer (but it's bult in now)
- Homebrew - Home Screen Bluetooth/Wifi/Data button (I already miss this one!)
- LG App Store doesn't seem to open anymore (error appears -- but this seems to work for at least some other people)
- Maps Directions gives an Error
- Maps - Some people don't get Traffic, others do. For the time being I am using gMaps. Free version works!
- Not really sure how to go back and forward on the browser, other than "recent" (which doesn't give you cached version).
UPDATE:
======
To make Traffic work, just set region/location to English (United States). I had it set to English (Canada). Directions from "My Location" then works as well! (note that I am physically in Canada).
LG App store still does not work for me. It comes up with Error code:805a0194 (Optimus 7 / Telus)
Is your Facebook chat working?
Sent from my SGH-i917 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Facebook chat isn't working for me. In the messaging option for facebook chat, I hit ON, it then says Facebook is set up on my phone, but more steps are needed for chat to work, it then going to a web page that is a dead link.
Nope
princetrey07 said:
Is your Facebook chat working?
Sent from my SGH-i917 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, I didn't try very hard, but it looks like other people on various threads can't get it working either.
Talys said:
Missing
- What happened to traffic, in Maps?
- Is it possible to search server folders in Outlook?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Traffic will be back in with the final release/build (if not sooner?)
Full exchange folder search should be possible, as full search of folders for online email. Your outlook wont be searchable unless you sync it to hotmail via connector or use exchange.
I haven't gotten my email yet for download, but this is whats supposed to be in the [final] build. Hope not too many things haven't been implemented, but looking forward to messing around with it.
dtboos said:
Traffic will be back in with the final release/build (if not sooner?)
Full exchange folder search should be possible, as full search of folders for online email. Your outlook wont be searchable unless you sync it to hotmail via connector or use exchange.
I haven't gotten my email yet for download, but this is whats supposed to be in the [final] build. Hope not too many things haven't been implemented, but looking forward to messing around with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks great to me. Most features appear fully implmented or "implemented but not quite working" (like FB chat).
I use Exchange. Can't seem to find unsynced emails using the server (eg server search for a year old email or unsync'ed folder). This is a super useful feature on the BlackBerry.
Traffic back would be nice, as I cancelled my XM Nav on my car, since Maps Traffic worked so well
I will have to see how well Network Voice Recognition works when on 3G. Previously, using the LG Voice to Text App, performance on LAN was awesome but performance on anything short of a great 3G connection was awful (the wait was so long that I could park the car and type the message 5 times over).
You guys aren't seeing traffic in maps? I see it and it works just fine.
Don't forget you can also turn on Visual Voicemail in phone settings. Then you can get to your voice through the Phone tile, and by swiping over to voicemail.
Also, Messenger only signs in using your primary live account. You cannot add a second Live ID and have it sign it to messenger.
Facebook Chat works without problems for me
And the Facebook App gets updated with live tile and push notifications, is like christmas for WP7!!!!!!
http://www.wpcentral.com/facebook-windows-phone-hits-v2-0-gets-push-notifications
i'll be the first to ask...is there now a separate ringer volume? in other words is media and ringer volume separate?
I think asking questions is a great idea, but everyone should probably keep one important thing in mind. This is not even CLOSE to the final build, so just because a feature isn't "in there" today doesn't mean it isn't already in the plan for the release version.
With that said, here's my question. Does the task switcher offer any way to close a running task? I can't believe that such an obvious, basic, and NECESSARY feature isn't in there. And only the five most recent tasks? To quote Microsoft's own ad campaign, "Really?"
weatherx said:
i'll be the first to ask...is there now a separate ringer volume? in other words is media and ringer volume separate?
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Click to collapse
As far as I can tell, nope. Just a single volume control.
RoboDad said:
With that said, here's my question. Does the task switcher offer any way to close a running task? I can't believe that such an obvious, basic, and NECESSARY feature isn't in there. And only the five most recent tasks? To quote Microsoft's own ad campaign, "Really?"
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Click to collapse
The only way to manage running tasks is from the background tasks option under settings. As far as I can tell, the task switcher is just a list of recent apps. They don't run in the background, they become frozen in the background (kinda like they do now in 7.0), and because they aren't actually doing anything in the background, there is no need to close anything within the task switcher. So the option doesn't make much sense to begin with since it doesn't really close anything.
prjkthack said:
The only way to manage running tasks is from the background tasks option under settings. As far as I can tell, the task switcher is just a list of recent apps. They don't run in the background, they become frozen in the background (kinda like they do now in 7.0), and because they aren't actually doing anything in the background, there is no need to close anything within the task switcher. So the option doesn't make much sense to begin with since it doesn't really close anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Open the app & press back button will remove it from task switcher. The only app this doesn't work on is IE from what I've seen as the back button is the back navigator button for web pages.
Talys said:
Nope, I didn't try very hard, but it looks like other people on various threads can't get it working either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try manually syncing your facebook account under email&accounts.
Unless the back button has radically changed under Mango, pressing the back button once doesn't exit an app, unless the app is specifically written to treat a single back button press as "exit". Many apps are very poorly written WRT the back button, and some would require a dozen or more presses to "exit".
And, there are some apps where the back button is part of the necessary app navigation (not just IE, but some other apps I use). I wouldn't want the OS to interpret a single press as an exit if I switch back to the app.
drkfngthdragnlrd said:
Open the app & press back button will remove it from task switcher. The only app this doesn't work on is IE from what I've seen as the back button is the back navigator button for web pages.
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Click to collapse
Yes, well, that simply removes the "card" from the task switcher. That doesn't necessarily close the application or kill the task. All the task switcher does is step back in time. So going back to an app, and pressing back removes it because by pressing back, you are bring the phone back to a point where the task you switched to has not been started yet (time travel, such a paradox).
If you want to remove a card from the task switcher history, instead of going to the app and pressing back on it to "close" it, you could simply go to the app right before that and it effectively does the same thing. Saves you a step right there.
The problem is that multi-tasking exists for specific reasons/apps on Windows Phone 7.5 and the only way to manage that is by using the background tasks options menu.
So there are two questions and solutions here:
1) Can you terminate an app from the task switcher? No.
2) Can you remove a recent application from the task switcher list? Yes
Thanks for that clarification. I suppose I'll have to play with it once Mango "ships", but right now I'm not sure the task switcher is going to be very useful to me.
prjkthack said:
Yes, well, that simply removes the "card" from the task switcher. That doesn't necessarily close the application or kill the task. All the task switcher does is step back in time. So going back to an app, and pressing back removes it because by pressing back, you are bring the phone back to a point where the task you switched to has not been started yet (time travel, such a paradox).
If you want to remove a card from the task switcher history, instead of going to the app and pressing back on it to "close" it, you could simply go to the app right before that and it effectively does the same thing. Saves you a step right there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Part of what you said is true, but part isn't. Say I have IE, Messaging, Mail, Settings open in that order. I go back to Messaging & press "back". Now IE, Mail, Settings are in the task switcher. So, it's not "Time Travel" as you put it. You don't loose the other apps you opened after the app you went back to, just the one you pressed "back" on.
This all boils down to the dehydration hack. Apps on the switcher act as if your have the hack enable on pre-mango while those you remove from the switcher get "dehydrated". The setting you mentioned has to do with bg services that allow apps to do stuff in the background. This is similiar to those little icons on your PC's task bar next to the clock such as anti-virus, adobe updater, winamp agent, etc. Stuff running in the background that might do something for the app but isn't necessarily needed. In anti-virus apps, that'd be live protection, which is good but severely impacts performance. The adobe updater checks for updates, close it, no automatic updates.
prjkthack said:
Don't forget you can also turn on Visual Voicemail in phone settings. Then you can get to your voice through the Phone tile, and by swiping over to voicemail.
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Click to collapse
Not seeing that option in the phone portion of settings . . .
tiny17 said:
Not seeing that option in the phone portion of settings . . .
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Click to collapse
Not sure if its carrier dependant or what. I have T-Mobile, and I also have the Visual Voicemail option on my account. Under "phone" settings, right under "Voicemail number", there is an option for me to turn on/off Visual voicemail.
drkfngthdragnlrd said:
Part of what you said is true, but part isn't. Say I have IE, Messaging, Mail, Settings open in that order. I go back to Messaging & press "back". Now IE, Mail, Settings are in the task switcher. So, it's not "Time Travel" as you put it. You don't loose the other apps you opened after the app you went back to, just the one you pressed "back" on.
This all boils down to the dehydration hack. Apps on the switcher act as if your have the hack enable on pre-mango while those you remove from the switcher get "dehydrated". The setting you mentioned has to do with bg services that allow apps to do stuff in the background. This is similiar to those little icons on your PC's task bar next to the clock such as anti-virus, adobe updater, winamp agent, etc. Stuff running in the background that might do something for the app but isn't necessarily needed. In anti-virus apps, that'd be live protection, which is good but severely impacts performance. The adobe updater checks for updates, close it, no automatic updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My example was a bit off, my mistake. The rest is still rather unfortunately true, as it stands now, the task switcher is just that, a task switcher. Apps do not run in the background actively, so there is no need to terminate these apps since they aren't really running to begin with, hence you can't really terminate them. The only way for apps to run in the background (or rather, for apps to do things in the background), would be to take advantage of the background tasks feature so that it can do something while not actively open. The only way to manage anything running in the background right now, is with the background tasks setting.
prjkthack said:
Not sure if its carrier dependant or what. I have T-Mobile, and I also have the Visual Voicemail option on my account. Under "phone" settings, right under "Voicemail number", there is an option for me to turn on/off Visual voicemail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have it too, T-Mobile USA as well.
I can't wait to get root. NFL Mobile constantly popping up. EVERY SINGLE TIME I GET A CALL THAT CALLER ID THING COMES UP. Verizon Messenger, etc. WTF. This is ridiculous.
Go to Settings, Application Manager, All and uninstall what you can and if you can't do that, disable.
What is more worrying is all the features they removed.
Aye man be glad you don't have a Galaxy phone lmao, especially S5 & under, those things are filled with bloat from bottom to top and without root are the legit true phone nightmare. S6 improved a bit but not as much as it could've been. Satisfied with my G4 so far, just got it today and not too much bloat, I can live with it.
You can disable most of that stuff right from the application manager section of settings, and you will not see it anymore.
If you want to go hardcore use the debloater tool. I've hidden every app I normal remove with root including concierge.
The G4's bloat is insignificant compared to the Sammy phones man!
Fastbird said:
I can't wait to get root. NFL Mobile constantly popping up. EVERY SINGLE TIME I GET A CALL THAT CALLER ID THING COMES UP. Verizon Messenger, etc. WTF. This is ridiculous.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That annoying caller id can be semi-taken care of. If you are using an app and a call comes in, you can have it only pop up a much smaller icon that lets you know of an incoming call instead of that humongous annoying full screen caller id. From the home screen, tap the dialer icon. You have to be on 'Dial' or 'Recent', just hit the 3 dots in the top right and select Call settings. Down towards the bottom there is an option "Incoming voice call pop-up" that is unchecked by default. This will give a much smaller pop up that you can use just like the full screen. And if you don't want to see it when a call comes in, you can just swipe it up and the call will eventually go to voice mail. Or you can just hit decline and continue using the app that you were.
Hope this helps some :good:
valerinism said:
That annoying caller id can be semi-taken care of. If you are using an app and a call comes in, you can have it only pop up a much smaller icon that lets you know of an incoming call instead of that humongous annoying full screen caller id. From the home screen, tap the dialer icon. You have to be on 'Dial' or 'Recent', just hit the 3 dots in the top right and select Call settings. Down towards the bottom there is an option "Incoming voice call pop-up" that is unchecked by default. This will give a much smaller pop up that you can use just like the full screen. And if you don't want to see it when a call comes in, you can just swipe it up and the call will eventually go to voice mail. Or you can just hit decline and continue using the app that you were.
Hope this helps some :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly what I was gonna say. Hope it solves his problem. Have there been any updates from codefire team other than the one last week. No eta just trying to follow progress. So I can decide whether to take phone back from wife. Lol. Still rocking g2 with cloudyg4 Rom and dori kernel.
Did anyone else get the update (today) for Verizons "supports and protection" app. My concern is the "protection" part...it appears to be an antivirus. Fine, with every other scenario, with our possible future exploit...I turned it off/disabled it for piece of mind.
Sent from my VS986 using XDA Premium HD app
MADDAN18 said:
Did anyone else get the update (today) for Verizons "supports and protection" app. My concern is the "protection" part...it appears to be an antivirus. Fine, with every other scenario, with our possible future exploit...I turned it off/disabled it for piece of mind.
Sent from my VS986 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have disabled protection as well; along with few others. (verizon navigation and visual voice mail)
Huh, I guess I was being dense. Every phone I've had before the disable option was turned off for all the bloat from the get go so you couldn't disable. I just disabled a metric ton of crap on my phone. MUCH better already! Thanks XDA!!!!!!
Yea I use Nova Launcher and drag and drop unwanted Apps to the desktop "App Info", where it goes directly to the option to either Uninstall or Disable. I weeded through all of the App Drawer apps, then dive into the actual Application Manager where I Disabled several there too.
I DO love the Visual VM app, so that is the one thing I like to keep.
For some reason I liked there messaging app better than the LG one.
player911 said:
Yea I use Nova Launcher and drag and drop unwanted Apps to the desktop "App Info", where it goes directly to the option to either Uninstall or Disable. I weeded through all of the App Drawer apps, then dive into the actual Application Manager where I Disabled several there too.
I DO love the Visual VM app, so that is the one thing I like to keep.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One (free) alternative to the Visual Voicemail app is Google Voice. You can configure your phone send unanswered calls to your Google voicemail instead of Verizon's. This will automatically transcribe the emails for you. It can be a bit hit or miss, but it's better than nothing! It also lets you play your voicemails individually without having to call in and listen to them all.
www.google.com/voice
DT Ignite
Be sure to disable DT Ignite (uninstall not available). It is used by the cell companies to push apps to your phone without your consent. I was wondering why Cookie Crushers and another app showed up two days after I activated my G4. A Google search turned up an article showing that this app is what does it. At least I was able to uninstall the added bloatware that was installed via DT Ignite.
Tomyk89 said:
One (free) alternative to the Visual Voicemail app is Google Voice. You can configure your phone send unanswered calls to your Google voicemail instead of Verizon's. This will automatically transcribe the emails for you. It can be a bit hit or miss, but it's better than nothing! It also lets you play your voicemails individually without having to call in and listen to them all.
www.google.com/voice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I used Google Voice and it was nice. It worked enough for me to get a jist of the message but it would be really funny sometimes. I REALLY like Verizon's Visual Voicemail. It is just easy. I like being able to delete multiple messages at once and pick and choose.
@OP, coming from the G2 the Bloatware is about the same. This should be no surprise. I had a Verizon G2 that had official lollipop. I think the apps were exactly the same. I use the same method I used on the G4. I use Nova to drag apps and uninstall what I can and Disable the rest.
There is an actual Debloater Tool, but you have to be careful with it as it lists EVERYTHING. I find it much easier to do it my way. No PC. No Drivers. No risk of removing an important app.
Dennisg34 said:
The G4's bloat is insignificant compared to the Sammy phones man!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless it's rooted =p
But yeah, every time I have to odin my s6 back to stock I'm reminded of how much crap they pack in it!
Amen
Sent from my VS986 using XDA Free mobile app
While I do agree verizon should do anything the phone, the extra software they added on isn't 'too' bad once you think of it. I looked at my disabled menu and its about less than 10 apps? It is not as awful as it was on my G2. with a bit of time you can tweek the phone to your liking. Maybe it is Stockholm syndrome but I'm starting to like LG's layout as they have progressed over the past 2 years..I am looking forward to custom roms though
I do not understand why verizon would want anyone to use their messaging app.. all it does is cause confusion and cause people who are unaware they can change default messaging apps to switch to an iphone or something else. I do not understand why they think this is a good thing. the simple stupid solution is always better!
still a bit ticked off that they removed smart settings from our phones (multi user etc). I could honestly live without, but the fact they did it for their personal gain (which actually hurts them) makes zero sense to me.
kinda wished verizon added wireless charging, like the g2... OH well, its a simple enough fix.
true
This is recurring in all phones I've had for at least a year now. Once again...And it is just now that I am once again getting upset at Google Play Services making itself a device admin daily on startup so it can update its app daily. So it can weasel into the browser and log my account and store cookies and track and etc etc etc.
If I do not lose my phone, then it should stop activating the find my device. If I lock my screen, then it should stop activating itself as an administrator. If it was just to find the device, then it should stop putting itself as an account in my browser.
The Google Play Services can no longer be reverted. It has turned the phone into just another chunk of Google Garbage.
It's a critical part of android. What is it you are trying to achieve by locking it down?
James.Miller said:
It's a critical part of android. What is it you are trying to achieve by locking it down?
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site storage in browser. I believe it is s carrier config or carrier settings. I have ridden myself of it by disabling carrier configs on other phones but here I can't disable carrier system apps.
I play with it off on some phones, and of course on rooted phones. It is irremovable here now. I had it removed during the first few days on my new A70 but now can't get it off noway no how.
The carrier configs and other things from carrier are a real problem. Carriers (used to) push settings they deem appropriate at regular intervals on an old phone I had. Their settings push included things like turning on location, and worse. all kinds of settings would get changed. Google calls these in its "partner" app. It's all tied together. There are credit agencies certs, and security companies in the system app.
James.Miller said:
It's a critical part of android. What is it you are trying to achieve by locking it down?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may sell the phone if I can't use it on internet without continued police insults on my humanity. I'm sick of it all. Been taking abuse for years. Only useful as a gaming and music player.
In my experience, once you have confirmed to your own recognition that they are behind the curtain of the device, talking to you invisibly thru the back door in the comments sections of the internet, then the phone is no good.
I believe that screenshots of their android back-doored comments, -- along with proof in pictures or recordings that they have been speaking in narrative to you that way -- should be grounds for money back from the phone company for the device. The device is faulty then beyond the shadow of a doubt and worthless and irreparable. Money back should be the rule for hacked devices.
comments, recommendations...or other festures being hacked. I have had apps hacked, I have had voice recognition dictation hacked. etc. I don't remember a list of features of android I've stopped using because of insult hacks. The predictive words on the keypads, and auto correct, used to be a favorite exploit they'd use to deliver cracked commentaries against my humanity...
All features and apps I no longer use. And how many people would never pick up on how these devices are being used against them.
I think the phones should be peogrammed to avoid cached dns results, and to randomize the dns it uses. The apps such as YouTube should never return to an open session or use a cache. These devices are fast enough and simple LTE/4G is fast enough to load fresh sessions from sites from new lookup services.
if Google needs to have Find My Device in Android to serve customers who are afraid their devices will be stolen by non professional phone thieves or lost, then they should sell different versions for those who don't want a system admin like Google which gets its money from data theft and spamming.
The persistent settings in the browser for its default site bothers me. I got rid of it on my Oreo running phone. Took awhile, but I finally got rid of it on one phone by deleting all browser data. It comes back when the browser restarts on internet tho, and persists again like a foul barnacle. Used to be able to get rid of it.
Here it's seen it camoflages itself if I change the default search page, but it still persists