Whenever we want to find out more information about a certain person, place, etc., Wikipedia is our go to guy. You have to be alert though, for you might come across this potentially unwanted program (PUP) called WikiThemes which is an internet search application that supposedly works like an alternative to your browser and is NOT related in any way to Wikipedia. You could be easily tricked though because its interface looks like a legitimate program. If you have installed this or have this unknowingly on your computer, you will have a hard time removing it because that’s how this program works; it will run in every system startup.

WikiThemes’ application window has a search box located at the top and links displayed at the lower part of the screen. These links usually redirect you to En.wiki2.org, familiar right? That’s because it is quite the same as Wikipedia’s Wikipedia.org site. It even claims to be better than Wikipedia. Although it has a good interface, however, this website does not show the Privacy Policy and User License Agreement because if you try clicking the links they provided for them, you will only get error messages, making this site even more unreliable. These mentioned documents are important because that’s where you’ll know what information the website is collecting, how these information are used, etc.
This search application has a webpage (wikithemes.timeapp-studio.com) that has unreliable information about the software like, “WikiThemes utilizes Wikipedia Web services and allows you to enjoy Wikipedia for PC”, which is not true since this application is not associated to Wikipedia. It displays articles and links from a site, and researchers checked the site for themselves and found out that it came from a different source; En.wiki2.org and not Wikipedia.org.
As stated earlier, this search application can be obtained either by you installing it yourself, or accidentally. Like all other potentially unwanted programs, this may occur through bundled software as an add-on. Its developers rather have a strange way in distributing it that’s why even though it is not malicious, it is classified as a potentially unwanted program. Removing it would be the best course to take just to be on the safe side and to prevent other unwanted programs as well. Uninstalling this program can be annoying because it leaves a bunch of junk files on your computer and has to be removed right after uninstalling it. We will discuss below the steps in deleting WikiThemes from your computer.

Getting rid of WikiThemes:

Step 1: Tap the Windows Key+E at the same time.
Step 2: Find these paths one by one:
 %LOCALAPPDATA%
%UserProfile%\Local Settings
\APPDATA%
%ALLUSERPROFILE%\Start Menu
\Programs\Startup
%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows
\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
%USERPROFILE%\Microsoft
\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
\Startup
%ALLUSERPROFILE%\Microsoft
\Windows\Start\Menu\Programs
\Startup
%ALLUSERPROFILE%\Application
Data\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
\Programs\Startup
Step 3: Find the folders for WikiThemes, then right click them separately and select Delete.
Step 4: Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\Desktop
Step 5: Locate WikiThemes.Ink and remove it.
Step 6: Close the Explorer.
Step 7: Tap Windows Key+R.
Step 8: Type in Regedit and hit Enter.
Step 9: Locate these paths:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
\AppDataLow\Software
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows
\CurrentVersion\Run
Step 12: Look for a value name called WikiThemes, right-click and click Delete.
Step 13: Exit Registry Editor.
Step 14: Empty Recycle Bin.