What is Search.watchanysports.com?
Search.watchanysports.com is a new browser hijacker released by Polarity Technologies Ltd. This company is also linked to other browser hijackers whose removal we have discussed in other reports. Some of them include Search.couponsimplified.com, Search.emailaccessonline.com, and Search.classifiedseasy.com. These infections might seem harmless at first because they can provide you with legitimate links and because they can help you browse the web, but there are several different reasons why we recommend removing Search.watchanysports.com – and any of its clones – from your web browsers. At the moment, this infection is believed to be compatible with Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox browsers, but keep in mind that the infection could infect different browsers in the future. Regardless of which browser was infected, we can help you clean it. Please read the report first to understand the infection better.
How does Search.watchanysports.com work?
The distribution of Search.watchanysports.com is quite mysterious. This browser hijacker is unlikely to be introduced to you on its own, unless you interact with third-party distributors who are spreading the infection bundled with other suspicious programs. Other than that, it is most likely that you will face the hijacker when you install an extension called “Watch Any Sports.” Although it is officially represented via watchanysports.com/Sports?, an installer does not exist on this website. Chrome users can acquire it from chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/watch-any-sports/jdmbeogikchiccbhbhlpoldphajlalib (Chrome web store), but it is most likely that this extension is also spread by third-party software distributors. The issue here is that these distributors might be malicious, and they could package the seemingly harmless add-on with much more dangerous infections. If they have slithered into your operating system, delete them ASAP. Overall, regardless of how the hijacker has managed to corrupt your browser’s homepage, you should scan your PC (use a trusted malware scanner) to check if malware exists. Unfortunately, it is very likely that you will find other threats that will require removal.
If the suspicious Search.watchanysports.com has hijacked any of your browsers already, you know that it does not look dangerous or malicious. In fact, for the most part, it offers relatively secure services. The easy-access links route to legitimate sites, such as espn.com, nfl.com, or nbcsports.com, and you might be happy about them if you have downloaded the “Watch Any Sports” extension because you wanted access to sports-related content. Having said that, the content represented by the hijacker is not exclusive, which poses the question if the add-on is useful at all. At the end of the day, you can access the aforementioned sites without the assistance of an extension. The same goes for the search tool represented by the hijacker. As you might already know, Search.watchanysports.com redirects to Yahoo Search whenever you enter search queries into the dialog box. First of all, the hijacker redirects you to this engine illegally because you are not warned about it beforehand. That is a good enough reason to delete this infection. Second, the results could be modified, which means that trusting this search engine would be dangerous. Finally, as stated in the Privacy Policy, personally identifiable information could be recorded while you browse the web. That might be the most important reason to remove the hijacker.
How to remove Search.watchanysports.com
We are sure that you realize by now that it is best to delete Search.watchanysports.com from your operating system. The good news is that the elimination of this hijacker is not too complicated. First, you should try to delete the Watch My Sports add-on. Chrome and Firefox users can eliminate it directly from their browsers, and Internet Explorer users need to uninstall an undesirable app. If that does not work, you might have to modify homepage settings, and we have added instructions that show how to do that. Anti-Spyware-101.com researchers also warn that malicious infections could be active on your operating system if you have let them in along with the hijacker. If you are unable to delete them manually, install a reliable anti-malware tool that will delete all infections automatically. If you need our help eliminating unwanted software from your operating system, do not hesitate to leave a comment down below.
Removal Instructions
Internet Explorer:
- Launch RUN (tap Win+R) and enter regedit.exe into the dialog box.
- Navigate to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main and double-click Start Page.
- Find the hijacker’s URL and overwrite it. Click OK.
- Navigate to HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{0633EE93-D776-472f-A0FF-E1416B8B2E3A}.
- Repeat step 3 with these values: FaviconURL, FaviconURLFallback, TopResultURL, and URL.
Mozilla Firefox:
- Launch Explorer (tap Win+E) and enter %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ into the bar at the top.
- Open the {unique name} folder that represents your Firefox profile and then open the prefs.js file.
- Find the hijacker’s URL in the user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://Search.watchanysports.com"); string and overwrite it. Save the file before closing it.
Google Chrome:
- Launch Explorer (tap Win+E) and enter %LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\ into the bar at the top.
- Open the Default folder or {unique name} folder that represents your Chrome profile.
- Open the file called Preferences and overwrite the hijacker’s URL. Save the file before closing it.
- Overwrite the hijacker’s URL in Secure Preferences and Web Data files as well.
tested removal of Search.watchanysports.com*
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