SmartShopSave.com

Posted by Lisa Blanc on December 8, 2015

What is SmartShopSave.com?

It is rather odd for a search engine to be called SmartShopSave.com, because it implies that it has something to do with shopping. However, it is an all-round search engine, but one that you should remove, because it is nothing more than a browser hijacker. This search engine comes bundled with malicious installers that set it as your browser’s default homepage without your permission. Nevertheless, this search engine has additional problems that we are going to cover throughout this article. We are also going to discuss how SmartShopSave.com is distributed, how it works, and how you can get rid of it. So without further ado, let us get to it. test

Where does SmartShopSave.com come from?

It is becoming sort of a cliché, but like most browser hijackers, this one does not provide any information about its developers. However, this just goes to show how untrustworthy this alleged search engine really is. Furthermore, SmartShopSave.com’s distribution methods are as shady as they can get. Its clandestine developers have turned to software bundling as a means for getting it secretly injected into your browser. It must be noted that software bundles that contain this browser hijacker are likely to be promoted via adware while being disguised as Java, Adobe Flash, and other kinds of update notifications/offers. Obviously, the software SmartShopSave.com comes bundled varies, but in general it comes bundled with other malicious software, such as adware, bad toolbars, and so on. Now that we know how this browser hijacker is distributed, let us move on to how it operates.

What does SmartShopSave.com do?

This hijacker is designed to replace your preferred browser homepage with its own address to generate web traffic, and thus generate advertising revenue. SmartShopSave.com’s privacy policy states that its “Software is supported by advertising (including search, banner, text link, transitional, interstitial and full page advertisements), which is associated with or endorsed by any underlying websites.” From this quote we can see that this browser hijacker may have a dedicated program or a browser extension, but our researchers did not find any cases of this. However, the most important thing is that SmartShopSave.com is ad-supported search engine, and from the quote above we can see that it does not endorse its promoted content. Therefore, it is quite possible that SmartShopSave.com will promote links to websites of questionable legitimacy. Not only that, but it will also collect information about you to tailor specific advertisements. The collected information includes but is not limited to information about your PC and browser, IP address, usage patterns, and so on.

How do I remove SmartShopSave.com?

To our knowledge, SmartShopSave.com may be set as you browser’s homepage by a malicious software installer and a dedicated program or browser extension. In different cases, this browser hijacker may act differently, so we have composed a universal guide that will help you remove SmartShopSave.com manually. Keep in mind that continuing to use it will expose you to unreliable content, so the sooner you get rid of this injection the better.