What is Search Box Ds?
Search Box Ds is a potentially unwanted program. It is a browser extension that is compatible with the Chrome browser. This application should improve your web browsing experience. However, if you do not remember when you added this app to your browser, you probably didn’t intend to have this app in the first place. So what are you supposed to do? The best bet right now is to remove Search Box Ds from your browser and then scan your computer with a licensed antispyware tool because you might have more unwanted applications on-board.
Where does Search Box Ds come from?
Malicious programs often employ stealthy tactics to enter target systems. Potentially unwanted programs, on the other hand, do not really do that. They might state explicitly that “hey, I’m about to get installed on your PC,” but they do not really hide their presence either.
For instance, Search Box Ds has an official homepage, and you can add it to your browser via install.searchboxlive.com. However, just looking at this official website, it is easy to see that there are some fishy things about the extension. The main promotional tag-line contains spelling mistakes, and that’s something that shouldn’t be on the official page.
At the same time, it is hard to say that Search Box Ds is a potential security threat because it is also available at the Chrome Web Store. So users might come across this extension through the official routes, too. However, our research team says that users usually end up adding Search Box Ds to their browsers accidentally because this app tends to come through redirect pop-ups. It means that you visit some website that displays a lot of pop-ups, and one of those pop-ups automatically offers adding Search Box Ds to your browser. If you do not read the pop-ups carefully, you might agree to add this program.
What does Search Box Ds do?
According to the official website, Search Box Ds is there to help you “easily search for your favorite topics.” So, in a sense, it should work like a search engine. But here we encounter another question: Why should you use a third-party application for your search queries when there are genuine search engines out there?
Not to mention that Search Box Ds doesn’t even provide you with an original search service. This extension modifies your default search engine to feed.searchboxlive.com, but you will soon see that all your search queries get redirected to the Yahoo! Search engine. What’s more, the search results are also modified, and they are customized according to your likes and preferences. How can Search Box Ds do that? This extension employs tracking cookies to collect information on what websites you frequent and what you usually look for online.
With that data, Search Box Ds can generate modified search results that will be related to what you like. And thus, there would be a bigger chance that you will interact with that content by clicking the links. This is exactly what such applications want from you – clicks and site traffic increase. They get paid whenever you click the promoted content, and there is nothing illegal about that.
However, we have to remember that Search Box Ds and other similar applications do not review the content they promote. Sometimes, malevolent third parties might exploit such extensions to distribute dangerous content. And while malware infection through such links is highly unlikely, you shouldn’t take your chances. The point is that you need to remove Search Box Ds from your system, especially if you didn’t even intend to have this program on-board.
How do I remove Search Box Ds?
Luckily, it is very easy to delete Search Box Ds from your browser. If you want, you can also reset your browser’s settings to default. Also, as mentioned in the first paragraph, it is a good idea to scan your computer with a computer security tool because potentially unwanted programs like Search Box Ds seldom travel alone. You might have multiple other apps running on your system, and if you don’t need them, you definitely need to uninstall them. Finally, be careful when you browse the web because you can never know when similar programs try to enter your system again.
Manual Search Box Ds Removal
- Launch the Chrome browser.
- Press Alt+F and select More tools on the drop-down menu.
- Click Extensions and remove Search Box Ds.
- Restart the browser.
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