What is Search.mysafesearch.net?
Currently, Search.mysafesearch.net can hijack only the Google Chrome browsers. It was reported that the application might provide users with modified search results, which could contain doubtful ads from the third party. What’s more, the browser hijacker could also redirect you to potentially malicious web pages. Naturally, because of these risks, our specialists at Anti-spyware-101.com believe it might be safer to eliminate the threat. If you are still in doubt whether to keep Search.mysafesearch.net or remove it from the browser, we urge you to read the rest of the text and get to know the search engine better before you make your decision. As for users who have no intentions of leaving the browser hijacker on their system, we would like to offer the deletion steps prepared by our specialists; you can find them at the end of this report.
Where does Search.mysafesearch.net come from?
Search.mysafesearch.net travels with a browser extension known as MySafeSearch. It can be added to Google Chrome while visiting the browser hijacker’s homepage (mysafesearch.net), but without knowing its address, it is doubtful a lot of users would download this extension. In order to distribute the threat wider the program’s creators might advertise it through pop-up ads or bundled software installers. To stay away from software that could cause you trouble, you should get more information about applications before agreeing to install them, for example, you could check the publisher, read some reviews, etc. Plus, it is advisable to have a fully updated antimalware tool, so it could notify you about suspicious programs.
How does Search.mysafesearch.net work?
Once the extension gets installed your Google Chrome should load Search.mysafesearch.net whenever you launch the affected browser, open a new tab, or enter a search query. Probably, you already noticed that the search engine does not display results itself but rather redirects the user to yahoo.com.
However, our researchers also determined that before the results are shown the browser hijacker should redirect the entered search query to feed.snowbitt.com. Therefore, it is rather possible the results provided afterward might be modified. To give you an example, they could include pop-ups, banners, sponsored links, or other suspicious advertisements. Apparently, these ads may originate from unknown sources so if you happen to click them you could be redirected to potentially malicious web pages. Also, our specialists think the threat might be using feed.snowbitt.com to redirect the user to other third-party websites without showing any ads. Just like the ads in the results the advertised web pages could be potentially dangerous, for example, they might suggest downloading malicious installers, ask to participate in fake lotteries or surveys, and so on.
How to get rid of Search.mysafesearch.net?
The instructions placed at the end of the text are more advisable for experienced users as they could be too complicated for those who are dealing with a browser hijacker for the first time. These steps will list all files that were either created or modified by MySafeSearch extension and Search.mysafesearch.net. Thus, if you follow the instructions, you should easily locate the data that needs to be removed to eliminate the application manually. Nevertheless, if you find it too difficult to follow these steps, we could recommend using a legitimate antimalware tool instead. The tool would allow you to detect and erase the threat automatically, so you would not need any skills or experience. All there is to do is perform a full system scan, wait for the report and click the deletion button.
Remove Search.mysafesearch.net
- Press Windows key+E.
- Search for these locations:
%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions - Select folders titled as iamehioebdppceakgholgfjhapaacmep and press Shift+Delete.
- Navigate to these directories:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage
%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage - Look for these particular files:
chrome-extension_iamehioebdppceakgholgfjhapaacmep_0.localstorage
chrome-extension_iamehioebdppceakgholgfjhapaacmep_0.localstorage-journal - Mark the listed files one by one and press Shift+Delete.
- Go to this location: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default
- Search for data called Preferences, Secure Preferences, and Web Data.
- Select these files separately and press Shift+Delete.
- Exit the Explorer.
tested removal of Search.mysafesearch.net*
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