What is Search.newtab-mediasearch.com?
According to our cyber security specialists, Search.newtab-mediasearch.com is a malicious search engine that was also classified as a browser hijacker due to the method used to disseminate it. Therefore, we recommend that you remove it from your computer entirely because not only will it hijack your browser’s homepage address, but subject you to questionable promotional links if you were to use it. Furthermore, it can collect some information about you and use it for marketing and advertising purposes. There is no doubt that this search engine is illegitimate, but if you want to know more about its inner workings, we invite you to read this article in its entirety.
What does Search.newtab-mediasearch.com do?
Research has shown that Search.newtab-mediasearch.com comes with a dedicated browser extension called Media-Newtab Extension on Mozilla Firefox, and Newtab-Media on Google Chrome. However, it is not compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer which is good. This extension is distributed using legitimate and illegitimate methods, but more on that later. Once on your computer, this browser extension is set to replace your browser’s homepage address. This hijacker is effectively trying to force you to use Search.newtab-mediasearch.com as a regular search engine and, truth be told, it functions like one as well.
This malicious search engine/browser hijacker was configured to redirect all search queries to a customized Yahoo search engine. While you get reliable Yahoo’s search results, we want to note that the search results window may also include links to websites promoted by this hijacker’s developers. In the worst case scenario, the links can redirect you to infected websites that secretly download ransomware on your PC. However, you are more likely to encounter websites that feature mostly safe but useless applications classified as potentially unwanted as well as websites that feature surveys aimed at collecting information about you.
Search.newtab-mediasearch.com’s privacy policy makes it clear that this hijacker is designed to collect information about you and the collected information includes both anonymous and personal information. According to the privacy policy, personal information includes your "name, email address, country of origin, and, if you choose, your nickname, telephone number, website, company, and title." Furthermore, it says that if you install the aforementioned browser extension, it will collect information that includes "gender, age, occupation, household income, zip code and country" on a voluntary basis. The automatically collected anonymous information includes your IP address, web browser used, pages visited, and so on. It is clear that this alleged search engine is highly unreliable and all of the information outlined in the privacy policy is used to further the cause of generating advertising revenue.
Where does Search.newtab-mediasearch.com come from?
Search.newtab-mediasearch.com is similar to Funkytvtabssearch.com, Toptvtabsearch.com, Topsafetabsearch.com, and many others as all of them come from the same source — Imali Media Ltd. This company is dedicated to making browser hijackers and distributing in malicious and non malicious ways. For example, you can download Search.newtab-mediasearch.com’s browser extension from Newtab-media.com on your own accord. However, our security experts have found that this extension, along with the browser hijacker, is also distributed via malicious software bundles featured on freeware distributing websites. These the installers that install the bundled software are said to install Media-Newtab on your web browser automatically without allowing you to deselect its installation. Given the circumstances how it is distributed and what it can do once it is set as your browser’s homepage, we recommend that you remove this browser hijacker as soon as possible.
How do I remove Search.newtab-mediasearch.com?
In summary, Search.newtab-mediasearch.com is an illegitimate search engine that doubles as a browser hijacker. It is disseminated in a highly malicious manner and can get onto your computer when you install a freeware bundle from an unknown website. Its search results may feature promotional links that can jeopardize your computer’s security and your privacy. Therefore, we recommend that you remove this hijacker from your PC as soon as possible.
Removal instructions
Google Chrome
- Open Chrome.
- Hold down Alt+F and select More tools.
- Click Extensions.
- Find Newtab-Media and click Remove.
- Close the browser.
- Hold down Windows+E keys.
- Enter C:\Users\{User name}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default in the address line and hit Enter.
- Find Preferences, Secure Preferences and Web Data files.
- Right-click each of them and click Delete.
- Empty the Recycle Bin.
Mozilla Firefox
- Open Firefox.
- Hold down Ctrl+Shift+A.
- Select Extensions.
- Find Media-Newtab Extension and click Remove.
- Close the browser.
- Hold down Windows+E keys.
- Type C:\Users\{User name}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles in the address box and hit Enter.
- Enter the {Unique ID} folder.
- Find prefs.js and open it with Notepad.
- Find and replace http://search.newtab-mediasearch.com in the user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://search.newtab-mediasearch.com"); string.
- Save and Close.
tested removal of Search.newtab-mediasearch.com*
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