What is SearchZone?
When you find an extension that has the word “search” in its name, you might assume that it is search-focused. SearchZone, however, appears to be more interested in the advertising side of things, and so if you installed it for the purpose of searching the web more efficiently, we suggest that you remove it right away. Have you found the tool to be useful in other ways? According to our researchers, if the New Tab page on Google Chrome is replaced with portal.search-zone.com, users might be attracted to the free file converter, currency and crypto-currency converters, and also a calculator. However, this is not a good tradeoff for poor search services, and so if that is why you have not deleted SearchZone yet, we suggest that you take the plunge now. Do you already have a plan on what you want to do? If that is the case, the instructions below should assist you. If you want to learn more about the extension first, please continue reading.
How does SearchZone work?
Anti-Spyware-101.com researchers warn that SearchZone could be introduced to Google Chrome users in the oddest ways. Did you find the installer of this PUP (potentially unwanted program) attached to another program? If that is the case, perhaps you used an unreliable file-sharing website to download something you wanted. In general, software bundles are rarely used by trusted software developers. If they bundle tools together, they usually belong to the same company. Perhaps the installer of SearchZone was introduced to you via a pop-up or advertisement that you simply could not shake? The official installer is found at chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/searchzone/pffnooppclkbdcgfimcnlejkomocahca. You might think that the Chrome Web Store only presents trusted installers, but you would be surprised about what can be found on that platform. This is why you need to think carefully before you install anything, even if you are using a trusted source and if the description is painting a pretty picture. According to the description supporting the PUP, it is meant to offer the best search experience.
We know for a fact that SearchZone does not offer a great search experience. First of all, when it sets feed.search-zone.com as the default search provider, it does not do that to make it easier for you to surf the web. It does that so that you would face modified search results every time you used your browser’s search bar. Note that you are shown modified results if you use the portal.search-zone.com search dialog as well. The worst part is that SearchZone shows search results using Yahoo Search, and many users are likely to trust them automatically. This is a mistake because the PUP injects sponsored content into the results you see. This is not a new technique, and we have seen hundreds of unreliable search tools exploiting well-known search engines to present sponsored links. Even this particular PUP has clones, including SearchOpedia, SearchConverter, and SearchAholic. The sponsored content could be personalized too because the PUP can record information about your browsing habits and share it with unknown advertising partners. This could increase your interaction with sponsored links.
How to delete SearchZone
Clearly, SearchZone does not offer anything greatly beneficial. On the contrary, it exposes you to ads and an unreliable search service, which is why our recommendation is that you delete it from your browser immediately. If you are not experienced with PUPs, you might assume that removing SearchZone is something that is hard to do. In this case, it is not because all you really need to do is get rid of the unwanted extension. The guide below shows how to handle that. If you want to eliminate data-tracking cookies and clear cache, we suggest clearing browsing data as well. Without a doubt, this method guarantees success only if the PUP was not installed with malware. If you suspect that malware might exist, install a trusted scanner, and it will determine the situation. Should you need help eliminating threats and then protecting your system against them in the future, we recommend installing legitimate anti-malware software.
Removal Guide
- Launch Google Chrome.
- Tap Alt and F keys at the same time.
- Click More tools.
- Click Extensions.
- Click Remove next to the PUP.
- Tap Ctrl Shift Delete keys at the same time.
- Click Advanced.
- Select a time range.
- Select boxes.
- Click Clear data.
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