What is Secure Surf?
It is possible that you do not even remember installing Secure Surf, which is a questionable web search page, because this browser extension may crawl onto your system without your noticing it. In all fairness, we need to mention that you can also install it officially but statics show that it has not been done by too many people. Therefore, it is more likely that this tool travels the web in questionable ways and possibly not alone. This means that it is likely that you will find other potential threats or even malware infections on your computer right now. Our malware specialists have labeled this threat as a potentially unwanted program (PUP) because it may expose you to unsafe third-party ads and sponsored links that may put your system security at risk. Thus, we advise you to remove Secure Surf from your browser if you do not want to find out what might happen by keeping it on board and using it for a while. But let us explain more about this potential threat so that you can avoid similar or even worse threats in the future.
Where does Secure Surf come from?
Our malware specialists could only find one page where you can directly install this PUP, and it is the Chrome web store itself. You can find this page at chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/secure-surf/djkpepogdbldmifcpafiiggibiekbjnm. Strangely enough there is no real promotional website; the web store simply redirects you to secure-surf.net, which is indeed that questionable web search page that is installed as your home page and new page in your Google Chrome browser when you install this PUP. According to the web store, there have only been 20 people altogether who have installed this useless extension. Which would not be a tragedy or suspicious after 1 hour of its release. However, it seems that this PUP was last updated back in January, which means about half a year ago. Now, this does not sound good at all but we have more for you if you do not want to delete Secure Surf right now.
The real bad news about this PUP is that it can also be found spreading in freeware bundles. There are a couple of ways for you to drop a malicious bundle onto your machine and infect it with all kinds of threats, including this extension. First of all, a great number of users search the web every day for free programs to download. Unfortunately, most of them may end up on suspicious file-sharing websites unknowingly. When you are viewing an unfamiliar torrent or freeware page, there is a good chance that you click on content that you should not and drop a bundle right away. But on these pages, you can also download a malicious package when you click to download your targeted free file. You should always stick with reputable pages whenever you want to download programs or any other file for that matter (e.g., books, audio files, and movies).
It is also essential that you understand that clicking on third-party ads is always risky and even more so when your computer is infected with adware, for example. So, if you are in doubt about the malware situation on your system, you should run a free online malware scanner to identify all problematic programs and errors. Removing Secure Surf alone will not help you too much in the fight against infections because there could be several more serious threats on board. Therefore, you need to watch your clicks whenever you are surfing the web not to drop an unfortunate surprise package if possible. A bundle may pack all kinds of threats apart from PUPs like this one, including browser hijackers, Trojans, backdoors, keyloggers, and adware programs as well.
How does Secure Surf work?
This Google Chrome browser extension installs secure-surf.net as your home page and new tab page in your browser. This search page should not be trusted at all because, for starters, it has no legal documents shared. You should never trust any tools without a Privacy Policy or EULA. What is even more worrisome is that this search engine may collect data about your browsing habit and use this to manipulate the content of the search results pages. Speaking of which, you should know that before you end up on an authentic-looking Yahoo search results page, this PUP forwards your search keywords through a couple of questionable websites, such as feed.snowbitt.com, search.dondelink.com, and goto.maxdealz.com. This chain of websites could be used to modify the search results with potentially unreliable third-party advertisements and links to questionable websites, which could also be operated by cyber crooks at times. If you click on such ads or links, you could harm your computer. It is possible that you download an infection or a whole bundle of them without even realizing. But you may also be redirected to fake websites where you could share your banking details and lose money from your account being scammed by crooks. This is why we believe that you should remove Secure Surf right now.
How can I delete Secure Surf?
The easiest way for you to put an end to this PUP is to remove Secure Surf extension from the list of extensions in your Google Chrome browser's Extensions menu. It is possible that you have never done this before; therefore, we have included the necessary steps below. If you follow our guide, you should be able to get rid of this extension in no time at all even if you are not an advanced user. If you want to protect your computer from such threats and worse, you should keep all your programs and drivers updated, avoid suspicious websites and clicking on third-party ads. This is the least you can do to try to defend your PC. However, even this may not be enough sometimes and certain malware infections may still find a way to your system. Therefore, we recommend that you employ a professional anti-malware program like SpyHunter.
Remove Secure Surf from your browser
Google Chrome
- Open the menu by tapping Alt+F simultaneously.
- Pick More tools.
- Select Extensions.
- Locate Secure Surf extension and click on the Trash can icon on its right.
- Press Remove in the confirmation window.
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