TappyTop

Posted by Lisa Blanc on July 22, 2016

What is TappyTop?

TappyTop is a Chromium-based web browser that has the interface similar to that of the most popular browser in the world, Google Chrome. This program was developed by Linkury, Inc., and you might already know that this company is the developer of the infamous Linkury Smart Bar. Our researchers at Anti-spyware-101.com also indicate that the creator of this suspicious web browser stands behind Snap.do software, as well as search.safefinder.com, which is a suspicious search engine. At the moment, this browser is mainly spread across Europe and North America regions, but it could cross-over to other regions as well. The distribution and the activity of this program raise quite a few questions, and we have attempted to answer them in this report. The chances are that you will decide to remove TappyTop after you read this report, but if you are already set on eliminating it, you can move straight to the removal guide below. test test

How does TappyTop work?

The first thing we need to look at is the distribution of TappyTop. At the moment, the official download page representing this PUP (potentially unwanted program) is tappytop.com. Despite there being a download page, it appears that the main agent in the distribution of this suspicious program is a third-party installer. As a matter of fact, there could be tens of different installers spreading this PUP, and we cannot claim that all of them can be trusted. On the contrary, it is possible that these installers are unreliable and that they spread the suspicious browser packaged with other suspicious programs. In fact, our researchers claim that the suspicious PUP could be installed without your permission at all, along with other infections. The worst part is that these infections could be silent, or they might have misguiding disguises. To uncover these disguises, you might need to perform a full system scan using a legitimate scanner. Note that if you ignore the threats active on your operating system, your virtual security could be jeopardized.

To learn more about the suspicious TappyTop, our researchers turned to the Privacy Policy, which, by the way, is the same for all Linkury-related programs. You can access it at linkury.com/index-8_privacy-html/. This document reveals that the company works with third-party companies, and, of course, they are not listed, which means that they remain unknown, and this is a problem, considering that there are many unreliable parties exploiting vulnerable advertising-supported programs. It is suggested that these unknown companies can deliver ads and special offers, as well as compare prices. It is most likely that you will see price comparison and shopping deals when you shop online, but you can expect to see ads when using search.tappytop.com as well. This search tool is classified as a browser hijacker, and, according to our research, it could hijack Google Chrome, although it is primarily represented via TappyTop. In general, even though this PUP supposedly protects you when you browse the web and prevents unknown parties from tracking your virtual behavior, in reality, it seems to work in the opposite manner.

How to remove TappyTop

Although TappyTop looks like a harmless web browser, it has some suspicious features. Of course, if it was installed without your permission, you should delete it without any hesitation. But if you have downloaded it yourself, you need to consider that this provider allows unfamiliar parties to spy on you and, based on the information regarding you virtual activity, introduce you to unpredictable advertisements. Whether you see shopping deals, attractive offers, or ads mixed in with the search results shown via search.tappytop.com, you need to be extremely careful about how you interact with this content. After all, it might represent the services of unknown parties, and we cannot guarantee that they are all authentic, transparent, and reliable. Overall, this browser does not provide a more secure browsing experience, and since its services are not worth the risks associated with suspicious ads, we suggest deleting TappyTop ASAP.