How My Web Browser Was Hijacked
While I was opening my chrome yesterday to send an email, I noticed the appearance of my chrome browser was changed along with other settings and I suspect something was wrong with it. I opened Google Chrome Beta and on startup this appears on my screen and I knew my both browsers had been hijacked. This same page wasn't appearing in my google chrome. This poshukach is a browser hijacker. I am myself a tech guy and in my life I had never been a victim of such kind of malicious attacks and other ransomware.
To remove the virus, I did everything to protect my browser and PC from such attacks again. First, I cleared my browser history and data from last 7 days. Then blocked third party cookies in my chrome settings. Turn off permissions for microphone, camera and location. The main important task I did was removing this from my search engine.
The poshukach search engine was there in the settings without my consent. I think the other two was also there but I think it was allowed by Google. These two are considered to be safe for browsing. I had to make the chrome default search engine and then only after that I went to "Manage Search Engines" and deleted poshukach search engine. I was wondering what I did wrong inviting such malware to my PC. I went to control panel to uninstall the software that has also been installed without my knowledge and saw this software installed on 3rd December. The question was how this software got installed and I realized that on same day I installed utorrent for free from their official site. While installing by default they had tick marks on their checkboxes to install other software packages like antivirus. I did uncheck them while installing but I think I missed at somepoint to uncheck this "Web Companion". This one had a very bad review in internet and many people claim it to be a virus although web companion was basically built for protection against malware(seems weird). This is how browser hijacking works. They inject their hijacking malware to this bundled software that enters User PC after you confirm to install that software bundle.
I immediately unistalled this trash software. Last thing I need was to be sure if the malware was there inside my PC settings and configurations. Maybe it had made a new registry database in my windows. The manual task is very time consuming. And for that I downloaded free avast antivirus software that has good rating in the internet to detect the browser hijacking along with other malware. I personally hadn't used antivirus software for nearly 7-8 years as I am always careful on this matter. But I thought even small mistakes are possible. So, I will be using antivirus from now onwards.
I feel safe knowing there were no threats and malware to infect my PC for now. Hijackers usually do this to generate revenue for themselves by showing you advertisements and pop-ups. They change your search engine and redirect you to their desired websites. Besides this they also try to steal user information and data with the help of software like keyloggers. Always be sure while installing any software. You need to look at every details while proceeding next for installation of any software.
Was there an actual virus on your machine or did the install program just add a new search engine to your browser?
Browsers allow third parties to add search engine listings to browsers. I think they did to avoid anti-trust claims.
As I recall, it is possible to manually add search engine listings to a browser. I also recall that it is fairly easy to write a javascript that adds a search engine listing to a browser.
Scripts that add search engine listings are not considered viruses or malware ... despite the fact that they can be annoying.
Of course, real malware might change search engine settings as part of the malicious activities done on a computer.
BTW: DuckDuckGo.com is a reputable browser that does not maintain user profiles.
It would be good for the Internet for people to switch from Google and Bing to independent third party search engines.
The installed program i.e. Web companion added the new search engine. I forgot to uncheck while installing utorrent. I saw DuckDuckGo.com had a good review and had been using it apart from google.