

Users are forced to visit the hijacker's website and search the Internet using their search engines.ĭeceptive pop-up ads, free software installers (bundling), fake Flash Player installers.

Manipulated Internet browser settings (homepage, default Internet search engine, new tab settings). Homepage, new tab URL, default search engine.
QUICK REFRESH FIREFOX BROWSER APP FULL
Threat Summary: Nameīrowser Hijacker, Redirect, Search Hijacker, Toolbar, Unwanted New Tab.Īvast (Win32:Adware-gen ), DrWeb (Adware.Spigot.157), ESET-NOD32 (A Variant Of Win32/WinWrapper.V Potentiall), Kaspersky (Not-a-virus:HEUR:), Full List Of Detections ( VirusTotal). To ensure device integrity and user safety, it is crucial to eliminate all suspicious applications and browser extensions/plug-ins immediately upon detection. In summary, the presence of data-tracking software on browsers/systems can lead to system infections, financial loss, serious privacy issues and even identity theft. The collected data often contains personally identifiable information, which developers typically monetize by sharing it with and/or selling to third parties (potentially, cyber criminals). It can monitor browsing activity (URLs visited, pages viewed, search queries typed, etc.) and gather vulnerable information extracted from it (IP addresses, geolocations and other details). Furthermore, Quick Search Tool can track data, which is a common capability of browser hijackers. Therefore, without removing the browser hijacker, it is impossible to recover the affected browser. Browser hijackers can restrict/deny access to browser settings and/or undo any permitted changes made. The web searcher of Quick Search Tool () is no exception to this, and simply redirects to Yahoo (), which is a genuine search engine. Rogue search engines are rarely capable of providing search results, and so they redirect to (or cause redirection chains ending with) legitimate sites. Quick Search Tool promotes in this manner. Therefore, with this software installed, new browser tabs/windows opened and web searches made via the URL bar redirect to the promoted address. Following successful installation, these dubious apps reassign the homepage, default search engine and new tab/window URLs to the addresses of fake search engines. This browser hijacker also has data tracking capabilities, which are employed to monitor users' browsing habits.įurthermore, due to the dubious methods used to proliferate Quick Search Tool, it is classified as a Potentially Unwanted Application (PUA).īrowser hijackers primarily target Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and other popular browsers with large user bases. It operates by making changes to browsers to promote (a fake search engine). Quick Search Tool is a rogue application categorized as a browser hijacker. What is the Quick Search Tool browser hijacker?
