Search.futuremediatabsearch.com

Search.futuremediatabsearch.com is similar to Search.ourmediatabsearch.com, Search.youremailnow.com, and many other fake search engines that come from Stepitapp LTD, an infamous malware developer. We recommend that you remove its browser hijackers because they are set to replace your browser’s homepage address and show you modified, ad-supported search results. They have also been set to keep tabs on your browsing preferences to modify the ad campaign so that it would generate the maximum amount of revenue possible. In short, this fake search engine will not improve your browsing experience but hinder because the search results are aimed at making money — not helping you find things.

As mentioned in the introduction, Search.futuremediatabsearch.com was created by Stepitapp, a company known for developing browser hijackers and browser extensions that are bundled together and distributed around the web using rather dishonest methods. Our research has shown that this browser hijacker should be distributed with the FutureMediaTab browser extension. You can find this extension on Futuremediatab.com which is compatible with Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox at the moment. When you install this extension, it does not ask whether you want your browser’s homepage address to be changed to Search.futuremediatabsearch.com, effectively hijacking it without your authorization. Like its counterparts, this browser hijacker might also be featured on free software distributing websites such as Filewon.com, Malavida.es, Descargar.es, and Filewin.com. Now let us go into the information regarding Search.futuremediatabsearch.com’s functionality.

It must be noted that this new browser hijacker is no different from its dozens of clones. It redirects the search queries you enter in its search box to Plusnetwork.com, a highly unreliable search engine that is known to feature promotional links and advertisements in its search results. The promotions come from unknown sources that are unreliable because of that. Furthermore, based on our experience with previously released browser hijackers, we think that it is entirely possible for Plusnetwork.com and, by extension, Search.futuremediatabsearch.com to show malicious links that redirect to scam and phishing websites, as well as sites that feature malware downloads.

It should be pointed out that Search.futuremediatabsearch.com was configured to gather some information about you to present you with personalized search results. Normally that would not be something to discuss but the fact that this hijacker can show malicious links requires us to dig a bit deeper. Its rather lengthy privacy policy indicates that it can collect information such as “your IP (internet protocol) address, the type of browser you used to visit our site (such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox), the time at which you visited our site and which pages you visited throughout our site.” Furthermore, the policy states that “we may collect personal information at various times when you use our website or plugin.” So it can collect both personal and non-personally identifiable information, but we want to point out that personal information is collected on a voluntary basis only. Nevertheless, you should not allow this hijacker keep tabs on you because its developers will use the collected information to advance their agenda.

We hope you found this description insightful. As you can see, Search.futuremediatabsearch.com is nothing more than a browser hijacker that is set to replace your browser’s homepage to show you modified search results littered with promotional links to shady websites. Therefore, we suggest that you remove this malicious search engine as soon as you can.

Remove FutureMediaTab from the web browser

Google Chrome

1. Press Alt+F.
2. Open More tools and select Extensions.
3. Find FutureMediaTab and click the Remove button.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+A.
2. Choose Extensions.
3. Find FutureMediaTab.
4. Click Remove.