Polarisearch.com

We want to inform you about a newly released search engine called Polarisearch.com. We have analyzed this search engine and come to the conclusion that it is unreliable and that you should remove it to ensure your computer’s safety. Our research has revealed that it was created by Polarity Technologies Ltd, a company known to develop browser hijackers. However, as shady as Polarisearch.com is, we have yet to see it distributed as a browser hijacker, so, for the time being, we regard it as a highly unreliable search engine. We believe that it is unreliable because its search results can feature links to promoted malicious websites. Therefore, we highly recommend that you get rid of it, but if you want to find out more about this hijacker, we invite you to read this whole article.

As mentioned in the introduction, Polarisearch.com was created by Polarity Technologies Ltd, a company dedicated to providing its clients with web monetization solutions in the form of browser hijackers. This developer has also created Search.yourpackagesnow.com, Search.searchsterjosoft.com, Search.couponsimplified.com, Search.searchcounn.com, and many other browser hijackers that were (and some still are) distributed via malicious software installers that inject them into web browsers without users’ knowledge or approval.

While Polarisearch.com is most likely distributed through bundled software installers, it is likely that you can deselect its installation by opting for advanced/custom installation settings. We have received unconfirmed information that the installers that feature this hijacker are hosted on several shady free software distributing websites. Now that we know how this hijacker is distributed let us move on to its features and functionality.

In all fairness, you can use Polarisearch.com as a regular search engine because it will deliver you search results. It uses Google through which it redirects the entered search queries. However, our research suggests that this search engine might feature promotional links in its search results that appear as regular links. Polarity Technologies might customize the search results to include promoted links that generate advertising revenue. However, given this company’s track record, we would not be surprised to see this search engine promote shady and malicious content. Therefore, you should refrain from using this shady search engine.

As far as privacy matters are concerned, we know that all of Polarity Technologies’ search engines and browser hijackers were set to collect anonymous information such as your search queries, visited URLs, browser type, operating system type, approximate geographical location, IP address, and Internet Service Provider domain name. This company uses the information mentioned above to present you with region-specific, personalized ads. As you can see, Polarisearch.com is all about advertising, so do not expect it to provide you with a reliable service.

In closing, Polarisearch.com is a shady search engine that was developed by a browser hijacker-developing company. However, it is not distributed as a hijacker but, nevertheless, it suffers from the same problems that plague other Polarity Technologies’ search engines — namely an unreliable ad campaign likely to include malicious links. Therefore, to avoid subjecting your PC with malicious content and get better search results, we recommend that you remove Polarisearch.com from your browser using the guide featured below.

Replace the homepage address manually

Microsoft Internet Explorer

1. Press Win+R keys.
2. Enter regedit and click OK.
3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
4. Find the Start Page registry string.
5. Right-click it and click Modify.
6. Enter a new homepage address.
7. Click OK.
8. Close.

Google Chrome

1. Press Win+E keys.
2. Enter C:\Users\{User name}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default in the address line.
3. Hit Enter.
4. Find and delete Preferences, Secure Preferences and Web Data files.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Win+E keys.
2. Type C:\Users\{User name}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles in the address box and hit Enter.
3. Enter the {Unique Mozilla user ID} folder.
4. Find prefs.js and open it with Notepad.
5. Find and replace http://polarisearch.com in the user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://polarisearch.com"); string.
6. Save and Close.