Search.searchfreedm.com

Search.searchfreedm.com is a part of an application called Free Driver Maps. Evidently, it targets people who love traveling primarily because buttons leading to Google Maps, Bing Maps, and geico.com, which allows users to find out about the lowest gas prices, are placed at the top to make this search tool desirable. Even though there are some people who find Search.searchfreedm.com a beneficial tool, specialists have a completely different opinion about it. They are certain that it is better to bookmark favorite websites to access them with the click of a button than keep Search.searchfreedm.com just because it contains those easy-access buttons. On top of that, they do not think that this search engine is a reputable search tool either. Researchers, of course, have proof that this website only pretends to be a legitimate search provider. According to them, there is no doubt that its main goal is completely different: it has been created by Polarity Technologies Ltd. to generate money through advertising. The following paragraphs of this report will reveal all the darkest secrets about Search.searchfreedm.com, so continue reading!

It might seem at first glance that Search.searchfreedm.com has been developed to ease the life of users who travel a lot, but we can assure you that it is not true. The main goal of this suspicious search provider is to generate the pay-per-click revenue for the company which has developed it. As a consequence, it displays advertisements for users. Even though Yahoo! search results are opened for users when they enter search queries, it has been found that commercial ads might be placed among decent search results too. There is no doubt that ads appear there on purpose – the more users click on displayed commercials, the more money the developers are going to receive. Undoubtedly, what users can get out of this is a bunch of problems because they risk landing on bad websites run by cyber criminals with every click. Of course, users do not know that they click on potentially harmful ads, so we cannot accuse them of being careless.

Third-party web pages users might be taken to after clicking on any of the ads they see might not only cause problems associated with the security. Research has revealed that some of these websites might give a start for privacy-related issues to emerge too. Some of them might really try to extort personal information from users, but, sadly, we cannot confirm that Search.searchfreedm.com treats the privacy of users with respect too. It is clearly stated in the Privacy Policy document belonging to this questionable search provider that search queries which might contain personally-identifiable information will be recorded. This does not sound dangerous at all, but it should be emphasized that the recorded details might really end up in the hands of cyber criminals because it is clearly stated there that Search.searchfreedm.com is going to “share them with third parties.” In fact, not only personally-identifiable information will be recorded if you continue using this search engine. It seems that it is also going to record more technical details automatically too. Without a doubt, this information will also be shared with partners.

Search.searchfreedm.com is not the first creation of Polarity Technologies Ltd. This company has already developed a number of different search providers, e.g. search.searchdcnow.com, search.yourinterestscenter.com, and search.searchliveson.com, so it did not take long for specialists at pcthreat.com to find out how Search.searchfreedm.com is distributed. It seems that this company uses the same distribution method to spread all its products. They are disseminated bundled with third-party software, but, of course, we cannot guarantee that others methods will not be employed in the future. Even though these undesirable search providers are spread bundled with other applications and are usually hardly noticeable, it is still possible to prevent the entrance of these browser hijackers (search tools which change browsers’ settings without permission are called like that). It is advisable to opt for the Advanced installation option when installing new applications on the computer. An enabled security tool should also help to prevent undesirable software capable of changing the settings of all users’ browsers too.

Below this article, you will find the manual removal guide which will help you to remove Search.searchfreedm.com from all affected browsers. Keep in mind that these instructions are only going to help you erase the undesirable search tool, meaning that untrustworthy software might still be actively working on your computer. Take care of it manually or automatically after the removal of Search.searchfreedm.com!

The manual Search.searchfreedm.com removal instructions

Internet Explorer

1. Open the Registry Editor by pressing Win+R, typing regedit, and clicking OK.
2. Go to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main.
3. Locate the Start Page Value there.
4. Right-click on this value and select Modify.
5. Delete data from the Value data field and then click OK.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Open the Windows Explorer (tap Win+E simultaneously).
2. Go to %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles and search for a folder with random symbols in its name (if it contains the prefs.js file, it is a right folder).
3. Open this file with Notepad or a similar program to see its code.
4. Delete the string user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://search.searchfreedm.com from this file.
5. Save the changes.

Google Chrome

1. Go to %LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default after launching the Windows Explorer (press Win+E).
2. Find Web Data, Secure Preferences, and Preferences there.
3. Delete those files one after the other.