Yoursafersearch.com

Yoursafersearch.com is not as reliable in reality as it may sound like. After researching this tool, we learned that it might not only collect your personal and anonymous data but also allow its third-party partners to do the same. While the software’s creators claim to use this data to improve their services and show you targeted advertisements, they give no warranties the third parties will care for your data too. Therefore, if you see any suspicious third-party ads while searching with Yoursafersearch.com, we would advise you not to interact with them because there is a possibility you could be redirected to sites that could put your privacy at risk or suggest possibly malicious content. Naturally, our researchers recommend choosing a more reputable tool after you delete the threat with the instructions located just below the text. However, if you wish to learn more about this suspicious search engine, we urge you to read the rest of our article.

For starters, users should know the application is considered to be a browser hijacker, and it may belong to the infamous ELEX hijackers family. It means Yoursafersearch.com might be nothing more than another clone of numerous similar threats. Usually, they change one or all of the following user’s preferences: homepage, default search engine, and new tab page. In this case, the tool should replace only your homepage. To do so, the search engine might alter files we list in the deletion instructions located below. If you take a look at them, you can see the application is currently compatible with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Internet Explorer.

Moreover, we also studied the browser hijacker’s provided Privacy Policy document. As we mentioned earlier, some of its parts revealed that both the search engine and its third-party partners could gather various information about you while you are browsing with Yoursafersearch.com or clicking its displayed advertisements. To be more precise, the documents states “the Company provides such third parties with a large number of tools to enable them to create interesting and unique apps, buttons, and gadgets.” The further statement informs that “Some of these tools may give these third parties the ability to access, collect, store, and/or share your information – both your PII and non-personally identifiable.”

The problem is the browser hijacker’s creators do not review, approve, monitor, endorse, warrant, or make any representations with respect to such Third Party Content and Services.” Meaning there are no guarantees the third-party will not use the information they gather for other purposes besides creating targeted advertisements. Also, this might mean the Yoursafersearch.com creators do not review third-party ads and cannot guarantee their reliability. Accordingly, there is a risk some part of the targeted ads may come from unreliable web pages. For instance, they could redirect the user to sites that distribute threats similar to the browser hijacker or even malicious applications. While clicking untrustworthy ads you could end up visiting various scam web pages too, e.g. sites showing fake lottery winnings, asking to reveal sensitive or private data in suspicious surveys, and so on.

Yoursafersearch.com may show third-party advertisements among the search results, or it could display it while surfing the Internet. Our researchers noticed the application could use Yahoo search engine to deliver the search results, but before you receive them, the browser hijacker might inject them with ads. Thus, if you want to use yahoo.com, but do not want to see any targeted ads, you should get rid of this search application with no hesitation. In fact, we recommend removing it for any user who does not want to risk his computer’s security, see annoying advertisements, or provide any information to the software’s creators and especially their third-party partners.

To eliminate Yoursafersearch.com manually, we would advise you to check the data listed in the instructions available below. If it appears to be modified by the browser hijacker you should either restore or delete the way the provided steps instruct you. The application can be removed with a reliable antimalware tool as well, so if you do not feel like erasing it on your own, choose a tool from a reputable company and install it on the computer. Then, the software should be set to perform a system scan, during which it could identify the hijacker and other possible threats. Do not forget to click the removal button and the tool should take care of the identified threats for you.

Eliminate Yoursafersearch.com

Internet Explorer

1. Press Win+R.
2. Type Regedit and click OK.
3. Navigate to the exact same path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
4. Search for a value name called Start Page.
5. Right-click it and select Modify.
6. Replace value data (http://Yoursafersearch.com) with a website you like and press OK.
7. Close the Registry Editor.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Win+E to open the Explorer.
2. Locate the mentioned directory: C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{Unique Mozilla user ID}
3. Choose a file called prefs.js and launch it with Notepad.
4. Find the following line: user_pref(“browser.startup.homepage”, “http://Yoursafersearch.com”).
5. Instead of http://Yoursafersearch.com insert a like you would prefer.
6. Press Ctrl+S and close the document.

Google Chrome

1. Launch File Explorer (Win+E).
2. Locate the same directory: C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default
3. Find files called Preferences, Secure Preferences, and Web Data.
4. Right-click each file separately and select Delete.
5. Close the Explorer.