Toolbars&Hijackers

Chrominio Message Center is annoying badware, that is hiddenly installed in Windows and shows different variations of pop-ups. This pop-ups contain following messages and promote Chromium browser. Chromium is built on the same platform as Google Chrome, they look similar, and many users can get confused. Malefactors use this to substitute Chrome on users computers with Chromium filled with adware, pre-installed malicious extension and unwanted search engines. Chrominio Message Center is intermediary program, but it can bring major problems.

Search.lavradoor.com is precarious search engine, that is installed in Safari, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox on Mac computers. Hijackers installs extension called "Lavradoor" in your browsers and this add-on controls and modifies your search and homepage settings. Settings cannot be changed unless extension is removed. Search.lavradoor.com redirects user queries to search.yahoo.com. Programs like this make your browsing history, search queries an open book to advertisers.

Search.hmyquickconverter.com is virulent browser hijacker, that modifies search and homepage settings in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer. Settings manipulation is done by means of browser extenson called My Quick Converter (current version is 4.10), that is available in Chrome Store and Firefox Add-ons gallery. Search.hmyquickconverter.com redirects search queries to Yahoo.com, and gets affiliate revenue share from advertising brought by its users. Main page of this dubiuos website also promotes website cloudconvert.com, the service for online cross-format file conversion. Add-on gets access to private browser information and can collect information about users behavior.

Opti-page.com or Opti Page Search is malicious browser hijacker, that belongs to notorious Babylon Ltd., developer of Babylon Toolbar. It can infect both Mac and Windows computers and targets Safari, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers. Opti-page.com overwrites default values of search engine and homepage settings. Users are redirected to http://www.opti-page.com and then to one of the following search engines: Yahoo.com, Bing.com, Yandex.ru, Google Custom Search or Opti-page.com itself, depending on users geolocation. Main page of this questionable website can be filled with ads "Powered by Taggy" and have sponsored links to third-party shopping sites.

Home.searchpulse.net or Search.searchpulse.net is bogus third-party search engine, that installs in Safari, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Web application Search Pulse and company with the same name originated from Israel. Hijacker replaces homepage, default search engine and new tab settings in your browsers. Searches from Home.searchpulse.net can be redirected to Yahoo, Bing or Google. Malefactors gain advertising revenue from traffic driven to any of this search engine. However, along with redirection, Home.searchpulse.net can collect browser data and search history from users and share it with advertisers.

Search.tb.ask.com or hp.tb.ask.com is unwanted search engine by Mindspark Interactive, that is often used in toolbars designed by this company. Can be also promoted separately. It can infect Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer. Search queries are redirected to int.search.tb.ask.com, which is Ask.com search engine result page. Ask.com is legitimate search engine, but results it delivers can be filled with sponsored links and extra advertising. Distribution methods are doubtful, and Mindspark Toolbars are classified as browser hijackers and potentilly unwanted programs.

Web Companion is legal security application from Lavasoft. It was developed to promote Lavasoft products and services by installing browser add-ons such as Ad-aware Security Search, Ad-aware Ad Block, Ad-aware Web Protection and Ad-ware Smart Shopper in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer. Although, Lavasoft is considered reputable vendor and applications may be useful there are some side effects and undesirable consequences for inexperienced users. This extensions modify browser search and homepage to either Bing.com, Yahoo.com or Yandex.ru, depending on your location. Those are not most wide-spread search engines and novice users complain of unexpected browser modifications. Ad-aware Smart Shopper can display ads, pop-ups and discount coupons on shopping sites.

SavingsCool (sometimes presented as CoolSavings) is potentially unwanted program, that can be classified as browser hijacker and adware. It was developed to display ads, pop-ups and banners on different websites. This can be realized via installing extensions in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. However, latest version of SavingsCool uses proxy hijack to drive traffic through servers controlled by the developers. SavingsCool modifies transmitted data to show advertising.