Search.MySocialHubXp.com

Search.MySocialHubXp.com is yet another browser hijacker aimed at modifying your browser’s settings to make you use it for performing online searches. Thus, you might want to remove it from your system. We have classified it as a browser hijacker because it is distributed via software bundles that install this hijacker without your knowledge or permission. However, the reason it is distributed in such a dishonest fashion is money. Indeed. Search.MySocialHubXp.com’s search results contain a lot of promotional links and advertisements that come from numerous sources. However, some of those sources are bound to be malicious and subject you to malicious content that can wreak havoc on your PC if you access or download it. If you want more in-depth information about this infection, please read this whole description.

As stated in this hijacker’s description, SaferBrowser is its indicated developer. However, there is no information about this developer anywhere, so we suspect that it is a bogus name. Nevertheless, this name has helped us link several other hijackers to this newest one. Therefore, we would like to mention several of SaferBrowser’s prior releases that include Search.mytelevisionxp.com, Search.youremailcenter.com, and Search.youronlinegameplay.com. All of these browser hijackers function in a similar fashion, and the reason for their quantity is to avoid detection by anti-malware programs as each new release in undetectable until its database is updated. Of course, they can share generic items, such as the browser extension for Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Chrome.

The browser extension Search.MySocialHubXp.com comes with is called My Social Hub XP. You can get this extension from several different sources. The first one is very popular among Chrome users since you can download it straight from the Chrome Web Store. According to this store’s information, more than 29,000 Chrome users have this browser hijacker installed on their systems. However, you can get it for all three browsers from it dedicated distribution website at Mysocialhubxp.com which promotes faster and easier access to your social network accounts that this hijacker is supposed to provide. Regardless, the last known Search.MySocialHubXp.com’s distribution method is software bundles. Malicious software bundles can infect your computer with this hijacker without your knowledge as it is automatically installed along with other content.

As mentioned, this hijacker is promoted as a search engine that also offers you easy access to your favorite social network websites in the form of bookmarks. The fact of the matter is that you can create bookmarks to those websites yourself as all three supported browsers have this function. In truth, this hijacker’s purpose is to generate advertising revenue, and this is achieved by hijacking the search provider of Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer, and the homepage of the two latter browsers. It also changes Chrome’s new tab page as it does not have a default homepage.

As far as Search.MySocialHubXp.com’s search function goes, it can be said that it is not that terrible. However, you should know that this alleged search engine redirects all of its search queries to Yahoo.com, but not before it redirects them to Extsearch.maxwebsearch.com to be injected with advertisements and promotional links. These promotions and ads should appear on the search engine window’s right site but may also be placed at the very top, before the real search result start. This hijacker’s Terms of Use state that “My Social Hub XP collects search query information. Such search query information could be used to serve relevant ads to you and/or to monitor the performance of the search services.“

We also want to mention that it collects certain information about you. So it can obtain information such as browser type, operating system type, Internet protocol (IP) address and information about the version of any software comprising a portion of the services that you use, geographic location and the domain name of your Internet service provider (ISP,) visited websites, and search queries. All of this information is used to show you more relevant advertisements to increase advertising revenue. However, this search engine is far from safe, so you should get rid of it.

If you want to get rid of this infection, then there a few things you should know. You have to uninstall it via Control Panel first, and only then remove it from the browser. Note that you do not need to delete it from Internet Explorer as uninstalling from Control Panel is sufficient. Please consult the instructions provided below for more information on Search.MySocialHubXp.com’s removal.

How to uninstall this browser hijacker from your PC

Windows 10

1. Right-click on the Start menu.
2. Go to Programs and Features.
3. Locate the software and right-click on it.
4. Click Uninstall.

Windows 8 or 8.1

1. Open the Charm bar.
2. Click Settings and select Control Panel.
3. Find the unwanted program and right-click on it.
4. Click the Uninstall button.

Windows 7 or Vista

1. Click Start.
2. Select Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a program.
4. Find the application.
5. Click Uninstall.

Windows XP

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Click Control Panel.
3. Select Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find the malicious program.
5. Click Remove.

Remove the browser extension

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+A.
2. Click Extensions and Remove the extension.
3. Press Alt+T and click Options.
4. Change the homepage address.

Google Chrome

1. Press Alt+F.
2. Go to More tools.
3. Click Extensions and Remove the add-on.
4. Then press Alt+F again.
5. Locate the On Startup list and click Set pages.
6. Change the homepage address and click OK.

Alternative method for changing the homepage address

Microsoft Internet Explorer

1. Press Windows Key+R.
2. Type regedit and click OK.
3. Go to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main|Start Page.
4. Search for data http://search.mysocialhubxp.com/ and replace it with your preferred website.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press Windows Key+E.
2. Enter %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ in the address bar.
3. Search for user_pref ("browser.startup.homepage", "http://search.mysocialhubxp.com/") string in the prefs.js file.
4. Open it with Notepad and replace the address with your preferred one.

Google Chrome

1. Press Windows Key+E.
2. Enter %LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\ in the address bar.
3. Delete the references, Secure Preferences and Web Data files.
4. Or open these files using Notepad and replace Search.mysocialhubxp.com’s address with your preferred one.