Click on screenshot to zoom
Danger level 7
Type: Browser Hijackers
Common infection symptoms:
  • Hijacks homepage
  • Changes default search engine

MaskSearch.com

MaskSearch.com is a strange little thing. Although it appears to work as a regular search engine, in reality, it can be regarded as a hijacker, an advertising tool, or even a redirector. Although it uses its own search results page to introduce you to search results, they could be taken from a third-party search provider. Also, our research team does not dismiss the possibility that this hijacker will redirect your search queries to a more popular search engine (e.g., Google Search) to introduce you to its own results. Overall, it does not look like this search tool is capable of providing you with reliable and beneficial services, which is why we advise deleting it. If you do not agree with us, or if you have your doubts, you can read this report to learn more about the suspicious search tool. If you decide that you want to remove MaskSearch.com, you can use the guide below. We understand that you might have questions about many things, which is why we have opened the comments section for everyone. Use it if you need further assistance.

FreshTab Technologies is the creator of the suspicious MaskSearch.com. Considering that this company is otherwise unknown, it is possible that its name is hiding someone else. Of course, it is also possible that the developer is new. After analyzing the Privacy Policy, it did not become much clearer what the intentions of this developer are. Although it is stated that personal information is not recorded under any circumstances – and that is an important thing to check regardless of what kind of software you are dealing with – it mentions the introduction of third-party ads. This is why we also recognize this suspicious search tool as an advertising tool. If you have used MaskSearch.com to surf the web, you already know that it displays a ton of ads along with regular search results. The advertisements are displayed at the top, at the bottom, and even on the right off search results. Though regular, reliable search tools show ads as well, this one is particularly promotional. Unfortunately, we do not know which advertisers FreshTab Technologies works with, and so we cannot say whether or not all ads shown can be trusted. This might be another reason to delete the hijacker.

According to our research team, it is possible that MaskSearch.com will hijack the homepage of your Google Chrome browser as you install the MaskSearch extension. If this hijacker travels separately, you are likely to find it attached to some other extension or suspicious application. Unfortunately, there is also a possibility that you will let this hijacker in along with malware, whose removal you will need to take care of as well. If you do not think that malicious infections have invaded your operating system, do yourself a favor and install a malware scanner. This tool will make all things clear for you by inspecting your PC and listing the threats if they exist. What should you do if malware is found? First of all, do not panic! Second, research the malware found quickly to figure out what you should do about it. In certain cases, you might be able to erase the threats using a few simple clicks. In other cases, you might need to install malware removal software.

Do you still think that MaskSearch.com is a beneficial and reliable tool? Hopefully, you do not, and you agree with us that removing this hijacker is the best thing you can do for your virtual security. As mentioned before, we advise scanning your operating system first to see what you are dealing with. Hopefully, complicated and malicious threats are not found, and you can handle it all by yourself. The guide below shows how to delete MaskSearch.com manually, and you can search our website to find removal guides for other threats that might be active. If extremely malicious threats are found, you should not waste your time. Instead, install an automated malware remover/anti-malware tool. If you install it, you will not need to deal with any threats, including the hijacker, and you will not need to worry about other infections that you could face in the future.

MaskSearch.com Removal

N.B. If the hijacker does not disappear after you eliminate the extension, try modifying the homepage URL.

  1. Open the browser and tap keys Alt+F.
  2. Select More tools and then choose Extensions.
  3. Find the extension called Masksearch and click the trash bin button next to it.
  4. Select Remove and then restart the browser.
  5. If the hijacker remains active, tap Alt+F again and choose Settings.
  6. Navigate to the On Startup menu.
  7. Mark Open a specific page or set of pages and then click Set pages.
  8. Overwrite the URL of the hijacker, click OK, and then restart the browser.
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