Anonymosearch.com - How to remove

AnonymoSearch is a browser extension that promises to protect your personal data while online. Once installed, it changes your browser’s search settings to Anonymosearch.com, which gets Yahoo.com to deliver your search results. AnonymoSearch’s effect on privacy is questionable and its behavior makes it look like adware – a potentially unwanted browser extension.

In short about AnonymoSearch:

Classification	Browser hijacker, adware.
How AnonymoSearch gets installed	Advertised on sites that have low ad safety standards, promoted by adware (sites and malware).
Problems and issues	Does little for privacy, collects data on your browsing habits, restricts browsing data, opens other dangerous websites.
Remove AnonymoSearch	Uninstall unwanted browser extensions, use anti-malware tools (Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PC, etc.) to block malicious sites and check for malware.

Problems with Anonymosearch.com

AnonymoSearch opens an Incognito window with your search results. That seems to be the extent of its privacy functionality. You might know that Incognito mode (or private browsing mode) is already immediately available to every user with no extensions needed. All that private mode does is not save cookies and browsing history locally. It’s great for hiding your activity from the people who you share your computer with, but it doesn’t do much for online privacy. And, it seems like AnonymoSearch doesn’t go beyond that.

When being installed, AnonymoSearch asks to read your browsing history and change your search settings to Feed.anonymosearch.com (which opens Yahoo.com). You can visit Anonymosearch.com whenever you want, but with the extension installed, your browser will use that site every time you search the internet. This is the same method that other “privacy” extensions – HistoryHide, HideMyHistory, Auto Purge, etc. – use.

AnonymoSearch is advertised as a privacy extension that will protect your data from greedy advertisers… but Anonymosearch.com’s privacy policy reveals that users’ search logs, browsing history, ISP, and some technical data. Sure, this information is non-personal, but that’s true for many websites out there. This doesn’t make AnonymoSearch dangerous, but it does reveal the hypocrisy of this “privacy” search extension.

Browser extensions like AnonymoSearch rely on gathering your browsing data and influencing your search habits (hence changing your search settings) to make money. These are commercial products, so don’t rely on them for your privacy.

Besides, companies like Google let you delete most of the data they have gathered on you.

How AnonymoSearch gets installed

By checking Anonymosearch.com’s web traffic analytics, we can see what kinds of websites people visit before and after finding AnonymoSearch. It looks like people are referred to Anonymosearch.com from a few unreliable sites:

• monetized URL shorteners (often used to monetize free file downloads),
• free (illegal) movie streaming sites,
• pop-ups by notification spammers.

And AnonymoSearch also opens a few potentially unsafe sites:

• Notify-service.com and other low-quality and malicious ad spammers,
• Investing sites (which are often used to scam inexperienced users),
• more browser hijacker installation sites (ConvertMyVid, etc.).

If you’re not careful, AnonymoSearch could cause you to end up with a few more browser extensions that you may not need. These extensions also read your browsing history, many change your search settings, and they may change your browser’s new tab page.

Adware programs, including many browser extensions, thrive on advertising. They redirect traffic of the hijacked browsers to affiliated sites, which helps them sell more targeted ads. AnonymoSearch is made by Webcoapps, which has released dozens of browser extensions that do the same thing: take over your search settings but fail to offer any good functionality.

How to remove AnonymoSearch

It’s important to check your browser extensions, as well as your notification settings. We have this post on web push notifications and how to disable them all, or just for particular websites. These browser pop-ups are often abused to spam people with low-quality ads that sometimes lead to scams and even malware.

The instructions for removing unwanted browser extensions are in the following section, so you can follow them. You can also use an anti-malware program to remove browser hijackers, as they’re often detected as adware. Programs like Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, and others can help.

Finally, you can use an ad-blocker or an anti-malware program with real-time web security to block malicious websites. With privacy and security settings set as recommended, main browsers automatically block known dangerous sites, but antivirus programs and ad-blockers block a lot more potentially dangerous sites.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Manually remove browser extensions

TopRemoving Anonymosearch.com from Chrome

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Google Chrome window. Select “Settings”.
  
• Click “Extensions” on the left menu bar.
• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to Anonymosearch.com. Click on the trash bin icon next to Anonymosearch.com or other add-ons you want to remove.
  
• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.
  
• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.
  
• Restart Chrome.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to Anonymosearch.com, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
  
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on the Reset settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove Anonymosearch.com from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to Anonymosearch.com. Click on the "Remove" icon next to Anonymosearch.com or other add-ons you want to remove.

• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.

• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.

• Restart Microsoft Edge.

TopRemoving Anonymosearch.com from Firefox

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything Anonymosearch.com related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Anonymosearch.com, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• Choose Troubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.