search.hyoureasyforms.com Hijacker - How to remove

search.hyoureasyforms.com is the site that a certain browser hijacker sets as your home page. A browser hijacker is an application (in this case, a browser extension named Your Easy Forms) that takes control of some browser settings without your explicit consent.

The description of Your Easy Forms says:

Search and access popular forms quick links instantly from your new tab page!

Indeed, search.hyoureasyforms.com has a link to irs.gov and three popular tax form PDFs. And that’s all.

Overall, the extension looks harmless at first glance. It is actually in Your Easy Forms’ favour to be invisible and become a routine part of its users’ Web browsing experience — it wants to stay on your computer for as long as possible.

Ads by search.hyoureasyforms.com

A part of the Your Easy Forms extension is a simple search bar. It has an associated search engine (Yahoo) and, when you search for something, shows you the results like normal. However, with the right queries, you’ll find your results page filled to the brim with ads. This happens when using Yahoo normally, too. And this search engine is the one that the developers of Your Easy Forms believe would be best for you to use?

Advertisers pay to put their ads in front of people. And search.hyoureasyforms.com finds people to put those ads in front of. Usually, you would see ads in exchange for using free services and seeing free content. Knowing how useless search.hyoureasyforms.com is, you are viewing even more ads than normal and getting nothing in return.

Additionally, search.hyoureasyforms.com collects a lot of information about you that is valuable to marketers. Your IP address, your browser, device information, your location, what exactly you searched for, which ads you clicked on, even when and how you installed/uninstalled their extensions. Not that you would know all this before installing Your Easy Forms — the links on their Chrome Web Store page to their Privacy Policy do not work.

Another problem is how many of the pages that search.hyoureasyforms.com links to (like MyNewsWire) want your permission to push notifications. Notifications can be abused to act like pop-up ads, which would result in even more advertisements.

Your Easy Forms — red flags

Clones

Your Easy Forms has many clone extensions that are almost identical. The description of this extension actually is referring at one point to another version of this extension, Easy To Find Forms.

Easy To Find Forms is quick, simple, and FREE! No registration. No hassle.

Creating and releasing clone extensions is practical because the changes to each app are minimal, so there is no need to spend effort developing and testing a whole new app.

Your Easy Forms is similar to Family Tree Builder, Fast Package Tracker, New Scoop, and dozens of other hijackers. These extensions all work the same, but there are so many clones that it’s difficult to know how many users they have (probably just a few million, but could be more). Some might be abandoned, but new ones are constantly released and promoted, mostly through adware (software that shows you ads).

Bundles

To get you to install more dubious extensions, search.hyoureasyforms.com puts a highlighted “Recommended” button in your homepage. If you click on it, Search Encrypt and other hijackers are being promoted here.

Usually, extensions like Your Easy Forms come in bundles, and they’re often promoted by adware. So if you did not find Your Easy Forms on your own, it’s likely that your computer has some adware installed.

Affiliation

This is made by Eightpoint, a sister company to Polarity Technologies. They have released dozens of browser hijackers and they present themselves as a marketing company, which explains why their products are so good at showing people ads, and not so great with offering useful products.

How to remove search.hyoureasyforms.com

If search.hyoureasyforms.com was recommended to you in an ad or if you do not know how you installed Your Easy Forms, it’s likely that you have adware on your system.

If you do not know if you have adware, scan your computer with an antivirus program, for example, Spyhunter. Also scan it after you have removed the adware, just to make sure that it’s really gone.

Your Easy Forms can be removed by going to your browser settings and getting rid of the extension, and I also recommend checking your notification permissions and revoking the ones associated with search.hyoureasyforms.com, or just all the unfamiliar sites.

Automatic Malware removal tools

TopHow To remove search.hyoureasyforms.com Hijacker from Google Chrome:

• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select More Tools→Extensions
  
• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.
  
• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select Settings
  
• Select Manage Search engines
  
• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list
  
• Go back to settings. On Startup choose Open blank page (you can remove undesired pages from the set pages link too).
• If your homepage was changed, click on Chrome menu on the top right corner, select Settings. Select Open a specific page or set of pages and click on Set pages.
  
• Delete malicious search websites at a new Startup pages window by clicking “X” next to them.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

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

• Click on a Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on theReset browser 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.