iMusic Search is a malign Chrome extension, which aims to profit from the users by making modifications in their default browser settings, in order to control the content victim sees. This plugin is specifically made for music fanatics and displays tons of songs-related websites. Yet even the biggest media lovers quickly recognize iMusic Search search engine as irritating and useless. There is much more to this extension than what meets the eye and by reading this article, you will find out everything you need to know.
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Imusic Search Hijacker quicklinks
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Browser hijackers are the type of malware developed to infect as many users as possible and benefit from the victims by viciously advertising in their compromised browsers. iMusic Search hijacker does the exact same thing, but more professionally compared to other viruses, like Search.powersearch.online, www.searchmedia.online or Search.websearch.today.
Nonetheless, if you end up installing iMusic Search virus into your Chrome, you’ll definitely notice the change without having any doubts what happened to your search engine. You will not only start receiving more than usual online promotion offers, getting redirected to various deals pages, but your search engine, homepage, and the new tabs will visibly change to other sites too, and at the top, you will see a small red ‘iM’ hijacker’s signature icon, that will indicate who is responsible for the infection.
What does Search by iMusic hijacker do
Search by iMusic extension comes from the ienjoyapps.com company that has many other similar malicious plugins like iGames Search, SearchAlgo.com, Muzixmuze.searchalgo.com, myMusic, GamesZone Search. These developers are well experienced in creating browser malware, therefore their technique to create a few different theme hijackers pays off better than making tons of identical universal viruses. You can see that by the large number of users in Chrome Web store who installed iMusic Search hijacker voluntarily, not to mention the other spreading methods where the Rogue extension sneaks in without victim’s consent.
First of all, iMusic Search virus lures in tons of people because of its nice design and a promise to enhance music browsing. Then once added as a plugin, it does not simply go with the regular set up. iMusic hijacker uses the opportunity and adds malevolent Script codes, which provide authorization in areas, which a regular app never alters. This browser virus sets its own homepage page to musix.searchalgo.com and the search engine to Yahoo Search. If you use the provided song searching feature you’ll get taken to other sponsored sites like musixhub.com and i.gomusix.com online music stores.
Such behavior is based on the Monetization methods that the iMusic Search browser hijacker uses to make the profit from. Taking over the main page and search provider allows crooks to bring traffic to sponsoring websites, also place more ads with Affiliate links either as pop-ups, redirects or at the top of the search results. You can see that in the picture above, where after searching for an antivirus, iMusic Search hijacker first displayed an ad content and related offers on the right side.
Although such malware is more irritating than annoying, it can really affect your online surfing. While some ads are there to generate Pay-per-click/view or affiliate revenue, some of them are coming straight from the third-parties and contain malware. A click on such disguised promotion might seriously compromise the whole system and not just Chrome. And legally this will be only your own fault because in their Privacy Policy ienjoyapps.com company, dodges the responsibility, by claiming that the user automatically consents with everything this app offers by keep using the service. Not to mention the tracking. iMedia Search hijacker gathers your search queries, location, email, browsing history, name, gender, age, and other information that it can possibly find and then sells it for third-party marketing companies too, so they could use it to improve Targeted advertising.
Overall, this browser hijacker is just a fake extension that you should remove immediately, in order to avoid any unnecessary harm to your PC and to your identity.
How did iMusic Search virus hijack your Chrome
There are a few tactics that iMusic Search virus uses to disseminate and infect your Chrome browser. The most obvious is the voluntary install and persuasion through the redirect links (or redirecting viruses). Whenever you visit a shady website, there usually are tons of ads, which are likely to reroute your click to the official Chrome Store which offers Search by the iMusic plugin. Although it warns before the installation that this app can actually change and read all data on the websites you visit or alter your search settings to musix.searchalgo.com, people still install it because they hope that this program will help them finding online songs easier.
Another method, bundling, is much shadier and is responsible for the bigger part of iMusic Search compromised vicitms. The plugin hides in some popular software’s Setup Wizard, which you get on Freeware sites and Torrents. It is added as an additional/recommended application in one of the installer’s pages, only in the non-official Setup Assistants. You can access this page to see what other programs the bundle is going to install by selecting Advanced/Custom mode, where you’ll get to pick what do you want to add to your PC and what to opt-out from.
How to remove iMusic Search browser virus fast
Removing iMusic Search hijacker can be easily accomplished by manually uninstalling it from Chrome as shown in the instructions below. Though, this method works best if the infection is recent and the virus hasn’t had a chance to spread more and improve its persistence, nor bring more malware in, because when it does, the anti-spyware program will be the only solution.
However, if your technical skills are not the greatest, you don’t have any desire to spend time fixing your PC yourself, or you have been dealing with the iMusic Search browser hijacker for a while, there is a quick fix for this issue – Spyhunter or Malwarebytes. These spyware removal tools will be able to detect iMusic Search as a ‘pup.optional.ienjoyapps’ or ‘pup.optional.searchalgo’ and remove it for you together with other threats that might have sneaked in when the security was down.
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How to uninstall iMusic Search extension from Chrome
TopHow To remove iMusic Search 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 iMusic Search 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.
TopHow to remove iMusic Search hijacker from Google Chrome on Mac:
- Open Chrome browser.
- Enter in the url field “chrome://extensions” address and hit Enter.
- Find Go Musix on the extensions list and click on the recycle bin icon next to it.
- Click on 'Chrome' button at the top left corner. Select 'Preferences' on a drop-down menu box.
- Find 'Search' options on Settings tab. If your search engine is changed, click 'Manage Search Engines' and set your preferred search engine.
- On the same page find 'Show home button' checkbox and change your homepage.
- On the 'Preferences' menu window, scroll down to the bottom and find 'Reset settings' button. Click it.
- Confirm your selection and click 'Reset' on the following window.
