Music World Search Hijacker - How to remove

Music World Search is a music streaming extension that has little to offer. Instead of helping users listen to music, Music World Search replaces their search engine settings and fills their screens with ads. According to the Chrome Web Store, at least 400,000 people have installed Music World Search, but it has barely any ratings or reviews (implying unintentional installations) and the only discussion online about it is about how to remove it. That’s not surprising – Music World Search is a classic example of adware.

About Music World Search:

Type of threat	Adware, browser hijacker.
How Music World Search gets installed	Advertised online (deceptively), bundled with free programs.
Features and problems	Music World Search needs to open new tabs to work, registration is required to access some features, it hijacks internet search settings and restricts the search engine, it shows notification pop-ups.
s Removing Music World Search	Uninstall unwanted extensions, look for other malware (with Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PC, and other programs), disable notifications.

What is Music World Search

Music World Search is a browser extension that is described as letting people search and explore trending music. Supposedly, it allows you to listen to music, create playlists, and explore new artists.

In reality, it is yet another browser hijacker that attempts to promote Gomusix.com (looks like a close cousin of Gomovix.com). Ads, of course, Music World Search redirects searches to Yahoo, just like most browser hijackers do.

The installation

I encountered an ad for Music World Search while trying to convert a Youtube video into an audio track and download it. It is very common for Youtube converters to show deceptive ads to users who are trying to download the converted file. The ad for Music World Search looked not quite like an advertisement and was a bit intimidating, giving off the impression that it was a required installation. The button to close this pop-up wasn’t quite obvious, either.

Once I agreed to install Music World Search by clicking the “Accept and +Add” button, Music World Search warned that it requires permissions to:

• display notifications (can be used to show advertisements on my screen),
• change my search settings to Music.world-search.net (this site opens Yahoo.com).

Checking out Music World Search’s privacy policy, I see that it’s associated with Worldsearchhub.com. Still not sure what company exactly is behind this, but Music World Search’s privacy policy uses the same template as TigerPDF, mixMusic Start, the Getawesome sites, and many other websites. That does not inspire confidence.

Oh, and somebody forgot to change “movies” to “music” when creating Music World Search’s description.

Search redirects

Browser extensions are meant to add features to web browsers or to somehow improve them. But I believe that Music World Search fails at this. It is not very usable and it seems to mainly exist to advertise to users.

Music World Search shows notifications on the screen, which is annoying. It also changes search settings to Music.world-search.net, which opens Yahoo.

While Yahoo is a functional search engine, there is no good reason for why Music World Search should restrict searches to Yahoo and not allow people to choose. Yahoo, when accessed through Music World Search, does seem to show quite a bit more advertisements than when Yahoo is searched normally. Oh, and Yahoo.com’s ads are still difficult to tell apart from genuine results.

So, that’s advertising. It’s used to monetize free products. What functionality does Music World Search offer, then?

Features (or lack thereof)

Music World Search’s extension pop-up (the one that appears after clicking on the extension icon) shows a button to play some music, a search box to search for artists, and a random artist. When I click it and try to use it, it opens a new tab with Getmedia.today. Meaning, the extension pop-up is useless. What’s the point of installing Music World Search if I can’t use it without opening a new tab in the browser? I could do that without touching Music World Search and letting it hijack my internet search.

Artists on Getmedia.today only have three songs each, it seems. Getmedia.today uses a bizarre design where the music player is made to look like a macOS system window. Can’t really use Getmedia.today to do much, either, because it redirects to Musixhub.com or Gomusix.com. Gomusix.com requires registration to function properly, or else it’s just filled with 404 (missing) pages for various artists.

So, Music World Search is pretty much non-functional. It is being actively advertised, it promised to let me create playlists, its description didn’t mention anything about needing registration – but after trying Music World Search, I think it is completely useless. Worse than that, it is harmful because it restricts internet search and fills my screen with too many advertisements.

How to remove Music World Search

You can uninstall Music World Search simply by right-clicking on its extension icon in the upper right corner of the browser. And it’s advisable to have an anti-malware app, such as Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, or others, sweep through your computer to check for malware that may have come with Music World Search or infected your computer in the same ways as Music World Search did. It’s very common for multiple adware infections to be found on one computer.

If pop-up ads from Music World Search do not stop when this extension is removed, then check the notification settings in your browser.

1. Go to your notification settings:
   • Chrome – type “chrome://settings/content/notifications” in the address box.
   • Edge (Chromium) – type “edge://settings/content/notifications” in the address box.
   • Safari – in the Safari menu, choose Preferences, Websites, Notifications.
   • Firefox – open Settings, Preferences, Privacy & Security, scroll down to Permissions, and click on Settings next to Notifications.
2. Find sites that are sending unwanted notifications, press the button next to each of them and then click “Block”.

Be careful of malicious browser extensions and check out music streaming services that are more reputable, safer, and more functional than Music World Search and Gomusix.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Remove unwanted browser extensions

TopRemoving Music World Search Hijacker 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 Music World Search. Click on the trash bin icon next to Music World Search Hijacker 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 Music World Search, 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 Music World Search Hijacker 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 Music World Search Hijacker. Click on the "Remove" icon next to Music World Search 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 Music World Search Hijacker 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 Music World Search 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 Music World Search Hijacker, 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.