Privacy World Redirects - How to remove

Privacy World on Lastlog.in is a fake privacy extension. All it does is change your browser’s search engine so that, whenever you search the internet, Yahoo returns the results. Despite talking about privacy and anonymous search engines, Privacy World is just another ad-supported browser add-on: it tracks your data and uses it to targets ads to your interests. Privacy World is only one of many deceptive browser add-ons that promise anonymous searches only to hijack the browser upon being installed.

About Privacy World:

Type of threat	Browser hijacker.
How Privacy World affects the browser	Redirects searches to Yahoo, does not provide a tool to change the search engine used.
Problems with Privacy World	Does not allow the search engine to be changed, does not truly provide anonymous searches, is clunky to use, logs usage data and uses it for ads.
How to remove Privacy World	Uninstall Privacy World and other suspicious browser extensions, use antivirus programs (such as Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, others) to find potentially unwanted programs.

What is Privacy World

First of all, Privacy World is a browser extension with over ten thousand users. It has nothing to do with the PrivacyWorld blog. These are unrelated and Privacy World’s issues do not reflect badly on PrivacyWorld.

Yahoo redirects

Browser extensions are little add-ons to web browsers. They’re meant to add new functions – managing passwords, blocking ads, changing the colors of website backgrounds and text, etc.

Privacy World is a browser extension that changes the user’s default search engine to Private.lastlog.in, which quickly redirects to Yahoo. If your browser suddenly switched to using Yahoo to return your internet search results, then Privacy World is only one of many potential suspects.

Here’s one way to find out for sure: with Privacy World installed, in the omnibox, the text “Search Privacy World” appears.

Privacy World promises to help you perform private searches to avoid tracking and logging of your data. So, to do a “private” search, Privacy World asks you to start your search query with a ‘p’. Then it opens Myprivatesearch.com. Myprivatesearch.com redirects to Yahoo all the time, so this seems pretty useless.

Related hijackers

In particular, extensions that are extremely similar to Privacy World are Protect My Privacy, MyPrivate Now, Private Search Plus, and probably a few others. They use Private.websafesearch.com, Search.ienjoyapps.com, and other sites to also redirect users straight to Yahoo.

Now, Privacy World’s description says that users can choose which search engine they want to use. But I saw no such feature. Privacy World and Protect My Privacy simply redirect searches to Yahoo. MyPrivate Now and Private Search Plus do provide an option to change your search engine to one from a limited selection.

The former two extensions only have one permission: to change your default search engine. The latter two ask to access your data on all the sites that you visit. That is one dangerous permission. It allows a browser extension to change all the sites and to read all the data on them, including passwords.

“Privacy” extension

Even with its limited permissions, it’s not like Privacy World doesn’t collect data about its users. It does log data and it uses it:

• Privacy World sees your approximate location based on your IP,
• it logs what buttons, links, and ads you click on – anonymously,
• it uses information about you to decide what offers to show you.

In other words, Privacy World is just like any other ad-supported site/app. It logs your data, anonymizes it, and uses it to help advertisers. It does not help your searches remain private – all it does is restrict how you can use your browser.

Good private search engines do exist but here’s one thing to note – using a browser extension is automatically a huge privacy risk. And Privacy World is not trustworthy.

Based on its privacy policy and terms of service pages, Privacy World is likely a part of a big family of browser extensions that includes Safe Browsing, NJoyMovies, iSportTV Search Plus, and many, many similar hijackers that use Getawesome sites to sneak into people’s web browsers. Check out that link to learn about what kinds of deceptive ads are used to promote browser hijackers.

How to remove Privacy World

The good news is that you can see the instructions for removing Privacy World by clicking on the extension’s icon in the upper right corner of your browser and clicking the Help button.

Uninstall Privacy World from your browser like any other extension: open the affected web browser, go to Settings, and find and click the Extensions button. That will bring up a page with all of the extensions installed on your browser. There, you can remove all of them or review their details. Remove Privacy World and other suspicious browser extensions one-by-one until your browser returns to normal.

Scan your computer with an antivirus program, such as Spyhunter for PC, Combo Cleaner for Mac, or others. One issue with browser hijackers like Privacy World is that they tend to get installed in groups. Uninstalling Privacy World alone might not be enough because it might leave a few potentially unwanted items on your computer.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to remove browser extensions

TopRemoving Privacy World Redirects 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 Privacy World Redirects. Click on the trash bin icon next to Privacy World Redirects 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 Privacy World Redirects, 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 Privacy World Redirects 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 Privacy World Redirects. Click on the "Remove" icon next to Privacy World Redirects 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 Privacy World Redirects 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 Privacy World Redirects 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 Privacy World Redirects, 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.