Shopping Friend Redirects - How to remove

Shopping Friend is a malicious browser extension. Malicious because Shopping Friend injects ads into your browser, shows pop-up windows, and occasionally redirects to Bing. It’s associated with the address Shopping-friend.xyz. If you have Shopping Friend installed, it would be best to remove it, as well as any other apps, programs, and browser add-ons that may be problematic.

About Shopping Friend in short:

Classification	Browser hijacker.
How Shopping Friend affects a browser	It shows pop-up windows, it sometimes redirects to Bing, it may inject ads above your search results.
How Shopping-friend.xyz spreads	Advertised on unrelated websites as a pop-up, bundled with free apps and programs.
How to remove Shopping Friend	Remove it and other unwanted browser extensions, find and, if needed, delete suspicious items from your computer manually or with an anti-malware app (Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for Windows, and others).

How Shopping Friend works

Intrusive browser extension

Shopping-friend.xyz is a malicious site that assists in hijacking web browsers. It comes with the Shopping Friend browser add-on. Once installed, Shopping Friend does a few things:

• Injects ads into the webpages of Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
• Redirects your searches to unexpected sites.
• Shows pop-ups on your screen and open webpages.

Injects content into search results

After Shopping Friend is installed, it injects ads into internet search result pages. Even when it doesn’t inject an ad, it still injects an iframe element (though one with a height of 0, thus invisible), which is a sort of page within a page. You can see it for yourself:

• While on a search results page, right-click on a blank spot on the page.
• In the context menu, select Inspect. A panel opens. Make sure that the Elements tab is open.
• Search with Ctrl+F or Cmd+F for “iframe”. Click the arrow up or down until you find an iframe whose source is Shopping-friend.xyz.

Here’s something funny, Google.com showed a warning that it had blocked a cookie from Shopping-friend.xyz. Unsecure third-party cookies are blocked because they are not safe and can leak sensitive information (Chromestatus.com).

Redirects to Bing

Shopping Friend usually doesn’t mess with searches. Sometimes, though, it takes control and makes Shopping-friend.xyz take over your search. It then redirects to Bing. This only happens occasionally. Still, it’s impossible not to notice. So, if you were wondering why Bing randomly opens your search results, Shopping Friend may be why.

I noticed that the first time I got redirected to Bing, Shopping Friend switched its extension icon to invisible. You can find browser add-ons in the area in the upper right corner, where

Shows Qualitychecker.net pop-ups

I noticed that Shopping-friend.xyz would open in a new browser window any time I opened a new website for the first time. It would open Qualitychecker.net pop-ups, which would then say:

Please wait: we are searching deals and coupon codes for [the site you are opening]

This window would then quickly close. These Check.qualitychecker.net pop-ups happen with other browser hijackers that are related to Shopping Friend, such as History Organizer and Top Tab Engine.

How Shopping-friend.xyz is installed

Shopping Friend is advertised online. It can be encountered on file converter and video downloader sites, on video streaming sites. You may also find links to Shopping-friend.xyz on game sites like Roblox. You may get the impression that it’s a required install for something, but it’s not. It should really be avoided.

If you don’t remember installing Shopping Friend yourself, then it may have come with a free app, embedded in its installer. It could have been installed alongside another program and you wouldn’t have even noticed.

The thing is, you don’t seek Shopping Friend out. It just appears unexpectedly.

How to remove Shopping Friend

Uninstall Shopping Friend in browser settings, where all the extensions are listed. Or remove it from the extension box that appears when you click the puzzle button. At the same time, remove other extensions that you aren’t using or that you don’t know. Only allow extensions that you really trust. It’s better for your privacy and your security to limit the extensions that you use.

Remember that you can disable extensions instead of removing them. This might be appropriate for useful extensions that you only need occasionally.

It might be useful to scan your device for malware and for potentially unwanted programs. You can use an anti-malware program that you trust, such as Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, and others. If a scan detects suspicious programs, consider removing them.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Restore browser settings

TopHow To remove Shopping Friend Redirects 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 Shopping Friend Redirects, 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.

How to remove Shopping Friend Redirects from Microsoft Edge:Top

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

• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.

• Click on the three-dot menu on the browser toolbar and Select Settings

• Select Privacy and Services and scroll down. Press on Address bar.

• Choose Manage search engines.

• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list: open the three-dot menu and choose Remove.

• Go back to Settings. Open On start-up.
• Delete malicious search websites at Open specific page or pages by opening the three-dot menu and clicking Delete.

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

• Click on Edge's menu button and select Settings. Click on the Reset Settings button on the left.
• Press the Restore settings to their default values option.

• 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.