Web Safety browser extension (virus)

What is Web Safety browser extension?

Web Safety extension recognized as a potentially unwanted program by security apps

Web Safety claims to protect you on the internet

Web Safety is a browser hijacker that changes your default home page to search.privatesearch.online. You are experiencing this redirect because the Web Safety extension is added to your browser. It also displays ads promoting software which are most likely potentially unwanted programs (PUPs).^[1]

Browser extensions have become a useful tool for most people as they can help users convert files easily, provide traffic information, or even block ads, protecting user privacy and making surfing the web a more pleasant experience.

Unfortunately, some extensions pretend to be useful but actually take advantage of users. Because they are quite easy to develop, there is a sea of them, and sometimes it can be quite difficult to distinguish legitimate from useless ones. These add-ons usually do not perform as they promote.

Scammers try to make users believe the extension will give many benefits while on the web, so they would add it to their browser themselves and give permissions to read their private data. But there are more different ways potentially unwanted extensions get distributed.

This browser add-on claims to protect you while searching and surfing the web. It also says that it blocks suspicious websites.^[2] But actually, it is the opposite.

Furthermore, the Web Safety extension is allowed to read your browsing history as well as read and change your data on various websites. The extension can also do this while you are using Chrome incognito mode. You can change this in the settings.

Search hijackers commonly claim that they are delivering "enhanced" search results while they are actually ads

Web Safety makes browsing the web an annoying experience

This browser extension makes your search queries get redirected through search.privatesearch.online. It also displays pop-up ads, banners, and other commercial content to generate revenue from clicks. These ads are not always trustworthy so you should be careful when clicking links. They could be directing you to shady sites where you can get infected by viruses.

You should avoid downloading software from third-party distributors, always check if the site is reputable or official. This extension also promotes tech support scams by redirects and pop-ups. A technical support scam is a fraud in which a scammer claims to offer a legit technical support service. Mostly targeted at Microsoft Windows users, scammers try to get the victim's bank information and steal their funds by claiming to represent a Microsoft technical support department.

This could happen if Web Safety would redirect you to one of these sites created by Microsoft support impersonators. For example, you could see a message which says that Windows Defender detected a virus in your computer system next to a supposedly Microsoft's Technical Department's telephone number. If you want to know more about how this particular scam works, you can read Call Microsoft Technical Support Immediately.

If your browser is showing any of these symptoms you should check if you have Web Safety added.

To Delete Web Safety from Chrome manually, follow these steps:

1. Open Google Chrome, click on the Menu (three vertical dots at the top-right corner) and select More tools > Extensions.
2. In the newly opened window, you will see all the installed extensions. Uninstall all the suspicious plugins that might be related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.

Clear cache and web data from Chrome:

1. Click on Menu and pick Settings.
2. Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
3. Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
4. Click Clear data.

Reasons to why this extension was added to your browser

There are a couple of different ways browser extensions like this spread.

One of them is through software bundling.^[3] Software bundling is what it sounds like. When downloading a program it comes with additional ones that are not always necessary for the user. This could look like this:

• You download a free or “cracked” version of the software from a third-party website
• You then rush through the installation process to start using the program as fast as possible
• Now when you opened your browser the homepage has changed

And that's how easy it is. Never skip through the installation steps. Make sure there are no additional files that you do not need and uncheck the boxes if you see some.

What you can also do is regularly clean your browser cookies and install quality antivirus software. We recommend FortectIntego which can clean your browsers automatically and repair damage caused by malware. Security programs alert users about unauthorized installation attempts so this reduces the risk of infection.

To get rid of Web Safety manually on Mozilla Firefox follow these steps:

Delete from Mozilla Firefox

1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click on the Menu (three horizontal lines at the top-right of the window).
2. Select Add-ons.
3. In here, select unwanted plugin and click Remove.

Reset the homepage:

1. Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
2. Choose Options.
3. Under Home options, enter your preferred site that will open every time you newly open the Mozilla Firefox.

You can find the instructions for other search engines by scrolling down.