Home Malware Programs Browser Hijackers ZenSearch.com

ZenSearch.com

Posted: January 29, 2014

ZenSearch.com is a search directory that uses the ZenSearch add-on to provide traffic by resetting your homepage and default search settings. Although ZenSearch.com's means of inducing these browser changes and its overall marketing disclaimers are less dishonest than those of most browser hijackers, its add-on still provides benefits that hardly are beneficial, and malware experts usually would suggest deleting ZenSearch.com's software. As usual, making sure that the deletion 'takes,' with respect to your browser settings, can be done through the proper security products that have reliable histories of dealing with adware, browser hijackers and other Potentially Unwanted Programs.

The Surprisingly Low-Key Center of the Search Engine Cosmos

ZenSearch.com doesn't claim to be an individual search engine, and, instead, makes its bread and butter as a centralized search field that may pull results from different websites, depending on the acronyms that you affix to your search queries. Unfortunately, ZenSearch.com doesn't have enough confidence in this semi-useful feature to get its Web traffic without promoting its browser add-on, ZenSearch. ZenSearch resets your Web browsers' homepage and search settings to use ZenSearch.com, although malware experts were, at least, glad to find that the website was upfront about this functionality.

ZenSearch sometimes is identified as a Browser Helper Object or BHO, which normally is specific to Internet Explorer. However, current versions of ZenSearch.com's plugin appear to be equally compatible with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome. Because ZenSearch's main features actually are easily duplicated through the normal use of your Web browser's settings, malware researchers consider it a Potentiality Unwanted Program.

Finding Your Search Engine Center When ZenSearch's not Helping

ZenSearch.com isn't a threatening site, and loading ZenSearch.com shouldn't endanger your computer. However, malware researchers don't endorse the accuracy of any results found through ZenSearch, and consider it good PC maintenance to remove all PUPs from your browsers whenever possible, unless you have specific rationales for keeping them installed. Potentially Unwanted Programs, including ZenSearch.com's ZenSearch, often cause security issues by updating themselves automatically or preventing your full use of all Web-browsing settings.

ZenSearch.com is more transparent about its intentions than most similar sites found by malware analysts. Not all PUPs necessarily will announce that they intend to hijack your homepage, redirect your searches or cause other browser changes that deny you full access to the websites of your choice. As a rule, these browser hijackers shouldn't be considered benign, and their removal is a simple, but essential part of maintaining a safe PC.

Common distribution methods for these browser hijackers often include bundled utilities that install more than one program simultaneously, not all of which may be announced. Although ZenSearch.com does provide individual download links for its software, you also shouldn't underestimate the impact that using safe downloading sources can have on your ability to avoid browser hijackings.

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:



IEStart.exe File name: IEStart.exe
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
IEWrap.dll File name: IEWrap.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
uninstall000.exe File name: uninstall000.exe
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
IEStart_x64.exe File name: IEStart_x64.exe
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
IeZenSearch.dll File name: IeZenSearch.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
IEWrap_x64.dll File name: IEWrap_x64.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
IeZenSearch_x64.dll File name: IeZenSearch_x64.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll

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