Home Malware Programs Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) BrowsePrivately

BrowsePrivately

Posted: August 24, 2017

Threat Metric

Threat Level: 8/10
Infected PCs: 5
First Seen: August 24, 2017
Last Seen: September 2, 2019
OS(es) Affected: Windows

BrowsePrivately is a browser extension offered by Bettersearchtools.com. It's official Chrome Store page claims that the purpose of this program is to help users preserve their anonymity on the Web by hiding their search queries from the marketing teams working for major search engines. This way, they can ensure that they will not see targeted ads and offers for specific products that they have searched previously. However, what browsePrivately's description might not mention is that the plugin achieves this by replacing Chrome's new tab page with a 3rd-party website affiliated with browsePrivately. At the end of the day, the true purpose of browsePrivately seems to be to boost the traffic, which a particular search engine receives, instead of helping its users protect their anonymity.

While the changes that browsePrivately brings to Google Chrome are not harmful certainly, we are certain that most users have their favorite search engine, and they'd like to continue using it. Unfortunately, those who opt to install browsePrivately are required to permit the add-on to replace their default new tab page.

The recommended thing to do if browsePrivately has been installed on your computer is to think whether it is worth it using an extension that forces you to use alternative browser settings. If your opinion is that browsePrivately is unnecessary, then the recommendation is to remove it as soon as possible either manually or with the assistance of a suitable cyber security utility. Once the browsePrivately has been fully removed, the Google Chrome's settings should be reverted to their previous values automatically.

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