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Search-NewTab

Posted: January 16, 2014

Threat Metric

Ranking: 11,594
Threat Level: 1/10
Infected PCs: 721
First Seen: January 16, 2014
Last Seen: September 27, 2023
OS(es) Affected: Windows


SearchNewTab is a browser hijacker with a history of causing crashes, redirecting your homepage to unwanted sites and being distributed through methods that malware researchers would describe as most often typical of threats (harmful software). At this point, SearchNewTab is considered a Potentially Unwanted Program, but its presence still provides no benefits to your PC with substantial disadvantages. Whether or not you should remove SearchNewTab is not an issue that should be up to the question for long, and you should feel free to use whatever PC security tools are required to delete SearchNewTab completely, along with all of its browser side effects.

What's in Your Browser Tab is Up for Grabs

SearchNewTab is a browser add-on that might market itself as a beneficial program, but, ultimately, has more in common with threats than with any legitimate plugin. Above all else, malware researchers were most struck with some of SearchNewTab's distribution methods, which have used fraudulent streaming movie sites and fake codec updates as stepping stones towards a victim's Web browser. SearchNewTab often is installed along with one or more other PC threats, including other PUPs that latch onto your browser.

Although your browser may show a wide range of other ill effects, SearchNewTab's personal allotment of these problems is easy to identify. SearchNewTab hijacks your homepage in all three Windows-popular Web browsers, thereafter locking it to an unwanted site (currently, a questionable search engine that's a variant of YouWillFind.info). SearchNewTab also loads similar content whenever a new tab is opened.

Malware researchers were even more concerned with the propensity of SearchNewTab to be installed alongside system changes that disable crucial browser features, up to and including the ability to uninstall add-ons. Normal routines for a program's uninstallation may appear to effect, SearchNewTab but, in reality, remove its visible components without removing the rest of the program. Finally, malware researchers found that SearchNewTab often causes stability issues for the browsers SearchNewTab modifies, resulting in crashes and sluggish performance.

A New Day for Your Browser that's Lacking in SearchNewTab Problems

SearchNewTab may not steal legally-protected information or conduct other types of illegal activities, but its overall functions are more than sufficient to warrant deleting SearchNewTab on sight. Preferably to that, however, malware researchers would consider it ideal for all readers to avoid fake movie sites and movie sites with unconfirmed reputations, which most likely still are distributing copies of SearchNewTab, along with other PC threats like ViauddiXi. If it's necessary, deleting SearchNewTab should use anti-malware applications that can confirm its removal – as opposed to mere browser changes that may eliminate the symptoms without removing the software. As noted previously, and stressed for emphasize here, SearchNewTab does include components that affect Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer more or less equally.

Even Potentially Unwanted Programs are happy to use the same types of disingenuous ways of handling proliferation that also are favored by high-level PC threats. A 'codec' update from one of the websites described above may install SearchNewTab, but SearchNewTab also may be responsible for delivering other types of PUPs and even threats to your computer. Avoiding sources of updates that aren't legitimate is one of the foundational defenses you can erect against any online threat to your computer security.

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:



C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application data\search-newtab File name: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application data\search-newtab
Group: Malware file
C:\ProgramData\search-newtab\uninstall.exe File name: C:\ProgramData\search-newtab\uninstall.exe
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
C:\ProgramData\search-newtab\51018268b9ffb.dll File name: C:\ProgramData\search-newtab\51018268b9ffb.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file
C:\ProgramData\search-newtab\5187c9e223f5f.dll File name: C:\ProgramData\search-newtab\5187c9e223f5f.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file
C:\ProgramData\search-newtab\51275feb18801.dll File name: C:\ProgramData\search-newtab\51275feb18801.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file
C:\ProgramData\search-newtab\51fec4474d67b.dll File name: C:\ProgramData\search-newtab\51fec4474d67b.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file
C:\ProgramData\search-newtab\51bd4425e5777.dll File name: C:\ProgramData\search-newtab\51bd4425e5777.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file

Additional Information

The following URL's were detected:
Justplug.itgetmytab.netseek.monnect.net
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