Delete Santa APP hijacker

Santa APP is a browser hijacker that changes your browser’s settings in order to redirect you to sponsored websites. If you have this hijacker installed, you are likely constantly redirected to keysearchs.com. It should be mentioned that it’s not a particularly dangerous infection, though you should still remove Santa APP hijacker as soon as possible.

 

Browser hijackers are rather minor computer infections that mainly focus on changing browser’s settings and redirecting to sponsored websites. If you have a hijacker installed, you will immediately notice because your homepage, new tabs and search engine will be changed to some random websites without your permission. These changes happen on all popular browsers and are irreversible while the hijacker remains installed.

Hijackers aren’t inconspicuous infections, so if Santa APP is installed on your computer, you will know. A different page will be set as your homepage, and you will be forced to use the hijacker’s promoted search engine. This particular hijacker redirects to keysearchs.com whenever you try to do a search via your browser’s address bar. This is done to generate revenue, which is the main purpose of browser hijackers. These random redirects can get quite annoying very quickly, not to mention potentially dangerous.

If you notice that it’s present on your computer, we highly recommend you delete Santa APP as soon as possible. And continue reading to learn how you can avoid picking up these kinds of infections in the future.

How does a hijacker install?

Small-scale infections like browser hijackers, adware and potentially unwanted programs (PUP) usually come attached to free software as extra offers. The offers are set to install alongside the freeware automatically, though they are optional. This method is called software bundling, and it’s quite popular among unwanted program developers because it allows their programs to install without requiring explicit permission from users. Software bundling is quite a frowned upon installation method, and programs that use it are usually classified as potential infections.

The offers are optional but they are usually hidden during installation to prevent users from deselecting them. So if you don’t want your computer to be filled with junk programs, pay attention to how you install freeware, especially when you download it from non-official websites. When given the option during installation, opt for Advanced (Custom) settings instead of Default. Advanced settings will show all added offers, and you will be able to deselect all of them. All you really need to do is uncheck the boxes of those offers. Keep in mind that most free programs will come with these offers, so you always need to pay attention.

Can Santa APP be harmful?

It should be mentioned that when it comes to browser hijackers and similarly minor infections, they aren’t particularly harmful, at least not directly. They mainly focus on generating traffic and revenue for certain sites by redirecting you to them. To be able to do that, they first change browser’s settings. Your Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers will suddenly have a different search engine and homepage. While these changes are quite annoying, at least they make it very obvious that a browser hijacker is present. Though not all users will associate these changes with this infection if they’re not familiar with it.

The biggest annoyance with this hijacker is that whenever you try to perform a search via your browser address bar, you will be redirected to keysearchs.com and only then be shown search results. Because hijackers can manipulate search results, if this infection is present, be careful about which results you click on, as you could be redirected to all kinds of dangerous websites.

Lastly, we should mention that browser hijackers track your browsing and collect information like what sites you visit, what you search for, your IP address, etc. This information is collected for advertisement purposes and can be shared with third-parties.

Santa APP removal

Browser hijackers and adware can be difficult to get rid of manually because of how sneaky they are. You can uninstall Santa APP manually but it may take a while and require more effort. It would be much easier to use an anti-virus program to remove Santa APP. WiperSoft anti-virus software would remove Santa APP for you and undo the changes it has made to your browser without you having to do anything.