Remove ProSportSearch browser hijacker

If your homepage has been changed to prosportsearch.com without your permission, you have the ProSportSearch browser hijacker installed. It’s not a serious infection but it can be annoying to deal with. It will make unwanted changes to the browser’s settings, set prosportsearch.com and nearbyme.io as your homepage and default search engine respectively. These changes are made to make redirecting you to sponsored websites easier. In addition to redirecting you, the hijacker will also track your browsing and collect certain information.

 

 

ProSportSearch comes from the same family of generic browser hijackers as SportSearchly, PDFConverterSearchZone, and GreatSearchPDF. Besides the name, they are all more or less identical in both their design and the way they behave. They will install via software bundling, make unwanted changes to the browser’s settings, try to redirect to sponsored websites, and track browsing.

In some cases, browser hijackers are advertised as useful extensions that would supposedly improve the browsing experience. However, they don’t actually do anything useful. The good thing about browser hijackers is that they’re not particularly harmful. So ProSportSearch will not directly harm your computer. What it will do is try to redirect you to sponsored websites. To be able to do that, it will change your browser’s settings. To be specific, it will set prosportsearch.com as the homepage and nearbyme.io as the default search engine. These changes will affect all browsers, including Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. It should also be mentioned that you won’t be able to undo these changes while the hijacker is installed because it will just change the settings again. So until you remove ProSportSearch browser hijacker, your browser will continue to redirect you to questionable websites.

Your new homepage is pretty generic with only shortcuts to a PDF converter, a cryptocurrency and currency converter, and a calculator, as well as a search box. If you use the search box or do a search via your browser’s address bar, you will be shown nearbyme.io search results with advertisements mixed in. The nearbyme.io is a highly questionable search engine that will essentially modify search results to include sponsored content so it could redirect you. Those results will be useless to you so there is no reason to click on them. You should be aware that some of those results may lead to potentially dangerous websites, such as ones that hide malware or promote various scams. So if you notice this hijacker installed on your computer, the sooner you remove ProSportSearch, the better.

We should also mention the hijacker’s data collection practices. The hijacker will track your browsing and collect information related to what you search for, what sites you visit, what kind of content you interact with, your IP address, etc. Generally, hijackers do not collect personal information, but their behavior is still intrusive enough. The data they collect is also often shared with third parties and used for advertisement purposes.

This will be explained in more detail in the following section of the report but infections like hijackers and adware install using the software bundling method. It’s a very sneaky installation method that allows unwanted programs to install without permission. We strongly recommend you continue reading to learn how to avoid these unwanted installations in the future.

How do browser hijackers install

Less serious infections like adware, browser hijackers, and potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) install via software bundling. That means that they can be attached to free programs as extra offers. When you install a program that has added offers, they will install alongside automatically without you even knowing. So the reason ProSportSearch is present on your computer is that you installed a free program that had it attached to it. Evidently, it’s quite a sneaky installation method, which is why it’s so controversial. Programs that use it are generally detected as potential threats by anti-virus programs. You should also keep in mind that the majority of free programs will have added offers, especially the ones you download from unofficial websites.

However, while the offers are set to install alongside programs they’re attached to automatically, they are optional. As long as you correctly install free programs, you will be able to avoid unwanted offers. All you really need to do is choose Advanced or Custom settings when given the option during installation. The installation window will say that Default settings are recommended but if you choose that, the offers will be concealed from you and permitted to install. If you opt for Advanced, however, the offers will be made visible. Review what has been added and deselect what you do not want. It’s usually a good idea to deselect all offers because nothing good will come of them. Considering that software bundling is a questionable installation method, programs that use it should not be installed because they’re essentially trying to sneak in without your permission. The offers can also be annoying to get rid of once installed so it’s much easier to prevent their installation from the very beginning.

Because browser hijackers are often advertised as useful extensions, it is possible that you installed ProSportSearch knowingly. If you did, you should be more careful in the future. Before installing programs, do research to make sure they are safe. A simple search with Google is usually enough. Had you looked into ProSportSearch, you would have gotten many results recommending its removal, indicating that you should not install it.

ProSportSearch removal

Because browser hijackers are not serious infections, you should be able to delete ProSportSearch manually. Once you get rid of the hijacker, you will be able to change your browser’s settings however you want. However, if you have very little experience with uninstalling persistent programs, you should use anti-virus software like WiperSoft because it would take care of everything. WiperSoft would not only uninstall ProSportSearch but also undo all setting changes, returning your browser to normal.