Remove SearchBox Redirect

What is SearchBox Redirect

SearchBox Redirect refers to a browser extension that is classified as a browser hijacker due to its questionable behaviour. It’s a kind of infection, albeit not a serious one. It makes unwanted changes to browser’s settings and tries to redirect users to sponsored content. The extension is advertised as one to make browsing the Internet easier, but all it does is cause trouble. It will redirect you to questionable websites, which could be exposing you to scams or even malware. No to mention that the random redirects are annoying. Hijackers are used to generate traffic for certain websites and make revenue. They do so by redirecting, usually via search engines. When users search for something via questionable search engines, they are shown results that lead to those sponsored websites. Those sites usually have nothing to do with what users were searching for.

Like most infections of this kind, browser hijackers install via software bundles. They are attached to free programs as additional offers, and unless they are manually deselected, they will install alongside. Most users do not deselect them simply because they are not aware of anything being added. We will explain software bundling and how to prevent unwanted installations in a later paragraph of this report.

For help to uninstall SearchBox Redirect, proceed to the last section.

What does SearchBox Redirect do?

As soon as the hijacker installs, you will notice your browser’s settings changed. Like most hijackers, this one can affect all popular hijackers, including Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Every time you open those browsers, you will be redirected to a homepage set by the hijacker, and all your searches will go through feed.searchboxlive.com. This means that you get altered search results which will include links to sponsored sites. All changes performed by the hijacker will be irreversible while the infection is still present on the computer.

Like we said before, hijackers aim to redirect users to sponsored websites in order to generate traffic. They do it via the search engine. Whenever you perform a search via your browser address bar, you will be redirected to feed.searchboxlive.com and then to search.yahoo.com. We do not recommend clicking on any results as they may have been tampered with to include links to questionable sites. You could be led to sites that host scams or worse, malware. And those results will have nothing to do with what you were searching for anyway, so there is no reason why you should click on them.

We should also mention that browser hijackers collect information about you. What you search for, what sites you visit, where you’re located, your IP address, etc. While that’s not exactly personal information, it’s still unacceptable that a questionable hijacker has access to it.

How do hijackers install?

Browser hijackers, as well as adware and potentially unwanted programs (PUPs), use software bundling to install as no one would install them otherwise. What that means is that those unwanted programs come attached to free programs as extra offers. When users install the freeware, they end up installing the added offers as well. This usually happens because users are not aware of anything being added to the programs they are installing. Fortunately, as long as you know how, preventing unwanted installations is not difficult. All that is necessary is opting for Advanced (Custom) settings during installation. Those settings will make all added offers visible and you will be able to deselect everything. It’s enough to just uncheck the boxes.

Whatever program you are installing, it’s always recommended to deselect everything that’s been added to programs because nothing useful will ever be installed this way. And keep in mind that it’s always easier to prevent unwanted installations than it is to later have to remove already installed programs.