Do you know what Additionalsearch.co.uk is?
Additionalsearch.co.uk is a website that has an appearance of a search tool. Judging from the domain (co.uk) it uses, it mainly targets users from the United Kingdom; however, it might change the settings of your browsers if you live on the other side of the world too. If this has already happened, it means that a browser hijacker has successfully infiltrated your computer. Additionalsearch.co.uk is powered by Ask, which is not a bad search engine, but, unfortunately, our team of specialists still cannot say that it is safe to use Additionalsearch.co.uk as a default search engine. There are two main reasons our team of experts cannot say that it is a search engine that it is safe to use. First, it is very likely that it can present users with links promoting websites, products, and different services. On top of that, you might see ads on the search results page opened by Additionalsearch.co.uk as well. Second, just like other questionable search tools, Additionalsearch.co.uk also gathers information about users.
As you already know, Additionalsearch.co.uk might display commercials for users even though it is powered by Ask, which is not a bad search engine. These ads appear on the search results page mainly – you will find them at the top. They are usually put under a title “Ads related to [search query], so it should not be hard to recognize and ignore them. Of course, it does not mean that you will be 100% safe if you decide to ignore those ads because it is still possible to click on them accidentally. It is dangerous to click these ads related to search queries or other promotional links because they might immediately take to websites that are considered to be untrustworthy. You might find anything on these websites, even malicious software, but, of course, you will not know what you will find there in advance.
You will know what types of information Additionalsearch.co.uk gathers if you open the Privacy Policy document. It is said in it that that users allow this search tool to “automatically collect and store certain information” associated with the computer and Internet browsing activities, so if you let this search tool stay on your browsers, it will record your IP address, type of device, unique device ID, web browser, preferences and settings, Internet service provider, search results selected, pages viewed, search history, comments, and a bunch of other details. This information might not seem to be very important, but you need to know that it might tell much about your interests and preferences. You can stop Additionalsearch.co.uk by removing it from all the browsers only, so do this right not if you do not like how it works and want your PC to be clean.
Unfortunately, there are many cases when users infect their systems with browser hijackers again soon after the deletion of Additionalsearch.co.uk. This might happen to you too if you do not do anything to protect your PC from malware after the deletion of this questionable search tool. What our security specialists expect you to do to is to install a reputable security application on the system. Even though an automatic application will protect your PC from dangers, you should be more careful too, e.g. not to download programs from websites you know nothing about, according to experts.
You should no longer see Additionalsearch.co.uk set on your browsers after resetting all browsers one by one to their default settings; however, if it does not leave your web browsers alone, you should let an automatic malware remover, such as SpyHunter, to delete it for you. This is the easiest method to take care of any malicious application.
How to remove Additionalsearch.co.uk
Internet Explorer
- Open your browser.
- Access the Tools menu and select Internet Options.
- Click on the Advanced tab.
- Click Reset.
- Mark the Delete personal settings box.
- Click on the Reset button once again.
Mozilla Firefox
- Open Firefox and go to the Help menu.
- Select Troubleshooting information.
- Click on the Refresh Firefox button that can be found in the top-right corner.
- In the confirmation window, click on this button one more time.
Google Chrome
- Open your browser.
- Tap Alt+F and then click Settings.
- At the bottom, click Show advanced settings to see the entire menu.
- Click Reset settings.
- Click Reset.
In non-techie terms:
It does not mean that a browser hijacker that has set Additionalsearch.co.uk on all your browsers is the only infection. It might be very true that you do not know about a bunch of other computers infections that are hiding on the system. They seek to stay unnoticed, so, consequently, it is not that easy to detect them. Do not worry; there is a way to find and eliminate them all easily – launch an automatic malware remover and scan the system once.