FreeSearchMusic

FreeSearchMusic may present itself as a useful application but, in reality, it is little more than yet another browser hijacker. FreeSearchMusic aims to install itself on the user's device, establish control over the Web browser, and start generating artificial traffic towards a promoted address.

Browser hijackers proliferate themselves through underhanded methods that are designed to mask the fact that an intruder application is being delivered to the device specifically. The most popular tactic is known as bundling but some dubious apps also inject themselves into fake software installers or updaters. The deceptive behavior classifies them as PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs).

The address promoted by this particular PUP is freesearchmusic.com and it belongs to a fake search engine. Users will be redirected to it whenever they start the affected browser, open a new tab, or conduct a search into the URL field. On its own, freesearchmusic.com cannot produce any search results at all. Instead, it will either show results produced by the legitimate Yahoo engine and take users to the questionable engine nearbyme.io. The results presented in the latter case should be regarded as potentially risky as they may include numerous sponsored ad links.

A common behavior associated with PUPs is that they spy on the user's browsing activities. Various data may be collected, packaged, and transmitted to a remote server, where the operators of the particular PUP can choose how to exploit it.