Hao1258.com

Hao1258.com is a potentially dangerous Web page, which is capable of hijacking your browser settings. Designed to look like a regular Google search page, what distinguishes Hao1258.com is a Chinese-language grid containing a myriad of tabs disclosing popular sites on the Web such as Facebook, Youtube, IMDB, etc. The links behind all those tabs could lead PC users to sites containing corrupted advertisements potentially, thus generating money for the parties exploiting the page. What is more, its search engine also raises doubt as far as the search results Hao1258.com discloses are concerned. At first, it appears to redirect all search queries to Google, as long as the Web browser does not block an unknown pop-up window. Unless the user allows the pop-up to open, the query yields no results whatsoever. However, opening an already blocked pop-up window is in contradiction with any fundamental security principle, which is why it should be executed with extreme caution. Even if the user gets to see the list of search results eventually, this list will contain a mixture of genuine sites and shady ones. The latter may contain different forms of embedded unsafe tools capable of triggering various infections on the targeted PC potentially.

Like any other browser hijacker, Hao1258.com sifts through the users' browsing history to tailor the ads to the data collected from their history. Thus, instead of reaching reliable websites offering the items of their choice, they will be redirected to alternative, often unpopular sites or other sponsored links. The idea is clear and simple – to generate traffic to and stimulate purchases from those links in particular. To achieve that, Hao1258.com modifies the user’s homepage quietly (setting it to Hao1258.com), and this modification will be there to stay unless the users remove the hijacker from their systems. While this can be done by resetting the browser settings, it also is essential to run an anti-malware scan using a reputable tool to make sure that the Hao1258.com hijacker has not done any further damage already.