Quicknewtab

The Quicknewtab application is yet another application designed specifically to drive artificial traffic towards a promoted webpage. The application achieves its purpose by taking control over users' Web browsers and changing their default settings. Applications exhibiting this particular behavior are classified as browser hijackers. 

Normally, users would be extremely disinclined to download and install such intrusive applications intentionally. That is why the operators of such PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs) spread them predominantly via questionable distribution techniques. The most commonly encountered tactic is known as bundling. It sees the intruder application being added as a preselected choice in the installation settings of a far more desirable software product.

After it has managed to infiltrate the user's device, Quicknewtab will target the browser's homepage, new tab page and default search engine settings. All three will now be set to open the quicknewtab.com address, which belongs to a fake search engine. Fake engines lack the necessary functionality to produce search results. Instead, the initiated searches will be redirected either to a legitimate engine (Yahoo, Bing, or Google) or a dubious one that generates inaccurate results filled with sponsored advertisements. Examples of such dubious engines are my-search.com and trafficjunction.com. 

Like most PUPs, Quicknewtab also may be programmed to spy on the user's browsing activities. Various data (browsing history, search history, IP address, geolocation and more) could be collected in the background of the system and then transmitted to a remote server controlled by the PUP's operators.