Search Baron

Search Baron Image

Search Baron is a potentially unwanted browser hijacker masked as a search engine application. The latter supposedly aims to turn web surfing on OSX-based Mac devices into a more satisfying experience. Yet, its bad habit of landing on the device without its user's knowledge raises suspicions about its end purpose. While the tool does not necessarily fall under any severe malware category, you may bet that it would in no way improve your browsing experience, either. Instead, Search Baron's primary goal is to promote its search services, often more aggressively than usual.

A Bing search engine with a Twist

The Search Baron page appears to be powered by Microsoft’s popular Bing search engine. However, the search results you would get from a regular Bing search query may come with sponsored links of suspicious quality mingled in between. Clicking on any of those links may redirect you to third-party websites of less-than-savory nature. Any way, Search Baron may go to great lengths trying to lure you into clicking on shove unwanted advertisements down your throat. It may also apply unwanted changes to your browser settings and keep track of your browsing history to tailor its sponsored ads to your areas of interest. In the end, Search Baron may have the detrimental side effect of causing your system performance to slow down.

Can Sneak into Your System Silently

Search Baron usually comes bundled with other popular software. Unless you go for a custom installation when downloading a popular product bundled with other tools, you are very likely to end up installing the entire bundle on your system. That's exactly what the guys in charge of Search Baron aim for. Should you inadvertently install the Search Baron application from such a bundle, it will modify your default homepage, new tab page, and search engine to searchbaron(dot)com. Therefore, if you open your web browser only to see your home page changed to searchbaron(dot)com, the chances are that the 'Search Baron' application may have turned up uninvited on your computer. That is why installing entire bundles often bloats your system with unwanted tools such as the Search Baron PUP.
Given the large amount of browser hijackers in circulation, it is no wonder that most of them may stem from the same product family. The Search Baron PUP, in particular, reportedly maintains close ties with other similar tools such as searchmarquis(dot)com, mybrowser-search(dot)com, hut(dot)brdtxhea(dot)xyz, and so on. Most AV solutions out there detect Search Baron under various names, including but not limited to:

  • OSX/Adware.MaxOfferDeal.N – ESET
  • MacOS:MaxOfferDeal-I [Adw] – Avast
  • RDN/Generic.osx – McAfee
  • Trojan:Win32/Bitrep.A – Microsoft
  • OSX.Trojan.Gen – Symantec, etc.

Getting Rid of Search Baron

While browser hijackers rarely pose anything more than low-level security risks, they can be a tough nut to crack when subjected to outright removal. We would recommend you remove the Search Baron software from your system manually or by employing a reputable cybersecurity application. More often than not, you may have to go for a thorough system cleanup if you wish to part ways with Search Baron and any other unwanted PUPs residing within your Mac.

1 Comment

i will try this

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