Search.playnsearch.net
The Search.playnsearch.net domain is associated with the 'Play N Start Plus' browser extension from hxxp://www.playnsearch[.]com. Search.playnsearch.net is used to power the Play N Start Plus New Tab page and provide users with a custom new tab experience. The 'Play N Start Plus' extension is published by Playnsearch.com. However, the site is simply a proxy for Eanswers.com. We have been tracking products associated with Eanswers.com and can say that Search.playnsearch.net offers a customized search by Yahoo and helps advertisements publishers push targeted commercials to Web surfers. Eanswers.com is known to publish New Tab replacements on the Chrome Web Store and welcome PC users to surf the Internet using their custom version of Yahoo.
The 'Play N Start Plus' extension by Playnsearch.net is presented to users via Chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/play-n-start-plus/ginpefeblnmpbeebkcipaigbjmhhiica and is said to enable "a quick entertainment click-and-visit experience, for free." The program is known to access non-personally identifiable data on computers and change the new tab settings in Google Chrome to Search.playnsearch.net. Once you install the 'Play N Start Plus' browser extension, a tab loads with hxxps://www.livesports[.]today/liveupdates4?source=unsupport_2nd and you may be invited to enable notifications from the site. Also, there will be a new icon in the navigation panel of your browser that looks like a magnifying glass colored in green. A single click on the 'Play N Start Plus' icon shows a menu, which allows you to change the default Yahoo integration at Search.playnsearch.net with Google, Yandex, Bing, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Amazon and eBay. Whatever your choice may be you should note that Search.playnsearch.net does not support encrypted connections and the "Private Search" switch at the top causes redirects to an insecure search service at Myprivatesearch.com that is not perceived as a reliable private search engine.
You can find the EULA and Privacy Policy for the 'Play N Start Plus' application at hxxp://www.playnsearch[.]com/terms and hxxp://www.playnsearch[.]com/privacy. The 'Play N Start Plus' browser extension from Playnsearch.com is classified as a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) that changes the user's new tab to Search.playnsearch.net. The program is known to collect information like browsing history records, clicked advertisements, recent downloads and the time spent online to help advertisement publishers direct personalized promotional materials to your screen. You can remove 'Play N Start Plus' and related tracking cookies with help from a reliable anti-spyware scanner.
