SearchWorld

SearchWorld is a Possibly Unwanted Program (PUP) with browser hijacker features, dedicated to the promotion of toksearches.xyz, a fake search engine. Applications such as these often boast having multiple useful features, but, in reality, they are barely functional. Apart from their browser hijacker capabilities, of course.

Once installed on the computer, with the knowledge of the user or through deceptive distribution methods such as bundling, SearchWorld sets on to tailor the Web browser to its own needs. The homepage, new page tab, and the default search engine will be changed to toksearches.xyz. As a result, every search query entered by the user will be carried out through toksearches.xyz. This engine, however, is incapable of producing a list of relevant search results, and instead, it first redirects to smashapps.net before arriving at search.yahoo.net ultimately.

Typically, browser hijackers such as SearchWorld, prevent the users from reverting the changes made to their Web browser, and the only way to get back to your normal settings is to remove these applications completely. Furthermore, SearchWorld could inject sponsored advertisements into the displayed results that could lead the unsuspecting user to shady or compromised third-party sites.