Browser hijacking Some adware uses Sear4m.xyz to cause a user to click on Sear4m.xyz ads. Once Sear4m.xyz is installed, it changes the default DNS settings of browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Internet explorer, and often redirect to various fake websites which are often laiden with viruses. Searchassist is a browser hijacker which piggybacks on other downloads from untrusted websites. It will change the new tab homepage to searchassist.net and opens searchassist on browser start-up. It is stubborn, and if not uninstalled, will repeatedly change the browser tabs and homepage settings. It works with Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Internet Explorer, though
Internet Explorer 9 browser's ability to block malicious web pages or code. According to NSS, Internet Explorer 9 blocked 99% of malware downloads compared to 90% for Internet Explorer 8 that does not have SmartScreen Application Reputation feature. In early 2010, similar tests gave Internet Explorer 8 an 85% passing grade, the 5% improvement being attributed to "continued investments in improved data intelligence". By comparison, the same research showed that Chrome 6, Firefox 3.6 and Safari 5, which all rely on Google's Safe Browsing Service, scored 6%, 19% and 11%, respectively. Opera 10 scored 0%, failing to "detect any of the socially engineered