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
Embrace, extend, and extinguish extensions. For example, in 1995, Netscape implemented the "font" tag, among other HTML extensions, without seeking review from a standards body. With the rise of Internet Explorer, the two companies became locked in a dead heat to out-implement each other with non-standards-compliant features. In 2004, to prevent a repeat of the "browser wars", and the resulting morass of conflicting standards, the browser vendors Apple Inc. (Safari), Mozilla Foundation (Firefox), Google Inc. (Google Chrome) and Opera Software (Opera browser) formed the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) to create open standards to complement those of the World Wide Web Consortium.