What is Browse Moment?
The Malwarebytes research team has determined that Browse Moment is a search hijacker. These so-called "hijackers" manipulate your browser(s), for example to change your startpage or searchscopes, so that the affected browser visits their site or one of their choice.
This particular one redirects the searches on bing.com, google.com,and yahoo.com.
How do I know if my computer is affected by Browse Moment?
You may see this entry in your list of installed Chrome extensions:
and this changed header for your search results:
You may have noticed these warnings during install:
How did Browse Moment get on my computer?
Browser hijackers use different methods for distributing themselves. This particular one was downloaded from the webstore:
after a redirect from their website:
How do I remove Browse Moment?
Our program Malwarebytes can detect and remove this search hijacker.
- Please download Malwarebytes for Windows to your desktop.
- Double-click MBSetup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
- When your Malwarebytes for Windows installation completes, the program opens to the Welcome to Malwarebytes screen.
- Click on the Get started button.
- Click Scan to start a Threat Scan.
- When the scan is finished click Quarantine to remove the found threats.
- Reboot the system if prompted to complete the removal process.
- No, Malwarebytes removes Browse Moment completely.
We hope our application and this guide have helped you eradicate this hijacker.
As you can see below Malwarebytes Browser Guard, as well as the full version of Malwarebytes would have protected you against the Browse Moment hijacker. It would have blocked their website, giving you a chance to stop it before it became too late.
Technical details for experts
Possible signs in FRST logs:
CHR Extension: (Browse Moment) - C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\manpcikloceadbeibpjfmicfcigfohcd [2020-09-15]Alterations made by the installer:
File system details [View: All details] (Selection) --------------------------------------------------- Adds the folder C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\manpcikloceadbeibpjfmicfcigfohcd\3.2_0 Adds the file background.js"="7/3/2020 12:35 AM, 17336 bytes, A Adds the file manifest.json"="9/15/2020 10:25 AM, 1686 bytes, A Adds the folder C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\manpcikloceadbeibpjfmicfcigfohcd\3.2_0\_metadata Adds the file computed_hashes.json"="9/15/2020 10:25 AM, 545 bytes, A Adds the file verified_contents.json"="7/3/2020 12:35 AM, 1645 bytes, A Adds the folder C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\manpcikloceadbeibpjfmicfcigfohcd\3.2_0\icons Adds the file icon128.png"="9/15/2020 10:25 AM, 2188 bytes, A Adds the file icon48.png"="9/15/2020 10:25 AM, 253 bytes, A Registry details [View: All details] (Selection) ------------------------------------------------ [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Chrome\PreferenceMACs\Default\extensions.settings] "manpcikloceadbeibpjfmicfcigfohcd"="REG_SZ", "2B77D8EE5CF4073AEEAE430487B4FA049F9564389AB9E6C5660522E9CEC8C53E"Malwarebytes log:
Malwarebytes www.malwarebytes.com -Log Details- Scan Date: 9/15/20 Scan Time: 10:42 AM Log File: 5b32e8e4-f72f-11ea-a824-00ffdcc6fdfc.json -Software Information- Version: 4.2.0.82 Components Version: 1.0.1036 Update Package Version: 1.0.29861 License: Premium -System Information- OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 CPU: x64 File System: NTFS User: {computername}\{username} -Scan Summary- Scan Type: Threat Scan Scan Initiated By: Manual Result: Completed Objects Scanned: 231535 Threats Detected: 5 Threats Quarantined: 5 Time Elapsed: 4 min, 50 sec -Scan Options- Memory: Enabled Startup: Enabled Filesystem: Enabled Archives: Enabled Rootkits: Disabled Heuristics: Enabled PUP: Detect PUM: Detect -Scan Details- Process: 0 (No malicious items detected) Module: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Key: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Value: 1 PUP.Optional.BaroSearch.Generic, HKCU\SOFTWARE\GOOGLE\CHROME\PREFERENCEMACS\Default\extensions.settings|manpcikloceadbeibpjfmicfcigfohcd, Quarantined, 15260, 775685, , , , , , Registry Data: 0 (No malicious items detected) Data Stream: 0 (No malicious items detected) Folder: 1 PUP.Optional.BaroSearch.Generic, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\DEFAULT\EXTENSIONS\MANPCIKLOCEADBEIBPJFMICFCIGFOHCD, Quarantined, 15260, 775685, 1.0.29861, , ame, , , File: 3 PUP.Optional.BaroSearch.Generic, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Secure Preferences, Replaced, 15260, 775685, , , , , FACDBF45B8497D86AC9C533339F5E8B2, 54085834624B4ED43F4B73F5614E6AF8865B0CAC072B3DF3DC6460A7BF9D4FD2 PUP.Optional.BaroSearch.Generic, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Preferences, Replaced, 15260, 775685, , , , , 361722E2252BA4259FD7B8B43D8C9F18, DA6CD519D4F68A31F2E0586770382210BFDF31F80C7312010C30FE26BE1737FE PUP.Optional.BaroSearch.Generic, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\DEFAULT\EXTENSIONS\MANPCIKLOCEADBEIBPJFMICFCIGFOHCD\3.2_0\BACKGROUND.JS, Quarantined, 15260, 775685, 1.0.29861, , ame, , 28729D99BB9EAC04EAA946E52091D03F, 2F404156A48D062955DF927A6A1267E958E63B1CD571A62BC47807E4A08159A4 Physical Sector: 0 (No malicious items detected) WMI: 0 (No malicious items detected) (end)As mentioned before the full version of Malwarebytes could have protected your computer against this threat.
We use different ways of protecting your computer(s):
- Dynamically Blocks Malware Sites & Servers
- Malware Execution Prevention