mixMusic Start - How to remove

mixMusic Start is an extension that says that it’s about allowing users to find and listen to music. Also, it makes Yahoo your default search engine, collects data about its users, and shares it with advertisers.

mixMusic Start is not a virus, but it can be called a browser hijacker because of the unnecessary modifications that it makes to the browser settings. As a hijacker, mixMusic Start is not any different from Movie Browsing, Gomovix.com, or iTheatre Search Plus.

mixMusic Start search engine

The main thing that mixMusic Start does is redirect people’s searches through its own search tab so that mixPlugin can make money from advertising and directing people to click on sponsored links. Type the wrong query into mixMusic’s search tab and almost all the results will be ads. This is quite annoying if you just wanted to get to conveniently listen to music on gomusix, the music streaming product that mixMusic Start links you to form the new tab page (though gomusix is not exactly audio tracks, but lists of YouTube videos).

mixMusic Start may say that it is there to deliver “a quick music click-and-visit experience, for free”, but the real product is the ads that mixMusic injects into your web pages and the people who are forced to see the ads.

Dangers of lost privacy

Read an excerpt from mixPlugin’s privacy policy here: mixGames Search. In short, the data collected about you may be shared with third parties for the purposes of marketing. mixPlugin has a number of extensions very similar to mixMusic Start and they use this same Privacy Policy.

mixMusic Start encourages users to integrate the extension with their Facebook account in order to set their own images as backgrounds for the mixMusic Start new tab page. Knowing about the privacy scandals that Facebook has experienced, as well as the fact that your demographic data (which is available on your Facebook profile) would be very valuable to advertisers (mixMusic Start’s partners, remember their Privacy Policy), you might want to think twice about giving mixMusic access to your Facebook account.

But why should you be concerned about privacy online? Sure, some log somewhere has data about you, but that does not mean that you are being stalked with some malicious intent. mixMusic Start is free, so why not have ads, right? However, I think there is still reason to be protective of your private information. I will describe some of the worst consequences of what can happen if your data is leaked to online criminals.

Accurate data about a person can be used to perform targeted phishing attacks. Phishing can be used to steal people’s login details to various online accounts, some of which have credit card details associated with them, some have your personal photos stored. If a cybercriminal knows which bank you use, they could direct you a phishing site of that specific bank, watch what you type into the fake site’s password and name fields, and you might not even realise that anything is wrong. The more is known about you, the easier it is to hack your bank account, steal personal data for extortion, commit identity fraud, etc.

I don’t want to alarm anyone unnecessarily — I’m not saying that mixMusic Start  is malicious, or something. You won’t get in trouble just because you do not use TOR to browse, or block every single ad. But it is important to be able to trust the companies that have your data, to know that the ads displayed to you come from reputable sources, and the ad-networks that surround you review their ads for malware and unethical behaviour (and, to be honest, Yahoo doesnt have the best reputation).

Remove mixMusic Start

If you wish to continue using mixMusic, you can safely do that. It is not a computer virus, it’s just some mild adware. And you can always remove it later. If you do want to get rid of mixMusic Start, just go to your browser settings and remove the extension.

If you suspect that your privacy has been compromised, change your passwords and turn on two-factor authentication where it’s possible. Be protective of your personal data and only share it with those you trust.

Automatic Malware removal tools

TopRemoving mixMusic Start from Chrome

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Google Chrome window. Select “Settings”.
  
• Click “Extensions” on the left menu bar.
• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to mixMusic Start. Click on the trash bin icon next to mixMusic Start or other add-ons you want to remove.
  
• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.
  
• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.
  
• Restart Chrome.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to mixMusic Start, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
  
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on the Reset settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.