PopStop Search Redirects - How to remove

PopStop is a search hijacker that’s presented on the Chrome Web Store as a pop-up blocker. Users who have PopStop installed might not even know it, as this extension is very sneaky. But they will definitely notice that searches are constantly being redirected to Search-7.com. To a PopStop’s victim, it just looks like their browser suddenly changed how it searches for no reason. To stop the redirects, PopStop needs to be uninstalled.

About PopStop:

Classification	Browser hijacker, adware.
What PopStop does	Blocks some new tab pop-ups, hijacks searches on the most popular search engines and redirects them to another site.
How hijackers get installed	Deceptively advertised, promoted by adware, bundled with freeware, attempts to be unseen and prevents users from checking its details.
How to stop the redirects	Remove PopStop and other bad browser extensions, check your computer for malware with anti-malware scanners (Spyhunter for PC, Combo Cleaner for Mac).

PopStop redirects searches

I wrote about Search-7.com a while ago. It’s a fake search engine similar to QxSearch and SearchGG. Has a lot of ads and no features. I didn’t know (and still don’t) which browser extensions used it. But PopStop is definitely one. Once I installed it, it redirected my searches to Search-7.com.

Officially, PopStop is not an ad-blocker. It’s just supposed to block new tabs that open in your web browser. Based on my testing, it does work, more or less.

But the price that PopStop is asking for is ridiculous. There’s nothing that can justify this behavior:

• PopStop intercepts searches made on Bing.com, Yahoo.com, Google.com and redirects them to its own sites (Websearch1.com and Search-7.com, in my case).
• The results are full of ads, including links to sites like Izito and various browser hijackers.
• There are no search engine features to speak of on the sites that PopStop redirects to.
• PopStop has an invisible icon, meaning that people who installed it mistakenly will have a hard time even seeing it.
• PopStop does not allow its details page to be viewed.

And the only permission that PopStop needs to accomplish all that is Tab, or Read your browsing history. Chrome considers that permission to be a low-risk but PopStop shows just how disruptive it can be.

By the way, there is no privacy policy by PopStop – only a message about it not recording any personal information. The sites that PopStop promotes – Websearch1.com and Search-7.com – claim to be by the companies Search & Source Ltd and Search Technology Limited, which I’m not familiar with. It’s a safe bet, though, that in addition to spamming you with ads, PopStop does collect data about your browsing activities.

Sneaky browser hijacker

When I installed PopStop, it first quit my browser (probably just closed its own tab). I noticed that once I pinned its icon to my browser’s user interface, its icon was invisible. This is a trait that PopStop shares with many malicious browser extensions, like all those that redirect searches to S3arch.page. PopStop also hides its details, closing the age if you try to open it in browser settings.

My conclusion is that PopStop is installed by users mistakenly and unintentionally and that PopStop remains hidden while installed. Its pop-up closing functionality is just there so that it doesn’t get banned from the Chrome Web Store.

If PopStop was an honest extension, I would expect at least one of its 20,000+ users to have left a rating or a review about it – but there’s nothing.

Recently, Chrome changed how extension icons work. Now, once you install a browser extension on Chrome, it puts a puzzle icon next to your address bar – click it and press the pin icon next to the extension that you want to pin. This does make it harder for add-ons like PopStop to remain hidden. But it’s not always intuitive for users how to manage their extensions.

How to remove PopStop

Open your browser, open its main menu, go to settings of preferences, then extensions. Then find PopStop and remove it. More detailed instructions with screenshots can be found at the bottom.

If you can’t remove it because your browser is managed by an organization, that means that you need to change some settings on your computer before you can remove browser hijackers.

You could also use an anti-malware scanner, such as Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, and others. They can recognize unwanted and low-reputation items and warn you about it. It’s especially important to perform a scan if you don’t know how PopStop infected your computer. It might have been bundled with other hijackers and with freeware installers. In that case, multiple browser hijackers could have been installed at the same time.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Manually remove browser extensions

TopRemoving PopStop Search Redirects 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 PopStop Search Redirects. Click on the trash bin icon next to PopStop Search Redirects 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 PopStop Search Redirects, 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.

How to remove PopStop Search Redirects from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to PopStop Search Redirects. Click on the "Remove" icon next to PopStop Search Redirects 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 Microsoft Edge.

TopRemoving PopStop Search Redirects from Firefox

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything PopStop Search Redirects related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to PopStop Search Redirects, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• Choose Troubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

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