If your browser keeps opening a pop-up Google is Tracking Your Searches on your screen, it means that you visit various untrustworthy pages containing it or there is an untrustworthy application, e.g. adware installed on your computer and working actively on it. It might seem that this pop-up tries to warn you that Google collects various details about your web searching behavior, but if you look closer at it, you will definitely notice a button in its middle. If you click on it, you will install the extension called Privacy Switch. Without a doubt, the purpose of the Google is Tracking Your Searches pop-up is not to warn you that your privacy is in danger but to promote this piece of software instead. This Google Chrome add-on is promoted as a beneficial tool that can make the web searching completely private. Some users believe that it can act beneficially and let it stay even if they have clicked on the advertisement promoting it accidentally, whereas others find its presence completely undesirable. We hope that you belong to the second group of users because Privacy Switch cannot be called a fully trustworthy browser extension. The reason it is so is the fact that this extension only sets a new search page Search.myprivacyswitch.com on users’ Google Chrome browsers. This tool should make it possible to perform anonymous searches, but, unfortunately, we cannot confirm that. Frankly speaking, we would lie if we said that this search page is fully reliable either. There is more information about it provided in the next paragraph.
Users who install the Privacy Switch extension on their browsers by clicking the button on the Google is Tracking Your Searches pop-up should go to delete this piece of software from their browsers without further consideration because it is surely not very beneficial. It only sets a new search provider as a default search tool. Search.myprivacyswitch.com is not exactly a reputable search tool although it promises to make it possible to “search the web without having your search history or other Personally Identifiable Information (PII) being tracked.” If we were you, we would not blindly trust this search tool because research conducted by specialists at 411-spyware.com has clearly shown that it might provide users with third-party links and even display the so-called modified search results to them. In addition, it might collect information about users. This information should not consist of any personal details, but this activity it performs automatically raises questions about its reliability. In our opinion, a tool that promises to ensure the users’ privacy should not track it itself. It is one of the reasons we do not recommend using this search tool.
The Privacy Switch extension promoting Search.myprivacyswitch.com can be downloaded from the official Chrome Web Store (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/privacy-switch/fmnjaffompeopfiipodgdnilejddodnf?hl=en), but we suspect that the majority of users do not willingly install this extension. It is more likely that they accidentally click on the Google is Tracking Your Searches pop-up. It is displayed to them because they open/get redirected to some kind of untrustworthy page showing this advertisement, or there is an advertising-supported application (adware) generating advertisements installed on their PCs. In such a case, Google is Tracking Your Searches will no longer be displayed on your screen only when you fully erase that program.
You have made a mistake by clicking the button Google is Tracking Your Searches contains, but, luckily, you can rectify this mistake quite easily. What you need to do is to remove the Privacy Switch extension you have allowed to enter your system by clicking on the pop-up. If you delete it, you will no longer see Search.myprivacyswitch.com set as your default search tool either and thus could set a new reliable search provider. Do not forget that your system might contain other infections too, so scanning the system with an automated malware remover is highly recommended.
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