Extensions like Taplika render web browsing unbear

Installing programs on the Internet is much of a lottery these days, especially if it's freeware or shareware.

Many of those apps carry a potentially harmful cargo, which might be a Trojan or annoying adware. The malicious web service enhancement utility called Taplika can become one of such drive-by "surprises". There are quite a few apps that promote the above-mentioned shady add-on, for example MP3 Rocket and JetClean. Quite safe and even useful on the outside, these tools can deliver something definitely unwanted into your PC. Their setup is composed of several dialogs, one of which indicates that the recommended installation includes the Taplika bundle. The irony is you can typically avoid the infection as long as you look at the terms of setup and uncheck anything undesirable. Regretfully, not many people follow this recommendation, so they end up getting a bug that messes up their browsing.

This adware is inalienably associated with its landing page, taplika.com. The basic idea is to drive traffic to that site whatever it takes, so the scammers leverage unethical means to get the job done. When inside a computer, the bad code converts its disruptive potential into an add-on that affects IE, Firefox and Chrome alike. The extension then automatically changes the settings for homepage, default search and new tab, making taplika.com the most visited URL on the compromised machine. There is no direct risk emanating from that site - it is a search engine that even displays quite accurate results for user queries, probably because it's powered by a trusted provider. The trick there is the sponsored stuff that appears nearly everywhere on Taplika Search pages. This makes it clear why the adware authors are interested in making people visit their domain. Advertising and money are synonymous concepts.

What's the user's role in this process? The PC simply gets exploited and acts as a slave sending repeated portions of traffic to taplika.com. This isn't something that would please the average user, so measures should be adopted to get rid of this adware and restore the preferences that are correct.