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Nationzoom.com feloniously boosts traffic to affiliated services

Sunday 29 December 2013, 11:40AM

By Eric Molongo

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Nation Zoom screenshot
Nation Zoom screenshot Credit: Eric Molongo

Among the variety of methods of driving traffic to online resources, the authors of Nation Zoom chose the one that doesn’t quite fit into purely ethical area. People who are unfortunate enough to install the respective browser extension or affiliated software start to immediately encounter a twisted state of things in terms of web surfing. Instead of the custom homepage, the browser will be returning Nationzoom.com every time it’s launched; also, whenever you wish to do an online search, it gets you to Search.yahoo.com no matter which search engine you previously defined as your preferred one.

Nation Zoom is apparently part of a network of shady web services, some of which have been known for quite a long time, for example Wsys Control, eSave Security Control, VPlay and Desk 365. The rule of thumb for such apps is promotion via flattering yet false declarations about allegedly useful features; also, they are mainly distributed on a freeware basis, which naturally expands the potential user base. However, what you get in return is ‘gifts’ like Nationzoom.com adware which mess with your browser configuration. The motivation of cyber crooks with this hijacker is related to financial reward for massive generation of online traffic to affiliated services.

Those who are confident that they resolve this problem through simply entering the correct URL as their homepage and selecting the right search system from the list are mistaken to a large extent. The issue may only get fixed this way for a while, but will return the next time you start your browser. Consequently, your options here have to do with a virus cleanup process that involves a set of steps – this workflow is thoroughly outlined in professional tutorials tailored to ensure guaranteed removal of Nationzoom.com adware.