Hao123 is a Chinese online listings portal by Baidu.[1] It also has versions in other languages, such as in Portuguese (for Brazil)[2] and in Thai (for Thailand).[3]
Hao123 has been accused of being a malicious browser hijacker, as it often installs itself without user's consent after being installed by another application, and once installed it is difficult to remove. Hao123 has been accused of using Windows service, registry and browser parameters to modify the browser's default setting and prevent being removed or uninstalled by adding itself back through Windows service. It also sniffs user's internet traffic illegally and forces users to visit its website to improve its website traffic ranking. For this reason, Hao123 is considered as malware by many anti-virus programs.
Since September 2011, foreign language versions such as Thai have been launched.[4] However, because Baidu antivirus software will force hao123 to be the IE homepage, it was boycotted by Thai netizens.[5]
Browser home page modification
Use the pirated software downloader and pirated Windows activation software in chinese website advertisement of maybe modification the browser home page to the hao123 website.
References
- ↑ Paul Bischoff (2014-07-18). "China web giant Baidu launches search engine in Brazil". Tech In Asia. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
- ↑ "Learn how to remove Hao123". Archived from the original on 2014-12-28. Retrieved 2014-12-10.
- ↑ "Chinese net giant Baidu faces call for boycott in Thailand". Tech In Asia. 2014-05-14. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
- ↑ 网易 (2011-09-16). "百度推出面向埃及和泰国市场的新产品". www.163.com. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
- ↑ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". www.techinasia.com. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
External links
- Official website (in Chinese)
- Brazilian version Archived 2014-08-05 at the Wayback Machine (in Portuguese)
- Thai version Archived 2020-09-22 at the Wayback Machine (in Thai)
- Japanese version (in Japanese)