Yesterday I gave a talk at VB 2011 on the history of rogue web browsers - browsers that have been built from the ground up to cause end-users trouble. They often imitate the real thing, use similar logos to legit browsers, claim to be incredibly secure and offer lots of features and functionality. Typically it's all lies, and they're dropping rootkits, hijacking your desktop or clicking invisible links out of view from the person using it.
In my humble opinion, the worst of these browsers was something called Yapbrowser. This was a browser from 2006 that you could download, install and run just like any regular browser. Although it bundled with Zango adware, no hijacks were involved and you had the option to back out. Running the browser didn't raise any alarm bells - until you typed in a web address....any web address....and found yourself redirected to places you'd rather not go.
Redirecting users to content that could send them to jail wasn't the best way to promote their browser, and it was quickly pulled. Shortly after the browser vanished, it reappeared for a few more weeks claiming "full protection from virus attacks" - that didn't last long, and Yapbrowser was finally buried in 2006 after being acquired by a company called SearchWebMe - the browser was gone forever, and the site was basically DOA.
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