Is newtab.art safe?
http://newtab.art/
Checked on
How we checked
Coverage: complete · 4 of 4 applicable core capabilities
- Antivirus (62 of 93 engines answered): completed
- Google Safe Browsing: completed
- page reading: completed
- page capture: completed
- domain records: completed
- web research: completed
newtab.art is a fake search engine and browser hijacker that forces visitors into an unwanted redirect loop.
newtab.art presents itself as a search page but is not a real search engine. Researchers describe it as a fake search engine that cannot provide its own results and instead redirects to a legitimate search engine, promoted through redirects generated by software in the browser hijacker category. A user in Google's Chrome support forum reports being redirected to newtab.art with a tracking-style link and being unable to escape it, with removal instructions failing. The domain is only 324 days old, no operator is disclosed, and no contact email was found on the captured page. Nine engines flag it as malicious and two as suspicious, with eight independent antivirus families reporting adverse results. The site is not a shop, casino, or download portal; its harm is unwanted browser control and forced redirection, which is why it scores in the Dangerous band.
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Preparing the saved page preview.
Where this site sits
- Dangerous1–20
- High Risk21–44
- Moderate Risk45–69
- Low Risk70–84
- Safe85–100
The score combines saved evidence strength and analysis quality. Coverage is reported separately.
Why 18/100
Dangerous covers scores 1–20. 4 findings pulled the score down; 1 pushed it up.
What pulled the score down
- Decisive8 independent antivirus families reported an adverse result.
- Moderate2 independent sources carry complaints or warnings about this site, including: "our researchers discovered the newtab.art fake search engine. It cannot provide search results and redirects to a legitimate search engine. These sites are…"
- Moderate2 independent sources carry complaints or warnings about this site, including: "it redirects me to a website called "newtab.art". full link: https://newtab.art/?guid=54d80ea9-8872-7341-e059-519e47116a8a . I cant escape it ... on how to…"
- MinorThe operator is not disclosed, no contact email was found on the captured page, and the registrable domain is 324 days old.
What pushed the score up
- SupportsThe browser threat feed returned no threat warning and the saved TLS check found a valid encrypted connection.
No points per finding are stored for this report: our analysis weighed all findings together to set the score. Each finding shows its saved severity instead (Decisive, Strong, Moderate or Minor). Community reviews never change the Safety Score.
Lost money or shared details on newtab.art? Do this now
Act quickly: the first hours matter most for a chargeback.
- Call your bank or card issuer now
Ask them to dispute the charge or open a chargeback; the sooner you act, the better your odds. Card payments can often be reversed. Bank transfers and gift cards are harder, but report them to your bank too. Crypto payments usually cannot be reversed: report the wallet address and transaction ID to the exchange you sent from.
- Change any password you entered
If you entered a password on newtab.art, change it there and anywhere you reused it, and turn on two-factor authentication. Keep screenshots, order confirmations and messages as evidence.
- Report the site
Reports help get scam sites taken down faster and warn other people.
- Report the domain to its registrar
NameCheap, Inc. registered this domain. ICANN's lookup shows the registrar's abuse contact.
- Ignore anyone offering to recover your money
"Recovery" services or agents who contact you, or ask for a fee up front, are almost always a second scam aimed at victims. Your bank's dispute process and the official reporting services never charge a fee in advance.
Full answers about refunds and reporting are in the Safety FAQ below.
01 · Investigation Brief
Investigation Brief
newtab.art presents itself as a search page but is not a real search engine. Researchers describe it as a fake search engine that cannot provide its own results and instead redirects to a legitimate search engine, promoted through redirects generated by software in the browser hijacker category. A user in Google's Chrome support forum reports being redirected to newtab.art with a tracking-style link and being unable to escape it, with removal instructions failing. The domain is only 324 days old, no operator is disclosed, and no contact email was found on the captured page. Nine engines flag it as malicious and two as suspicious, with eight independent antivirus families reporting adverse results. The site is not a shop, casino, or download portal; its harm is unwanted browser control and forced redirection, which is why it scores in the Dangerous band.
How the hijack works
The page is built to look like a search destination, but researchers found it cannot deliver its own search results and instead forwards visitors to a legitimate search engine. That forwarding is the core of the deception: the visitor believes they are using a search tool while their browser is being steered by something else.
The redirect is not a one-time event. A user on Google's Chrome support forum describes being sent to newtab.art through a link containing a GUID parameter and states they cannot escape it, and that published removal instructions never work. That is the signature of a browser hijacker: the redirect persists and resists normal cleanup.
Technical detections and hidden operator
Independent scanning is strongly adverse. Nine engines classify the domain as malicious and two as suspicious across 93 engines, and eight separate antivirus families returned an adverse result. These are not generic reputation flags; they align with the researcher classification of the site as a browser hijacker.
The operator is not disclosed on the site, and no direct contact email was found on the captured page. The registrable domain is only 324 days old. A young, anonymous domain that exists to redirect browsers offers no accountability if something goes wrong.
Two checks were clean: the browser threat feed returned no threat warning, and the saved TLS check found a valid encrypted connection. Those results mean no detection at the time of the check; they do not make a hijacker safe, because the harm here is unwanted browser behavior rather than a blocked malware download.
Why the score is 18
8 independent antivirus families reported an adverse result. Coverage remains separate so missing sources cannot be mistaken for clean results.
02 · Security Evidence
Security evidence
Antivirus Engines
11/ 93
detectionsFresh result
11 engines flagged this URL
Every saved adverse engine is listed below. The full provider matrix remains available for audit.
- Malicious
- 9
- Suspicious
- 2
- Total
- 93
| Engine | Finding |
|---|---|
| alphaMountain.aiMalicious | malicious |
| BitDefenderMalicious | malware |
| Chong Lua DaoMalicious | malicious |
| CyRadarMalicious | malicious |
| G-DataMalicious | malware |
| LionicMalicious | malicious |
| SafeToOpenMalicious | phishing |
| VIPREMalicious | malware |
| WebrootMalicious | malicious |
| ESETSuspicious | suspicious |
| GridinsoftSuspicious | suspicious |
All 93 engine results
- alphaMountain.ai - Malicious
- BitDefender - malware - Malicious
- Chong Lua Dao - Malicious
- CyRadar - Malicious
- G-Data - malware - Malicious
- Lionic - Malicious
- SafeToOpen - phishing - Malicious
- VIPRE - malware - Malicious
- Webroot - Malicious
- ESET - Suspicious
- Gridinsoft - Suspicious
- 0xSI_f33d - Unrated
- Abusix - Clean
- Acronis - Clean
- ADMINUSLabs - Clean
- AILabs (MONITORAPP) - Clean
- AlienVault - Clean
- AlphaSOC - Unrated
- Antiy-AVL - Clean
- ArcSight Threat Intelligence - Unrated
- AutoShun - Unrated
- Bfore.Ai PreCrime - Unrated
- Bkav - Unrated
- BlockList - Clean
- Blueliv - Clean
- Certego - Clean
- ChainPatrol - Unrated
- CINS Army - Clean
- CRDF - Clean
- Criminal IP - Unrated
- CSIS Security Group - Unrated
- CTX AI - Clean
- Cyan - Unrated
- Cyble - Clean
- desenmascara.me - Clean
- DNS8 - Unrated
- Dr.Web - Clean
- EmergingThreats - Clean
- Emsisoft - Clean
- Ermes - Unrated
- ESTsecurity - Clean
- Forcepoint ThreatSeeker - Clean
- Fortinet - Clean
- Fortra - Unrated
- GCP Abuse Intelligence - Unrated
- Google Safe Browsing - Clean
- GreenSnow - Clean
- GreyNoise - Unrated
- Guardpot - Unrated
- Heimdal Security - Clean
- Hunt.io Intelligence - Unrated
- IPsum - Clean
- Juniper Networks - Clean
- K7AntiVirus - Unrated
- Kaspersky - Clean
- LevelBlue - Clean
- Lumu - Unrated
- Malwared - Clean
- MalwarePatrol - Clean
- MalwareURL - Unrated
- Mimecast - Unrated
- Netcraft - Unrated
- OpenPhish - Clean
- Orcapot - Unrated
- PhishFort - Unrated
- Phishing Database - Clean
- Phishtank - Clean
- PREBYTES - Clean
- PrecisionSec - Unrated
- Quick Heal - Clean
- Quttera - Clean
- Rising - Clean
- Sangfor - Clean
- Sansec eComscan - Unrated
- Scantitan - Clean
- SCUMWARE.org - Clean
- Seclookup - Clean
- Snort IP sample list - Unrated
- SOCRadar - Unrated
- Sophos - Clean
- StopForumSpam - Clean
- Sucuri SiteCheck - Clean
- Synthient - Unrated
- ThreatHive - Clean
- URLhaus - Clean
- URLQuery - Unrated
- Viettel Threat Intelligence - Clean
- ViriBack - Clean
- VX Vault - Clean
- Xcitium Verdict Cloud - Clean
- Yandex Safebrowsing - Clean
- ZeroCERT - Clean
- ZeroFox - Unrated
How security vendors categorise this site
- WebrootPhishing and Other Frauds
- alphaMountain.aiSuspicious
- BitDefendercomputersandsoftware
- Forcepoint ThreatSeekerpersonal network storage and backup
Each vendor’s own label for the site, saved with the antivirus result. Labels are separate from the engine verdicts above and can disagree with each other.
Security Scans
Checked against the browser threat feeds available to this scan — no hit.
What we observed
Loading saved screenshot
Preparing the saved page preview.
Visual context from the captured page
Search
What the captured page showed
1 observation- 01
Search
What the page says about itself
What the site says about itself, quoted from the pages we read. The site wrote these words; they are not our findings.
- Page title
Search
- Meta description
Create your perfect new tab page with customizable backgrounds, bookmarks, themes, and P2P image sharing. Google-style new tab with full editing controls.
Pages we read
- Main page/Read
03 · Investigation Story
Investigation story
What the site claims
Search
What we observed
The page content was captured and checked alongside 62 antivirus results.
What independent research found
2 external findings were saved and compared with the page evidence.
What remains unverified
The checks completed, but ownership, business claims, and future site behavior can still change after this snapshot.
What kind of site and risk is this?
Threat category
Aggressive Ads & Malvertising
Service and business model
Unknown
Observed behavior
Evidence behind this classification
- 012 independent sources carry complaints or warnings about this site, including: "our researchers discovered the newtab.art fake search engine. It cannot provide search results and redirects to a legitimate search engine. These sites are…"
- 022 independent sources carry complaints or warnings about this site, including: "it redirects me to a website called "newtab.art". full link: https://newtab.art/?guid=54d80ea9-8872-7341-e059-519e47116a8a . I cant escape it ... on how to…"
- 03Nine engines flag the domain as malicious and two as suspicious across 93 engines, with eight independent antivirus families reporting adverse results.
What this means for you
What a visitor actually experiences
A visitor lands on newtab.art, often without choosing to, through a redirect that carries a GUID parameter. The page then forwards them onward to a legitimate search engine, so the search they see is not the site's own.
How the observed mechanism works
The evidence-backed path
Each stage below is preserved from the grounded analysis and linked to saved evidence.
The redirect persists. The same user reports being unable to escape it and finding that removal instructions never work, which means the unwanted behavior continues across browsing sessions until the underlying hijacker is properly removed.
Do not use newtab.art as a search page or homepage. If your browser keeps sending you there, treat it as a browser hijacker: remove unfamiliar extensions and programs, reset your browser settings, and run a reputable malware scan. Do not enter personal information on the page, and do not trust any removal tool it may point you toward.
Web research findings
Independent findings for newtab.art, including public complaints, named review sources, registration records, and look-alike-domain evidence. A missing result is shown as unverified, never converted into a clean bill of health.
- PCriskopen
"our researchers discovered the newtab.art fake search engine. It cannot provide search results and redirects to a legitimate search engine. These sites are promoted through redirects generated by software within the browser hijacker classification."
- Google Chrome Communityopen
"it redirects me to a website called "newtab.art". full link: https://newtab.art/?guid=54d80ea9-8872-7341-e059-519e47116a8a . I cant escape it ... on how to remove it never works. Im stuck and i dont know how"
Reputation Sources
How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.
04 · Domain & Infrastructure
Domain & infrastructure
The plumbing behind the site — who registered it, how it’s encrypted, where it’s hosted, and where it links out. A valid certificate or a calm server doesn’t mean the business is honest — scam sites pass these checks too. Use this to corroborate the verdict, not to overturn it.
Infrastructure map
How the saved page connected to the wider web.
- Domainnewtab.art
- Redirects tonewtab.art
- Hosted byCloudflare, Inc.
- Referencesfonts.googleapis.com · fonts.gstatic.com
Domain Timeline
- Dec 2, 2025Domain registered
First appeared in WHOIS records — 10 months old when this review was saved.
- Oct 23, 2026Saved security review — Rated Dangerous
The completed checks from this saved scan are detailed above.
Contact Verification
Saved contact details can help identify the operator. Their presence supports traceability; it does not prove the business is trustworthy.
- No direct contact email found on the captured page.
Domain & Encryption
Cloudflare DNS is used by legitimate and scam sites alike, so it does not identify who runs the site.
Certificate issued for newtab.art.
A shared Cloudflare address answers for many sites, so it is not the site's own server and says nothing about who runs it.
Analytics and ads
- Cloudflare Web Analytics
Scripts, fonts and CDNs
- Google Fonts
- cdnjs
- unpkg
Payment providers the page loads
None seen among the outside domains we saved.
Read from the first 20 outside domains the page loads and the shop platform it uses; the web server and platform rows are under Hosting & Technology. A payment script on the page does not prove the shop accepts that method at checkout, or that you are protected.
Server Reputation
Referenced Domains
Outbound domains this page links to or loads resources from. Each links to its own security scan.
05 · Evidence Ledger
Evidence ledger
- Antiviruscomplete
- Browser threat feedcomplete
- Page contentcomplete
- Analysiscomplete
- Visual evidencecomplete
The conclusion is supported by the evidence saved with this report.
Technical threat
maliciousMalware, phishing, credential theft and hostile infrastructure.
8 independent antivirus families reported an adverse result.
Operator / customer risk
suspiciousComplaints, withdrawals, business conduct and commercial traps.
2 independent sources carry complaints or warnings about this site, including: "our researchers discovered the newtab.art fake search engine. It cannot provide search results and redirects to a legitimate search engine. These sites are…" · 2 independent sources carry complaints or warnings about this site, including: "it redirects me to a website called "newtab.art". full link: https://newtab.art/?guid=54d80ea9-8872-7341-e059-519e47116a8a . I cant escape it ... on how to…"
Source coverage and freshness
Status shows whether usable evidence was saved; finding shows what that evidence observed.
| Source | Result | Completion | Finding | Freshness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antivirus | 11 of 93 engines flagged | Completed | Adverse | fresh · analysed Oct 22, 2026 |
| Browser protection | No browser threat-list match | Completed | No adverse finding | this scan · Oct 23, 2026 |
| Page content | Page fetched · HTTP 200 | Completed | No adverse finding | this scan · Oct 23, 2026 |
| Visual evidence | 1 visible observation saved with the page capture | Completed | No adverse finding | this scan · Oct 23, 2026 |
| Independent research | 2 independent findings were saved | Completed | Adverse | this scan · Oct 23, 2026 |
- Antivirus
- Result11 of 93 engines flagged
- CompletionCompletedFindingAdverse
- Freshnessfresh · analysed Oct 22, 2026
- Browser protection
- ResultNo browser threat-list match
- CompletionCompletedFindingNo adverse finding
- Freshnessthis scan · Oct 23, 2026
- Page content
- ResultPage fetched · HTTP 200
- CompletionCompletedFindingNo adverse finding
- Freshnessthis scan · Oct 23, 2026
- Visual evidence
- Result1 visible observation saved with the page capture
- CompletionCompletedFindingNo adverse finding
- Freshnessthis scan · Oct 23, 2026
- Independent research
- Result2 independent findings were saved
- CompletionCompletedFindingAdverse
- Freshnessthis scan · Oct 23, 2026
07 · Safety FAQ
Safety FAQ
Common questions, answered directly from the scan data above — so the answers reflect the saved verdict and evidence in this report.
Is newtab.art a scam or a legit site?
Is newtab.art safe to use?
What is the risk from the ads and redirects on newtab.art?
Why does newtab.art open unrelated pages or pop-ups?
How do I stop the pop-ups or notifications from newtab.art?
Has newtab.art been flagged by antivirus engines?
Is newtab.art on any phishing or malware blacklists?
How old is the newtab.art domain?
Where is newtab.art hosted?
How often is the newtab.art report updated?
08 · Final Verdict
Final verdict
newtab.art is a fake search engine and browser hijacker that forces visitors into an unwanted redirect loop.
newtab.art presents itself as a search page but is not a real search engine. Researchers describe it as a fake search engine that cannot provide its own results and instead redirects to a legitimate search engine, promoted through redirects generated by software in the browser hijacker category. A user in Google's Chrome support forum reports being redirected to newtab.art with a tracking-style link and being unable to escape it, with removal instructions failing. The domain is only 324 days old, no operator is disclosed, and no contact email was found on the captured page. Nine engines flag it as malicious and two as suspicious, with eight independent antivirus families reporting adverse results. The site is not a shop, casino, or download portal; its harm is unwanted browser control and forced redirection, which is why it scores in the Dangerous band.
09 · Community
Community
Are you the owner of newtab.art?Verify and reply