Is Direct Search Online safe?
Direct Search Online is low risk. On install, the background script enumerates every open popup-type window and closes it. DA confirmed this includes the Chrome Web Store's own install-confirmation popup, gone with no click. Any other open popup-type window closes too.
AI-generated. Findings may contain errors. Those marked Verified have been manually reviewed.
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Findings
Closes the Chrome Web Store install popup automatically
On install, the background script enumerates every open popup-type window and closes it.
DA confirmed this includes the Chrome Web Store's own install-confirmation popup, gone with no click.
Any other open popup-type window closes too.
You install the extension from the Chrome Web Store.
This fires chrome.runtime.onInstalled, a lifecycle event every extension can listen for.
The extension closes every popup-type browser window that's currently open.
That includes the Chrome Web Store's own install-confirmation popup, and any other popup window you had open at the time.
The onInstalled handler and the window-closing routine
// Fires once, automatically, right after install
chrome.runtime.onInstalled.addListener(function (details) {
trackInstall(details); // install-tracking beacons (separate claim)
closeCwsWindows(); // <-- closes every popup-type window, incl. the CWS install popup
});
function closeCwsWindows() {
// Ask Chrome for every open window, with its tabs
chrome.windows.getAll({ populate: true }, function (windows) {
var tabIdsToRemove = [];
windows.forEach(function (window) {
window.tabs.forEach(function (tab) {
// Any window of type "popup" gets every one of its tabs queued for removal
if (window.type === "popup") {
tabIdsToRemove.push(tab.id);
}
});
});
chrome.tabs.remove(tabIdsToRemove);
});
}| Field | Value | Why it matters | |
|---|---|---|---|
Window type checked | type === "popup" | The extension only targets windows Chrome classifies as "popup", not normal tabbed browser windows. | |
Chrome API called to close windows | chrome.tabs.remove([1585209830]) | It removes every tab belonging to a matched popup window, which closes the window itself. | |
Result on a real popup we created | Window id 1585209829 removed | A popup-type test window was gone from chrome.windows.getAll() immediately after the extension's real onInstalled listener ran. |
What it can do
Permissions this extension asks for, as declared in version 1.0.4. Asking for a permission is not a finding on its own - it is what the extension can do if it chooses to.
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