#360 INTERNET EXPLORER DOWNLOAD INSTALL#
High usage numbers may be due to the browser being difficult to uninstall, its parent product 360 Safeguard frequently recommending it and a warning pop-up that appears when a user attempts to install another browser, claiming that the other browser is unsafe and should not be run. This and other controversies surrounding Qihoo eventually led to the temporary pulling of their products from the iOS App Store. Independent analysis of the claim showed that the browser has an "undeclared mechanism (i.e., via ExtSmartWiz.dll) which connects to the server on a regular basis (e.g., every 5 minutes), and allows it to download files of any type (including executables) from the server."
The Product Director of 360 Secure Browser, Tao Weihua, responded that "Whoever has a mind to beat a dog will always be able to find a stick" and accused the whistleblower of "smearing 360 on behalf of Baidu", which the whistleblower said was "the worst professional response in history". In 2012, a whistleblower reported a hidden backdoor in 360 Secure Browser. It spoofs itself either as Google Chrome or Internet Explorer, making it difficult for developers to target or identify. Its main competitors in China are the Sogou High-Speed Browser ( Chinese: 搜狗高速浏览器) by Sogou, CM Browser ( Chinese: 猎豹安全浏览器) by Cheetah Mobile, QQ Browser ( Chinese: QQ浏览器) by Tencent, Baidu Browser ( Chinese: 百度浏览器) by Baidu and Maxthon.Īs of 2017, the latest versions of 360 Secure Browser do not offer a distinguishable user-agent string. In November 2014 StatCounter reported that the Qihoo browser was the 5th most popular browser in the United States.
Independent sources claim that the true figure is between 2-7%. In January 2011, Qihoo claimed that it was the second most popular web browser in China (after Internet Explorer), with 172 million monthly active users, 44.1% of Internet users in China. Further information: Usage share of web browsers