Overview
Category:
Adware: Software that displays popup/popunder ads when the primary user interface is not visible or which do not appear to be assocaited with the product.
Hijacker: Any software that resets your browser's settings to point to other sites. Hijacks may reroute your info and address requests through an unseen site, capturing that info. In such hijacks, your browser may behave normally, but be slower.
Spyware: Any product that employs a user's Internet connection in the background without their knowledge, and gathers/transmits info on the user or their behavior. Many spyware products will collect referrer info (information from your web browser which reveals what URL you linked from), your IP address (a number that is used by computers on the network to identify your computer), system information (such as time of visit, type of browser used, the operating system and platform, and CPU speed.) Spyware products sometimes wrap other commercial products, and are introduced to machines when those commercial products are installed. See also Adware.
Similar Pests:
Origins
Date of Origin:
Distribution
Prevalence:
Clot Factor:
The "Clot Factor" is a measure of how much a pest "gums up" a machine by adding registry entries, files, and directories. As more objects are placed in a machine, manual removal becomes more difficult and more error-prone.
Operation
Browser Performance:
Detection and Removal
Automatic Removal:
PestPatrol detects this.
PestPatrol removes this.
Manual Removal:
After following the instructions above, you will still need to restore your original settings and prevent this from happening again.