Monthly Archives: November 2017 - Page 10

Finding Webstart.me in your browsers as your new homepage upon launching may give you the feeling that you accidentally pressed the Windows key on your keyboard and ended up on the Metro UI screen. This questionable browser extension practically imitates that screen and offers resembling thumbnail links that are organized around a search box. So this is indeed a search page with features. However, due to certain questionable traits, our malware experts at Anti-Spyware-101.com concluded that this is a potentially unwanted program, or PUP, even though some may call it a browser hijacker. This PUP can actually change your browser settings to appear in them as your homepage and new tab page but it may also modify your default search engine settings. Although this featured search page looks innocent and we cannot really call it a dangerous threat, it can still pose as an indirect threat to your system security. Apart from the fact that this PUP may bring other PUPs and even malware infections onto your system, it may also provide you with potentially unreliable third-party content. But let us explain in more details why we suggest that you remove Webstart.me from your computer. Read more »

Have you been forced into installing Pracember? Our Anti-Spyware-101.com research team has recently discovered that this undesirable extension can be introduced to users in an aggressive manner: Via pop-ups and ads that redirect to a full-screen page. The notification on the page informs that you can leave it only if you install the extension that is offered. This is not the first time an unreliable extension is introduced to users in this manner. In fact, more and more add-ons and applications are spread this way, including Search Bay, Tank Runner, and Toothy. Needless to say, you should never install unfamiliar programs just because you might be out of options. When it comes to installers represented via web pages, you always have the option to terminate the browser via the Task Manager, and if you do not know how to do that, you can restart your computer. If the browser is set up to open the last page visited, you can reinstall the browser. All in all, it is unlikely that you will need to take measures this aggressive, as you should be able to just close the browser. What if the potentially unwanted program is already installed? In this case, we recommend reading this report to learn how to delete Pracember. Read more »

FilmsApp Search is a Google Chrome browser extension that should make searching for movie-related content more effective. It promises that users could find information about actors, movies, images, videos clips, and more straight from their browsers. Speaking specifically, if we blindly believe what we have found in its description, users will no longer need to access search tools to find information on the web because they could perform searches straight from their browsers’ main windows with the click of a button. Since FilmsApp Search is promoted as a beneficial piece of software, it does not surprise us at all that some people install this browser extension voluntarily. It can be downloaded straight from the Chrome Web Store (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/filmsapp-search/jpecgipllfoebemnlokpldficknlfbcp?hl=en). We have to admit that this piece of software looks quite useful, but, unfortunately, we cannot confirm that it can be trusted fully because our specialists have classified it as a potentially unwanted program (PUP). Of course, potentially unwanted applications are far from harmful threats, but they might still act in an undesirable way, so we cannot let users keep them active on their computers. Read more »