Top Media Player

Posted by Max Lehmann on May 25, 2016

What is Top Media Player?

Top Media Player is indeed more than just a media player that can playback your audio and video files; unfortunately, it may also expose you to potentially unsafe content through third-party advertising. Its presence on your computer may also indicate that a couple of malware infections have also infiltrated your system together with this application. Based on what they have experienced during testing, our malware researchers at anti-spyware-101.com have classified this software as a PUP, i.e., a potentially unwanted program. This is not a malware infection per se, but it does not mean that it cannot put your system security at risk indirectly either. In fact, it is possible that you let this PUP on board in a bundle that contains a number of malware threats. This could more seriously harm your system than this PUP alone. Although we cannot really complain about its playback abilities, we still think that you should remove Top Media Player if you want to be consistent about your virtual security. test test test

Where does Top Media Player come from?

The most likely way for this PUP to show up on your computer is via free software bundles. This method is frequently chosen by cyber criminals to spread their malicious installers among potentially unwanted programs and legitimate free software. Since these malicious bundles are mainly promoted on questionable file-sharing, dating, gaming, and pornographic sites, you can imagine how many computer users are exposed to them daily. This is one of the best and most efficient ways to spread infections. Most of the time unsuspecting users may think that they are downloading their targeted free software and only learn or notice later on that there are a bunch of unwanted tools and infections as well on their system. If you want to protect your computer from such threats, you should avoid shady websites and clicking on third-party ads. If you are in doubt how this PUP may have entered your computer, it would be best for you to scan your system with a reliable online malware scanner to find all possible threats. But before you do so, it would be advisable to delete Top Media Player.

Apart from this rather questionable distribution method, this application may also be downloaded from its promotional webpage, topmediaplayer.com. We must say that this is one of the simplest pages we have ever seen. What we can tell you about this page is mostly that there are two Download buttons virtually right below each other and some lines of promotional text; that is all. It is almost surprising that you can actually download Top Media Player. However, it is unlikely that thousands of users find this page and use it at all to download this questionable media player.

How does Top Media Player work?

As a matter of fact, when you install this PUP you get more than you bargain for. In other words, you will not only install a media player, but you are also pressed to install certain browser extensions, such as the Teoma toolbar (Teoma Shopping App and Teoma Search App). During installation you have to select at least one of the additional tools if you want to install this media player. This toolbar is actually a new Ask toolbar that provides you with easy-access links to local weather, sports and financial news, eBay, and more. You are also provided with a search tool (teoma.com) below which you find additional quick link buttons to popular websites, including Gmail, Pinterest, and Facebook. We are not convinced that these extra tools can be fully trusted. In fact, such search engines usually manipulate search results in order to promote third parties through ads and sponsored links. This PUP itself may also present to you potentially harmful third-party links that may lead to questionable websites. Third parties are rarely reviewed and controlled by PUPs such as Top Media Player. Therefore, it might be risky to click on any content offered by this PUP and the tools it comes with. This is why we think that you would be better off removing Top Media Player from your system.

How can I delete Top Media Player?

Since this application comes with a “baggage,” it is not enough to eliminate this PUP only. We suggest that you also uninstall the additional tools, Teoma Shopping App and Teoma Search App as well. According to our malware researchers, these extra tools do not affect Google Chrome browsers; however, uninstalling them only takes care of undoing the changes in Mozilla Firefox. Thus, we advise you to reset your Internet Explorer browser to make sure that no leftovers remain from this mess. If you want to protect your computer from similar and more severe infections, you should make sure that the tools and applications you want to install are all trustworthy and you download them from official, reputable sources. If you refrain from clicking on third-party ads, it can also save you from some undesirable consequences.