Adware.MyCoups

Posted: June 6, 2013

Threat Metric

The Threat Meter is a malware assessment that SpywareRemove.com's research team is able to give every identifiable malware threat. Our Threat Meter includes several criteria based off of specific malware threats to value their severity, reach and volume. The Threat Meter is able to give you a numerical breakdown of each threat's initial Threat Level, Detection Count, Volume Count, Trend Path and Percentage Impact. The overall ranking of each threat in the Threat Meter is a basic breakdown of how all threats are ranked within our own extensive malware database. The scoring for each specific malware threat can be easily compared to other emerging threats to draw a contrast in its particular severity. The Threat Meter is a useful tool in the endeavor of seeking a solution to remove a threat or pursue additional analytical research for all types of computer users.

The following fields listed on the Threat Meter containing a specific value, are explained in detail below:

Threat Level: The threat level scale goes from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest level of severity and 1 is the lowest level of severity. Each specific level is relative to the threat's consistent assessed behaviors collected from SpyHunter's risk assessment model.

Detection Count: The collective number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular malware threat. The detection count is calculated from infected PCs retrieved from diagnostic and scan log reports generated by SpyHunter.

Volume Count: Similar to the detection count, the Volume Count is specifically based on the number of confirmed and suspected threats infecting systems on a daily basis. High volume counts usually represent a popular threat but may or may not have infected a large number of systems. High detection count threats could lay dormant and have a low volume count. Criteria for Volume Count is relative to a daily detection count.

Trend Path: The Trend Path, utilizing an up arrow, down arrow or equal symbol, represents the level of recent movement of a particular threat. Up arrows represent an increase, down arrows represent a decline and the equal symbol represent no change to a threat's recent movement.

% Impact (Last 7 Days): This demonstrates a 7-day period change in the frequency of a malware threat infecting PCs. The percentage impact correlates directly to the current Trend Path to determine a rise or decline in the percentage.

Ranking:	12,330
Threat Level:	2/10
Infected PCs:	2,923

First Seen:	June 6, 2013
Last Seen:	October 17, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

MyCoups is a browser add-on that promotes itself as being an enabler of coupons and other forms of online shopping bargains. However, aside from the questionable nature of MyCoups's actual 'bargains,' SpywareRemove.com malware researchers also have found traits in MyCoups that may make MyCoups classifiable as adware, including a tendency to be installed automatically and a distinct failure to remove itself through normal uninstallation techniques. Like the Coupon Alert Toolbar, Coupon Buddy, Coupon Pigeon, Coupon Companion, Giant Savings and similar PC threats, MyCoups generally should not be kept on your computer unless you don't have any doubts whatsoever about wanting its content. Given MyCoups's predilection to resist being uninstalled, you also should be prepared to use PC security tools to terminate and delete MyCoups thoroughly.

MyCoups: When Your Browser's Sense of Capitalism Goes Too Far

With online shopping purchases only increasing by huge rates even in the midst of a pair of sluggish economies for both Europe and the United States, MyCoups is being used as one of the most obvious ways for cyber entrepreneurs to skim profit off of such activities: by claiming to provide useful features for redirecting would-be customers to the best prices. While MyCoups's complete efficacy at this task is somewhat subjective, MyCoups also includes a few unrelated facets of its software that are unnecessary for your e-shopping experience.

These traits include:

Monitoring which websites you visit to determine which advertisements to display.
Inserting advertisements for its shopping coupons into unrelated sites, instead of presenting them as part of a separate interface.
Often being installed by non-consensual methods, such as part of a bundle with another application
Refusing to delete itself when the normal methods (Control Panel, uninstall shortcuts, etc.) are used to try to remove MyCoups from your browser.

Together, these aspects of MyCoups are sufficient to label MyCoups as adware.

Recouping Your Time from a MyCoups Infection

Exposure to MyCoups's shopping advertisements may not be a probable way to receive further attacks on your computer, but MyCoups may cause some browser issues as an indirect consequence of its resource expenditures and inability to be deactivated. In the likely case that you've acquired a MyCoups infection and want MyCoups removed, you should be warned that MyCoups does have a history of remaining installed even after all of the usual software uninstallation means have been used to try to delete MyCoups.

Given its relative intractability, you should remove MyCoups with appropriate anti-malware programs, especially any software that has a good track record against adware, malicious browser plugins and similar PC threats. In the meantime, while SpywareRemove.com malware experts don't consider MyCoups an especially dangerous piece of malware, they do suggest that you be careful around coupons and other web links that are promoted by MyCoups – since they are unlikely to have your well-being foremost in mind.

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:

mycoups.exe

File name: mycoups.exe
Size: 1.48 MB (1487672 bytes)
MD5: 13d9dd56ecd217d2a20b16e4cc990431
Detection count: 67
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: August 17, 2022

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

CLSID{2C4BA31C-0C15-11E2-90C7-9BFCBEB168B3}HKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ApprovedExtensionsMigration\{2C4BA31C-0C15-11E2-90C7-9BFCBEB168B3}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{2C4BA31C-0C15-11E2-90C7-9BFCBEB168B3}

Additional Information

The following directories were created:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\myCoups%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Mozilla Firefox\extensions\lpdzclhqlyvzy@zjvxrmyzd.net