Home Malware Programs Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) Browse Pulse

Browse Pulse

Posted: March 26, 2015

Threat Metric

Ranking: 5,305
Threat Level: 2/10
Infected PCs: 22,161
First Seen: March 26, 2015
Last Seen: October 16, 2023
OS(es) Affected: Windows

Browse Pulse is a browser add-on noted for its advertising content, as well as its claims of supposedly enhancing its user's browser search results. While the meaningful advantages of its additional search results are questionable, Browse Pulse does provide tangible drawbacks in the form of its advertisements, which may interfere with other Web pages or deliver harmful content through your browser. Unless you have individual reasons for avoiding removing Browse Pulse, malware experts would recommend handling Browse Pulse's uninstall routine with quality anti-adware products.

The Pulse of Advertisements Coming to Your Browser's Way

Potentially Unwanted Programs may have limited purposes beyond generating revenue for their developers, with Browse Pulse serving as a recent example of how PUPs may misrepresent themselves. Although Browse Pulse claims to 'accelerate your search-ability,' malware analysts have found no practical results from Browse Pulse's search modifications, with the exception of injected advertisements. This function forces Browse Pulse's classification as adware, or software whose primary purpose is to load third-party advertisements, which may be the origins of other security concerns.

Browse Pulse advertisements include labels of being delivered through its software, but, in other respects, show weak correlations with relevance to the intended search queries. While their content may have questionable value to your searches, Browse Pulse advertisements be delivery points for various threats, including:

  • Browse Pulse advertisements may include attempts to install threatening or other unwanted software on your PC, via misleading tactics such as fraudulent updates or free product offers.
  • Browse Pulse advertisements may redirect you to third parties that request your information under fraudulent pretenses such as a fake prize giveaway. These attacks, also known as 'phishing,' typically harvest data for sale to other companies, or to use in threat campaigns.

At a minimum, Browse Pulse modifies your search results in ways that interfere with the natural results of the chosen search engine. Among other side effects, this may make it more difficult for you to find intended, relevant or safe links.

Terminating Your Adware's Pulse

Browse Pulse may not merit being classified as a Trojan or other form of threatening program, but does present the potential for a variety of security issues through its advertisements. Since there are few justifiable reasons for failing to remove Browse Pulse, malware experts advise, as usual, for this adware's deletion as soon as you can identify its advertisements appearing in your browser. Until you've removed Browse Pulse completely, you also may want to avoid any interaction with advertisements or other, unusual links from sources that you can't confirm as being safe.

Many adware programs like Browse Pulse may fail to uninstall themselves completely through the Control Panel or other, standardized uninstall routines. Symptoms of such persistent installations may be as minor as continued advertisements or as severe as damaged Web-browsing settings. On average, using dedicated anti-adware products for the removal of Browse Pulse and other adware can avoid the issues arising from an incomplete software removal. The browsers compatible with Browse Pulse are still being determined, although most major Windows and Unix-based Web browsers are vulnerable to identical adware products.

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:



C:\Program Files\browse pulse\uninstaller.exe File name: C:\Program Files\browse pulse\uninstaller.exe
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
7za.exe File name: 7za.exe
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
C:\Program Files\browse pulse\Extensions\ed8e593d-1965-4e45-9d55-d56162dcde14.dll File name: C:\Program Files\browse pulse\Extensions\ed8e593d-1965-4e45-9d55-d56162dcde14.dll
MD5: 74a83affddd03e6d8bfb5ae87e673673
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

CLSID{16107484-c9e6-462f-a036-5fe2ea29740a}{24c27d46-9718-4dfd-b7e1-966fc50f6b0f}{7292DF65-697D-402E-9AD8-F62E158F0467}{A0112298-8E07-4731-82A5-D7C3C1FBCE75}{DF7CB9F3-DB15-483D-BE1F-13D1EC0C3FB0}{E104B9E4-01BA-4AAF-9957-6A525CC5451A}HKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}SOFTWARE\browsepulseSoftware\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{6DB6DE7F-F4A2-4479-902D-9E7B7AD55306}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStorage\browsepulse-a.akamaihd.netSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{ed8e593d-1965-4e45-9d55-d56162dcde14}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\browsepulseSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{ed8e593d-1965-4e45-9d55-d56162dcde14}SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\Service Mgr browsepulseSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\Update Mgr browsepulseSYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\Service Mgr browsepulseSYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\Update Mgr browsepulseSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Service Mgr browsepulseSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Update Mgr browsepulseHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}browse pulse

Additional Information

The following directories were created:
%PROGRAMFILES%\Browse Pulse%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Browse Pulse%temp%\Browse Pulse
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