CheapMe

Posted: January 13, 2014

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:	9,624
Threat Level:	2/10
Infected PCs:	6,909

First Seen:	January 13, 2014
Last Seen:	October 16, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

CheapMe is a Web browser add-on whose main purpose is delivering advertisements to your PC, earning CheapMe its classification as adware. Common adware-related problems may include violations of your online security or Web-browsing performance, for which reasons malware researchers are in the habit of suggesting that you uninstall CheapMe and all other adware. The most recent CheapMe outbreaks also have involved installations of additional adware, but the intelligent use of general anti-malware solutions should suffice for removing CheapMe and related forms of unwanted programs with few to no issues.

What It Really Costs You to Be Cheap with Your Online Shopping

CheapMe describes itself as an add-on that loads advertisements that provide coupons and other shopping offers that could benefit you, but malware researchers find few, if any, advantages from browsing through CheapMe's advertisements. While CheapMe's advertisements have no guarantees of providing legitimately advantageous deals, they do interfere with your Web browser's performance by loading themselves automatically. Formats that CheapMe advertisements and advertisements of related add-ons have been found including are as follows:

Injected keyword link-based advertisements. Web pages unrelated to CheapMe's advertisements are modified to change text phrases to advertisements; for instance, CheapMe may cause the word 'car' to provide a link to a specific automotive company.
Injected graphical links. These links are similar to the keyword-based ones of above. However, they aren't based on text; CheapMe may modify a Web page to host an additional banner, button or other graphical element, in addition to all of its normal content.

These advertisements may expose your browser to undesirable, possibly unsafe content, and may also have a high chance of causing performance issues like slowdowns or crashes. As an accentuating centerpiece on CheapMe's negative attributes, malware researchers also found that CheapMe tries to prevent its deletion and, whenever possible, will reinstall itself, when you try to remove CheapMe via standard procedures.

The Cost-Efficient Way to Get Rid of an Adware Miser

Although adware like CheapMe often is quick to point out the theoretical price-savings you can get from CheapMe, it's rare for adware to invest in real business strategies, such as distributing themselves through trustworthy methods that would build a lasting fan base. CheapMe often is installed by misleading methods such as being bundled with modified patches or unrelated applications. Scanning installers that are from suspicious locations, such as sites known to distribute adware, can save your PC from dealing with the aftereffects of CheapMe, which is easier than removing CheapMe after the fact.

CheapMe often is installed along with other adware, such as Safe Saver, that may load additional advertisements along with CheapMe's own advertisements. As a natural result, removing CheapMe also should take place alongside removing SafeSaver. Most anti-malware programs should be able to accomplish both of these relatively easy chores during a basic anti-malware scan. Malware researchers do have a minor caveat; the recently-identified nature of CheapMe's campaign may make CheapMe less than perfectly identifiable for security programs that aren't using threat databases that are as up-to-date as possible.

Technical Details

Additional Information

The following directories were created:

%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\cheapme%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\cheapme%PROGRAMFILES%\cheapme%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\cheapme