Giftssoft
Posted: November 27, 2014
Threat Metric
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.
Threat Level: | 2/10 |
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Infected PCs: | 30 |
First Seen: | November 27, 2014 |
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Last Seen: | January 23, 2022 |
OS(es) Affected: | Windows |
Giftssoft is an adware program that installs itself as an extension for your Chrome browser. Recent distribution methods for Giftssoft add-ons have exploited unofficial installers for streaming media players and may install additional adware besides Giftssoft. Since Giftssoft's advertisements may hamper either the security of your PC or the performance of Chrome, removing Giftssoft with standardized anti-adware solutions should be assumed to be an ideal counter-response.
The Additional Advertisements You'll get with Your Popcorn
Third-party software bundles are some of the most obvious and prominent ways for adware authors to circulate their unwanted products. Although most such distribution methods may limit themselves to installing a single adware program, others are relatively generous, as our malware experts have seen in recent distributions of unofficial Popcorn Time installers. These third-party installers were guilty of distributing Giftssoft and other adware of a variable nature, often including Giv2U, VideoCnv and ClipCnv. The Popcorn Time website is unaffiliated with these installers and does not bundle any additional software, adware or otherwise, with files of its own.
Giftssoft installs itself to Chrome, although other browsers also may be affected by associated adware. Common modifications that may result include injected banners or 'sponsored' search results, as well as Web page text forced to host advertising hyperlinks. Advertisements from these sources are likely, but not necessarily guaranteed hosts for online tactics, phishing attacks or exploits that may install threatening software. These insecurities are one of the reasons why removing adware like Giftssoft is heavily encouraged by most of the PC security industry.
Both Giftssoft and other adware installed with Giftssoft have shown some evidence of being capable of remaining persistent as background memory processes. This persistence, besides using up memory unnecessarily, also may block Giftssoft's uninstallation from the Windows Control Panel, or let Giftssoft update itself automatically.
Giving Your Browser the Gift of Advertisement Removal
Giftssoft clearly shows the dangers of installing software of a 'safe' brand from an unofficial download provider, while also causing it to be as difficult as possible to remove its advertisements. In spite of the egregious nature of its advertising functions, Giftssoft only is categorized as a PUP, rather than a threat, since Giftssoft doesn't attack your computer deliberately. However, malware researchers have failed to find any notable advantages to allowing Giftssoft's advertisements to display in your browser automatically.
Although you should be able to avoid Giftssoft's latest distribution method by avoiding unofficial Popcorn Time installers, other techniques may be used in the future. Scanning files that aren't implicitly trustworthy can allow your anti-adware products to identify Giftssoft installers and other bundled PUPs. In other cases, where you need to remove Giftssoft, anti-adware system scans conducted from Safe Mode should be all the protection your PC needs.
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