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Giftssoft

Posted: November 27, 2014

Threat Metric

Threat Level: 2/10
Infected PCs: 30
First Seen: November 27, 2014
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.

Technical Details

Additional Information

The following directories were created:
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\GiftsSoft%PROGRAMFILES%\GiftsSoft%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\GiftsSoft
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