Great Arcade Hits

Posted: November 26, 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:	3,889
Threat Level:	1/10
Infected PCs:	58,061

First Seen:	November 26, 2013
Last Seen:	October 17, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Great Arcade Hits is a Potentially Unwanted Program installed through the website of the same name. As a free gaming site, Greatarcadehits.com uses its programs as default bundles for the Great Arcade Hits browser add-on, which changes your browser settings to enable the display of new advertisements. Accordingly, malware analysts have categorized the Great Arcade Hits as adware and, as with other adware programs, advise (but don't insist on) its removal in most cases for keeping your PC safe and stable. Using trusted brands of anti-adware tools to delete the Great Arcade Hits, rather than trusting the Great Arcade Hits to remove all of its browser changes on request, also is recommended as a general precaution.

The Arcade that Has Pop-Ups Wedged Between Its Gaming Machines

The Great Arcade Hits is an online gaming site that appears to derive most of its revenue from third party advertisements. Rather than loading down its site with these advertisements, the Great Arcade Hits bundles its free gaming downloads with the Great Arcade Hits add-on adware which changes your browser's settings for facilitating the display of these advertisements. Advertisements that malware researchers have confirmed as being implemented through the Great Arcade Hits include:

Keyword Web links that are injected into the text content of other sites.
Pop-up windows.
Pop-under windows (separate browser windows loaded 'behind' your active browser window rather than 'on top' like a pop-up).
Graphical banners that may be injected into other Web pages.
Transition or interstitial advertisements that load 'between' your current website and an attempted navigation to a second one.

The Great Arcade Hits does offer limited methods of opting out of some advertising content, which is more than malware experts see from most other forms of adware. However, the Great Arcade Hits still does not guarantee the widespread use of this option in a general sense and doesn't make any guarantees for the theoretical safety of its third party advertising content.

Getting the Hits without the Advertisements

Even though there are legitimate reasons for contemplating the use of the Great Arcade Hits to access its associated game library, malware researchers tend to recommend the association with gaming sites not dependent on adware as a primary revenue source. The Great Arcade Hits only is considered a PUP, and, as such, may be kept on your PC if your truly desire the Great Arcade Hits. Even while doing so, it behooves you to continue to be mindful of potential threats from the Great Arcade Hits's advertisements, including potential threat downloads, phishing attacks and other advertisement-based PC threats of all types.

If you've made the most likely safest choice of removing the Great Arcade Hits, the website does provide (extremely generic) uninstall instructions. However, malware researchers consider it good procedure to use anti-malware and other security programs as needed for deleting adware, browser hijackers and all other Potentially Unwanted Programs, which have well-established reputations for improperly uninstalling themselves.

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:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\GreatArcadeHits\GAHUpdate.exe

File name: GAHUpdate.exe
Size: 77.26 KB (77264 bytes)
MD5: 97bccb93ef170f926d47e366fd866320
Detection count: 42,673
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\GreatArcadeHits\GAHUpdate.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: March 21, 2023

%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Documents and Settings\Cindy Cottrell\Local Settings\Application Data\GreatArcadeHits\GAHUpdate.exe

File name: GAHUpdate.exe
Size: 77.26 KB (77264 bytes)
MD5: 644ba20af338e4a5f9e0978245af7d91
Detection count: 12,800
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Documents and Settings\Cindy Cottrell\Local Settings\Application Data\GreatArcadeHits\GAHUpdate.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: November 27, 2022