Home Malware Programs Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) Level Quality Watcher

Level Quality Watcher

Posted: November 25, 2013

Threat Metric

Ranking: 7,895
Threat Level: 1/10
Infected PCs: 98,682
First Seen: November 25, 2013
Last Seen: October 9, 2023
OS(es) Affected: Windows

Level Quality Watcher is a system scanner that generates misleading system warnings to push you into purchasing its dishonestly-marketed premium software. Malware experts tend to find Level Quality Watcher distributed through methods that don't require the consent of the affected PC's user, particularly methods that include bundled software from suspicious websites offering free software downloads. Because Level Quality Watcher is a product that has no advantages for your computer, using anti-malware products for removing Level Quality Watcher and avoiding sites known to distribute Level Quality Watcher should be your only response to its installation.

Why the Quality of Your PC Goes Down with Level Quality Watcher Aboard

Level Quality Watcher rarely is installed with your full permission, and most victims of Level Quality Watcher infections describe themselves as experiencing Level Quality Watcher problems only after downloading an unrelated program from sites with poor security. The presence of a Qoobox folder or a continually-running Level Quality Watcher service is one of the most obvious symptoms of a Level Quality Watcher infection. Level Quality Watcher may be just as damaging to your PC as any threat, and malware researchers recommend watching for common attacks, such as:

  • Being unable to use other programs, particularly default Windows security products or major brands of anti-malware scanners.
  • Seeing your browser redirect itself to warning pages encouraging you to purchase Level Quality Watcher.
  • Experiencing recurring pop-up warnings about various system malfunctions that are attributed to problems that Level Quality Watcher may fix (but only after you purchase Level Quality Watcher).

Even though Level Quality Watcher's appearance is exactly that of a helpful application, malware experts label Level Quality Watcher as unsafe software that never should be purchased. Its lack of inclusion of normal uninstall methods (such as via the Windows Control Panel) is a particularly glaring sign of its true nature as a threat.

Watching the Due Extermination of Level Quality Watcher

Using safe Internet-surfing habits that eschew sites with long-held reputations for distributing harmful or unwanted software can offer some of the easiest and most obvious protection from Level Quality Watcher's current infection vectors. Since many software bundles able to distribute Level Quality Watcher and other unwanted and unsafe programs can be detected with appropriate file scanners, SpywareRemove.com malware experts also would suggest the use of anti-malware products in examining any installation files that you don't trust implicitly.

However, even the best defenses sometimes falter, and Level Quality Watcher should be considered a security issue in any case where Level Quality Watcher does happen to get onto your computer. Level Quality Watcher may not be responsive to normal software removal methods, but any updated and competent anti-malware product should be able to delete Level Quality Watcher without any substantial issues. Since Level Quality Watcher is a recently-identified PC threat as of late November 2013, updating your software before making an attempt at removing Level Quality Watcher strongly is advised, and can provide the edge that's needed to identify this threat properly.

Aliases

Artemis!448B93C4B63F [McAfee]MalSign.Adpeak.9A7 [AVG]AdPeak [Sophos]

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:



%PROGRAMFILES%\level quality watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher64.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher64.exe
Size: 710.97 KB (710976 bytes)
MD5: 9b1e1e505b29a8f4324854da9561fbff
Detection count: 9,879
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\level quality watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher64.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: January 27, 2023
C:\Program Files\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher64.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher64.exe
Size: 512.5 KB (512504 bytes)
MD5: 8581c07ce938e874500c4be62dc302b8
Detection count: 9,734
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Program Files\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher64.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: December 21, 2021
C:\Program Files\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher32.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher32.exe
Size: 418.29 KB (418296 bytes)
MD5: b55fb978a2ceeffb63953b0aacbe4d41
Detection count: 8,874
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Program Files\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher32.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: January 21, 2022
C:\Program Files\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher64.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher64.exe
Size: 512.5 KB (512504 bytes)
MD5: a650bd9c0a35b3e3e43ef783147db069
Detection count: 7,300
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Program Files\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher64.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: January 19, 2022
C:\Program Files\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher32.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher32.exe
Size: 546.11 KB (546112 bytes)
MD5: 19eebafa967b14d8d137c38da40fa35d
Detection count: 3,827
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Program Files\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher32.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: December 31, 2022
%PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher32.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher32.exe
Size: 418.8 KB (418808 bytes)
MD5: c10911782dcfa9b60d4d6ec3811c0d0e
Detection count: 3,686
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: August 26, 2020
C:\Program Files\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher32.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher32.exe
Size: 418.8 KB (418808 bytes)
MD5: 448b93c4b63f7922787003089534d39c
Detection count: 1,143
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Program Files\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher32.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: November 21, 2022
%PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher64.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher64.exe
Size: 512.5 KB (512504 bytes)
MD5: 6e300bfd4c577487ff310bcf1c3d9cb7
Detection count: 888
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 14, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher64.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher64.exe
Size: 692.72 KB (692728 bytes)
MD5: 01b3ca63ce50d2e9032e4306a2afc957
Detection count: 665
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: March 19, 2019
%PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher32.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher32.exe
Size: 418.29 KB (418296 bytes)
MD5: 275324bf568943a0770ee0dc9b694494
Detection count: 323
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: April 5, 2020
%PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher64.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher64.exe
Size: 516.09 KB (516096 bytes)
MD5: 8f3f4a354677b245cf2ad009696e73ad
Detection count: 91
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 14, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher32.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher32.exe
Size: 418.8 KB (418808 bytes)
MD5: e6754cde0bc58e00a5066f19c3f1dbd5
Detection count: 86
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 14, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher32.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher32.exe
Size: 418.8 KB (418808 bytes)
MD5: a92940b28979c9ef6b0248c053066aaa
Detection count: 70
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 14, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher64.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher64.exe
Size: 512.5 KB (512504 bytes)
MD5: 7b31cae699752478887ae6d11109d0f3
Detection count: 66
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 14, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher64.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher64.exe
Size: 513.52 KB (513528 bytes)
MD5: 0a904f9e72bb66111a2ae6a6b8e7e055
Detection count: 19
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 14, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher32.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher32.exe
Size: 418.8 KB (418808 bytes)
MD5: 3f1597dd4219eb985bf587e1140c8397
Detection count: 9
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 14, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher64.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher64.exe
Size: 516.09 KB (516096 bytes)
MD5: 6ee21a757dab72fe3ce1fa54b30d7cc2
Detection count: 5
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 14, 2014
%PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01\levelqualitywatcher32.exe File name: levelqualitywatcher32.exe
Size: 546.11 KB (546112 bytes)
MD5: 0a7376ee7d818adec1cfce9c069d42a5
Detection count: 5
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Level Quality Watcher\v1.01
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 14, 2014

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

HKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}Software\AppDataLow\Software\Level Quality WatcherSOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Features\8BA5CD9129705784F8B198C6A5C96EEASOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\8BA5CD9129705784F8B198C6A5C96EEASOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\UpgradeCodes\CEC06D4C97DE6AE478587BE7E822DC30SOFTWARE\LevelQualityWatcherSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Level Quality WatcherHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}Level Quality Watcher{19DC5AB8-0792-4875-8F1B-896C5A9CE6AE}

Additional Information

The following directories were created:
%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Level Quality Watcher%ProgramFiles%\Level Quality Watcher
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