PureLeads

Posted: February 18, 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:	13,372
Threat Level:	2/10
Infected PCs:	2,785

First Seen:	February 18, 2014
Last Seen:	September 26, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

PureLeads is a product that claims to provide useful browser protection against phishing attacks and accidental navigation to typo-riddled Web addresses, but also includes many characteristics that force malware researchers to classify PureLeads as adware. As a Potentially Unwanted Program, PureLeads may have some legitimate features, but primarily is meant to load new advertisements and redirect your browser in ways that may not benefit you. By default, removing PureLeads with security software that includes anti-adware features is advised, although PureLeads isn't categorized as a high-level threat, and shouldn't put your PC at risk like a typical Trojan.

The Lack of Purity in a Program Claiming to Help Your Web Searches

PureLeads is a product marketed under the noble pretense of providing protection from unintentional visits to websites whose domain names have been marred by typos during the navigation attempt (such as typing 'Gogle' instead of 'Google'). The general information provided at PureLeads.com about the dangers of this form of navigation is, in fact, reasonably legitimate in a broad sense. Malware experts often see cases of unsafe domains with addresses suspiciously similar to those of popular sites being used to gather personal information or launch other attacks against their unintentional visitors.

However, PureLeads's pretense of being helpful for your browser is supported by an underlying foundation of advertising functions. Malware experts often associate adware-based advertisements with unwanted exposure to unsafe Web content, including the same kinds of phishing attacks that PureLeads claims to thwart. This places PureLeads's users in a 'one step forwards, one step back' situation, wherein PureLeads may provide some protection, but at a price that undercuts any benefits the program might have had.

Getting Real Purity out of Your Web-Browsing Searches

Although there's some sense to be had from using PC security software that protects you from corrupted, copycat websites, PureLeads clearly is far from an ideal solution. Because PureLeads loads advertisements that aren't able to be disabled, uses suspicious distribution methods that may not need your consent, and requires unusually thorough uninstallation routines, malware experts categorize PureLeads as a Potentially Unwanted Program whose deletion should strongly be considered. Normally, any PC security suites that include reliable anti-adware functions should be capable of deleting PureLeads and the browser changes PureLeads uses to load its advertisements.

Tellingly, the pureleads.com website eschews any direct downloads of PureLeads software. Malware researchers suspect that PureLeads currently is being distributed through bundled installers with other, free programs. Both appropriate anti-malware protection and responsible downloading behavior can provide easy ways to avoid PureLeads bundles and other forms of PUPs that are installed while you overlook the risks involved with untrustworthy download sources.

Technical Details

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

HKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}SOFTWARE\Classes\AppID\plsapp.EXESOFTWARE\Dyn\Installed\PureLeadsSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing\PureLeads_RASAPI32SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing\PureLeads_RASMANCSSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\PureLeads TraySoftware\PureLeadsSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Classes\AppID\plsapp.EXESOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Dyn\Installed\PureLeadsSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Tracing\PureLeads_RASAPI32SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Tracing\PureLeads_RASMANCSSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\PureLeads TraySOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\PureLeadsSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\plsappSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\PlsvcV1SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\PlsvcV2SYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\plsappSYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\PlsvcV1SYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\PlsvcV2SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\plsappSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\PlsvcV1SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\PlsvcV2HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}PureLeads

Additional Information

The following directories were created:

%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\PureLeads%PROGRAMFILES%\PureLeads%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\PureLeads