SuperFast PC

Posted: December 30, 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.

Threat Level:	5/10
Infected PCs:	178

First Seen:	December 30, 2013
Last Seen:	May 2, 2022
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The SuperFast PC Toolbar is one of the ever-numerous members of the Conduit family of browser hijackers, a collection of otherwise inoffensive toolbars that hijack your browser's default search settings. Although the Conduit.com search engine that the SuperFast PC Toolbar promotes hasn't earned the classification of a risky site, malware researchers tend to find few advantages to allowing any Conduit toolbar on your browser. Removing the SuperFast PC Toolbar, whether the SuperFast PC Toolbar was installed on purpose or by mischance, should be considered a part of the maintenance of your Web browser's integrity and is most simply accomplished through the system scans of any appropriate adware or malware removal product.

A SuperFast Detour to a Site You May not Have Heard Of

The Conduit search site is one that doesn't appear to get much traffic through the standard methods in use by reputable sites – at least, that is the only assumption that malware researchers can come to, based on its continued reliance on browser hijacking-toolbars for day-to-day traffic. The SuperFast PC Toolbar is just one more case of these toolbars, along with others also analyzed by malware experts for your safety. Other brands of toolbars with primary functions identical to those of the SuperFast PC Toolbar include the SparkleBox Toolbar, the Freemium 2 Toolbar and Freemium Search, the OMG Music Toolbar, the Nana10 Toolbar, the Softtunes Search and Toolbar, the BrowserPlus2 Toolbar and the Swirlz Toolbar.

Although their names are very different from each other, the SuperFast PC Toolbar and its relatives all are meant to redirect your Web browser to Conduit.com as their central function. You can identify a SuperFast PC Toolbar redirect by its change to your default search engine settings, a change that forces your browser to load Conduit.com whenever you try to perform a Web search. Malware experts still are determining which browsers the SuperFast PC Toolbar installs itself on, but past Conduit toolbars have tended towards compatibility with Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and sometimes Opera.

Putting a Stop to Your All-Too-Fast Browser Redirects

Malware researchers haven't categorized the Conduit.com search site promoted by the SuperFast PC Toolbar as a site that could harm your PC intentionally or immediately, but being redirected to an unwanted site still is a potential security and simple ease of use issue for your browser. Browser hijackers never should be treated as merely ignorable inconveniences, even when they come in formats like the SuperFast PC Toolbar that pretend to offer benefits and don't seem to harm your computer. The file-scanning features of most anti-malware products should be sufficient at finding and removing the SuperFast PC Toolbar – since the SuperFast PC Toolbar is based on a widely-identified and very well-known family of Potentially Unwanted Programs.

Conduit toolbars may be distributed through their own websites or through bundles with other applications. Since malware researchers haven't seen anything like the footprints of a traditional website-based marketing campaign from the SuperFast PC Toolbar, it should be assumed that bundles are the most common installation methods until new information is available. Free software sites with reputations rich in distributing PUPs like adware or the SuperFast PC Toolbar should be evaded, of course. However, if that's not practical or possible, anti-malware utilities also should be able to identify installers with the SuperFast PC Toolbar bundled in them.

Aliases

Program.Unwanted.90 [DrWeb]

Technical Details

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

HKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION\tb_SuperFast_PC_brff.exe