Adware.HDVidCodec

HDVidCodec is a Potentially Unwanted Program that, like most of its kind, makes exaggerated or false claims about its benefits while being used as a delivery mechanism for unwanted software via bundles (packaging installation routines for multiple, distinct programs together in a single file). While HDVidCodec says HDVidCodec provides enhanced speed and quality of playback for streaming videos, malware researchers have seen poor evidence of such functions from HDVidCodec, and note that HDVidCodec may be associated with adware and unwanted products. If HDVidCodec has been installed with any other undesirable software, using seasoned anti-malware products to remove them all in a clean sweep is the quickest and safest solution for any PC user.

When a High Quality Movie Experience Means Trouble for Your Browser

HDVidCodec is, perhaps, one of the best examples to date of the thin and oft-blurry line between a minor browser add-on and outright scamware. While claiming to offer improved streaming video resolution, overall quality and performance, HDVidCodec still is limited to the source content's original parameters and cannot improve a movie beyond the capabilities of most inherent features already included in many popular streaming sites. HDVidCodec's boasts of improving the experience of YouTube and similar sites is, malware researchers have determined, nothing more than a ploy to get careless PC users to install its software, which may be bundled with other PUPs.

Unwanted programs associated with HDVidCodec may include browser hijackers and adware. Some of their numbers may be:

• The SweetIM Toolbar, which may hijack your searches to redirect you to its own search engine.
• PUP.Dealply and ScorpionSaver, both of which are shopping-based adware programs.
• Level Quality Watcher, a third adware program that may display injects advertisements not necessarily related to online shopping purchases. Note that, despite its similarity, in name, to rogue security programs, Level Quality Watcher has no known relationship with any of the major fake security software or file-cleaner families.

Programs bundled with HDVidCodec usually aren't a threat, but they almost always have unwanted functions that harm your Web-browsing experience. HDVidCodec or a related program may reinstall any of these products after a reboot if you try to remove them yourself.

Ejecting HDVidCodec from Your Online Movie Theater

HDVidCodec may not be quite the same peril as a more severe threat would be, but its history is indicative of its installation being an extremely unwise idea for the overall integrity of your online experience. Scanning files that may include HDVidCodec or related PUPs can allow your security programs to detect the bundles and prevent you from making a drastic mistake, and paying careful attention to any default installation options often will let you avoid installing unwanted software. Yet, despite all of that, malware researchers still consider safe browsing behavior that keeps your browser far from untrustworthy download links to be the best defense possible against HDVidCodec.

The unwarranted, but, sadly, predictable refusal of HDVidCodec to uninstall all of its bundled programs on request makes it necessary to use harsh measures of ejecting HDVidCodec from your PC. Removing HDVidCodec and bundled programs effectively only requires updated anti-malware and anti-adware utilities, in most cases. Malware experts might also suggest that you use scans starting from Safe Mode, which has no trouble disabling low-level PC threats like an unwanted browser add-on.

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