Adware.PastaQuotes

Posted: May 12, 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:	10,416
Threat Level:	2/10
Infected PCs:	69,083

First Seen:	May 12, 2014
Last Seen:	March 10, 2025
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

PastaLeads/PastaQuotes is adware and a search hijacker that uses a proxy server to promote affiliated insurance agencies. Although links from PastaLeads/PastaQuotes are not necessarily threatening, its means of implementation are strikingly similar to that of threats, and PastaLeads/PastaQuotes traditionally is distributed through techniques that don't require your consent. In ordinary cases, uninstalling PastaLeads/PastaQuotes through appropriate PC security applications is the most direct means of reversing its advertising changes, which should reset your search results back to normal.

The Aftertaste of Advertisements in Your Browser

PastaLeads/PastaQuotes is a recent, specialized adware program that saw its distribution rise in the middle of 2014, continuing to at least August. Most users reported problems with identifying PastaLeads/PastaQuotes' installer or the actual program, after its installation. Typical PastaLeads/PastaQuotes installations don't display entries within the Windows Control Panel, and make changes to your Registry settings that force all browsers to use a proxy server.

This proxy server lets PastaLeads/PastaQuotes hijack searches via popular domains, such as Google, and either redirect your browser to other sites or inject additional content. Although most PastaLeads/PastaQuotes content consists of harmless advertisements for insurance company leads and related services, malware experts can't yet verify the safety of all PastaLeads/PastaQuotes links. A minority of PC users with PastaLeads/PastaQuotes also experience other symptoms that are common to adware, such as extra pop-up windows loading automatically.

Removing PastaLeads/PastaQuotes' Registry changes prompts PastaLeads/PastaQuotes to re-implement them, unless you uninstall PastaLeads/PastaQuotes at the same time. Together with PastaLeads/PastaQuotes's hidden components, this function forms a synergy that lets PastaLeads/PastaQuotes's advertisements achieve total system persistence and disregard any attempts at restoring your browser settings manually.

Scrubbing the Pasta from Your Web Searches

Although PastaLeads/PastaQuotes has a bare minimum pretense of being legitimate software, its history, installation methods and other practices all lead malware experts to find it worthy of classifying as a Potentially Unwanted Program. Deleting PastaLeads/PastaQuotes, along with other PUPs capable of modifying your Web-browsing settings, is most simply accomplished by scanning your PC with anti-adware or anti-malware tools. Due to PastaLeads/PastaQuotes' system persistence, restarting within Safe Mode and terminating all unnecessary programs may be required before uninstalling PastaLeads/PastaQuotes entirely can proceed. Most Windows machines can access Safe Mode during a reboot by the user tapping F8 before Windows starts.

PastaLeads/PastaQuotes may abuse installation tactics that don't require your permission, but, scanning incoming files, should detect the bulk of PastaLeads/PastaQuotes installers. In other cases, PastaLeads/PastaQuotes may be installed by exploits or threats, although there are no any particular Trojans associated with PastaLeads/PastaQuotes. Unlike most adware, current samples of PastaLeads/PastaQuotes do not include components that are customized to a single Web browser. PastaLeads/PastaQuotes will not load as a default add-on, extension or plugin.

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:\Program Files\Common Files\PastaLeads\PastaLeads Client\pastaleadss.exe

File name: pastaleadss.exe
Size: 1.08 MB (1082880 bytes)
MD5: 6569e73de3553eb1983a793af2f3e80a
Detection count: 9,242
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Program Files\Common Files\PastaLeads\PastaLeads Client\pastaleadss.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: October 18, 2021

\??\C:\Program Files\Common Files\PastaLeads\PastaLeads Client\pastaldrw.sys

File name: pastaldrw.sys
Size: 61.87 KB (61872 bytes)
MD5: acb1316d993b309e22a49564c10a7ead
Detection count: 49
File type: System file
Mime Type: unknown/sys
Path: \??\C:\Program Files\Common Files\PastaLeads\PastaLeads Client
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: July 1, 2015

C:\TDSSKiller_Quarantine\30.06.2015_15.25.41\susp0010\svc0000\tsk0001.dta

File name: tsk0001.dta
Size: 61.87 KB (61872 bytes)
MD5: 55ecd72d0c444b99631b73dee4a3a167
Detection count: 23
Mime Type: unknown/dta
Path: C:\TDSSKiller_Quarantine\30.06.2015_15.25.41\susp0010\svc0000\tsk0001.dta
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: January 15, 2021

%PROGRAMFILES%\pastaleads\PastaLeadsWinApp.exe

File name: PastaLeadsWinApp.exe
Size: 26 KB (26008 bytes)
MD5: 6dc5419c65306ec4dc2eebb7db77d69d
Detection count: 9
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\pastaleads
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: May 13, 2014

%PROGRAMFILES%\pastaleads\PastaLeadsService.exe

File name: PastaLeadsService.exe
Size: 361.36 KB (361368 bytes)
MD5: 50aebaa20bf30b8015a077a86956010f
Detection count: 9
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\pastaleads
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: May 13, 2014

HtmlAgilityPack.dll

File name: HtmlAgilityPack.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file

Newtonsoft.Json.dll

File name: Newtonsoft.Json.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file

RestSharp.dll

File name: RestSharp.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file

uninstall.exe

File name: uninstall.exe
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file

More files

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

File name without pathhttp_nps.pastaleads.com_0.localstoragehttp_nps.pastaleads.com_0.localstorage-journalhttps_nps.pastaleads.com_0.localstoragehttps_nps.pastaleads.com_0.localstorage-journalnps.pastaleads[1].xmlRegexp file mask%windir%\system32\tasks\PastaLeadsHKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}SOFTWARE\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppContainer\Storage\microsoft.microsoftedge_8wekyb3d8bbwe\Children\001\Internet Explorer\DOMStorage\nps.pastaleads.comSOFTWARE\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppContainer\Storage\microsoft.microsoftedge_8wekyb3d8bbwe\Children\001\Internet Explorer\DOMStorage\pastaleads.comSOFTWARE\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppContainer\Storage\microsoft.microsoftedge_8wekyb3d8bbwe\Children\001\Internet Explorer\EdpDomStorage\nps.pastaleads.comSOFTWARE\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppContainer\Storage\microsoft.microsoftedge_8wekyb3d8bbwe\Children\001\Internet Explorer\EdpDomStorage\pastaleads.comSoftware\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\MuiCache\C:\Program Files (x86)\pastaleads\PastaLeadsService.exeSoftware\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStorage\nps.pastaleads.comSoftware\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStorage\pastaleads.comSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing\PastaLeadsApplication_RASAPI32SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing\PastaLeadsApplication_RASMANCSSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing\PastaLeadsService_RASAPI32SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing\PastaLeadsService_RASMANCSSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing\PastaLeadsSetup_AE_P_1_RASAPI32SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing\PastaLeadsSetup_AE_P_1_RASMANCSSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache\Tree\PastaLeadsSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache\Tree\PastaQuotesSOFTWARE\NpAppSOFTWARE\PastaLeadsAgentSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Tracing\PastaLeadsApplication_RASAPI32SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Tracing\PastaLeadsApplication_RASMANCSSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Tracing\PastaLeadsService_RASAPI32SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Tracing\PastaLeadsService_RASMANCSSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Tracing\PastaLeadsSetup_AE_P_1_RASAPI32SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\NpAppSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\PastaLeadsAgentSYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\LEGACY_PASTALUPDDSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\eventlog\Application\pastaleadsServiceCoreSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\eventlog\Application\PastaLeadsUpdaterServiceSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\eventlog\pastaleadsServiceLogSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\eventlog\pastaleadsServiceLog\pastaleadsServiceLogSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\eventlog\pastaleadsServiceLog\pastaleadsServiceSourceSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\pastaleadsServiceCoreSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\pastaleadsupdSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\PastaLeadsUpdaterServiceSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\PastaLUpddSYSTEM\ControlSet002\Enum\Root\LEGACY_PASTALUPDDSYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\eventlog\Application\PastaLeadsUpdaterServiceSYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\pastaleadsupdSYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\PastaLeadsUpdaterServiceSYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\PastaLUpddSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\LEGACY_PASTALUPDDSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\Application\pastaleadsServiceCoreSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\Application\PastaLeadsUpdaterServiceSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\pastaleadsServiceLogSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\pastaleadsServiceLog\pastaleadsServiceLogSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\pastaleadsServiceLog\pastaleadsServiceSourceSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\pastaleadsServiceCoreSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\pastaleadsupdSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\PastaLeadsUpdaterServiceSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\PastaLUpddHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}pastaleadsPastaLeads Client

Additional Information

The following directories were created:

%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\PastaLeadsAgent%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\pastaleads%PROGRAMFILES%\Common Files\PastaLeads%PROGRAMFILES%\pastaleads%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Common Files\PastaLeads%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\pastaleads