Home Malware Programs Browser Hijackers BasicScan.com

BasicScan.com

Posted: December 14, 2011

BasicScan.com Screenshot 1BasicScan.com is a fake search engine that creates links to self-serving sites (such as websites that provide affiliate revenue to BasicScan.com) instead of to safe websites that are relevant to a given set of search terms. In addition to its functionally-useless search features, BasicScan.com has also earned a reputation of proliferating and profiting from browser hijackers that redirect traffic to BasicScan.com and BasicScan.com's affiliates. SpywareRemove.com malware researchers recommend that you try to avoid even brief contact with BasicScan.com to prevent any possibility of drive-by-downloads and other forms of browser-based attacks from gaining a foothold on your PC. However, if you do see symptoms of browser redirects to BasicScan.com or other BasicScan.com-affiliated attacks, you should immediately resort to competent anti-malware software to detect and remove both BasicScan.com's browser hijacker and any other forms of malicious software that may have been installed along with BasicScan.com.

Scanning Over All the Reasons to Avoid BasicScan.com

BasicScan.com's appearance may imply that BasicScan.com offers the ability to search the world over for relevant links, but in reality, SpywareRemove.com malware research team hasn't found any signs that BasicScan.com can display relevant, safe or even useful links for any particular set of search terms. In addition to its essential lack of search engine features, BasicScan.com also incriminates itself by cloning its interface from other types of confirmed-to-be-fraudulent search sites such as QueryScan.com, Crownhub.com, QueryExplorer.com, Papergap.com, ScanBasic.com, QuestDNS.com and Placelow.com. Any contact with these sites should be considered just as potentially-harmful as contact with BasicScan.com itself would be.

Because BasicScan.com doesn't have any ability to provide actual search results, attempting to use BasicScan.com's fake search engine may cause you to be exposed to fake online scanners, phishing scams, inaccurate pop-up alerts, marketing sites for scamware and other types of PC threats. An up-to-date web browser with high security settings will lower the risks of exposure to hostile sites like BasicScan.com, although any form of contact can still be dangerous due to the ever-present possibility of unidentified and unpatched (AKA zero day) exploits.

When Your Web Browser Refuses to Let Go of BasicScan.com

Because BasicScan.com doesn't have any beneficent features, traffic to BasicScan.com is mostly-acquired via browser redirect attacks that are caused by browser hijackers. Side effects a BasicScan.com-affiliated browser hijacker can take several forms, including:

  • When you navigate to an unrelated search engine or click on a search engine's link, you're redirected to BasicScan.com. SpywareRemove.com malware experts note that this is the most common method of redirect attack for redirects to BasicScan.com and other types of fraudulent search engines. Redirects may also take your browser through BasicScan.com and then on to an irrelevant and affiliated website.
  • Having your homepage changed to be BasicScan.com.
  • Being unable to change your browser's settings.
  • Experiencing unusual forms of content such as pop-up advertisements or links that are added to text-based content.

If you see any of the above symptoms of a BasicScan.com-aligned browser hijacker, scan your PC with a reputable anti-malware application. SpywareRemove.com malware experts note that any attempt to avoid redirects by changing or deleting a specific web browser is unlikely to remove the cause of the browser redirects even if you can temporarily-avoid being redirected to BasicScan.com.

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:



%AppData%BasicScantoolbaruninstallIE.dat File name: %AppData%BasicScantoolbaruninstallIE.dat
File type: Data file
Mime Type: unknown/dat
%AppData%BasicScantoolbarstats.dat File name: %AppData%BasicScantoolbarstats.dat
File type: Data file
Mime Type: unknown/dat
%AppData%BasicScantoolbarstat.log File name: %AppData%BasicScantoolbarstat.log
Mime Type: unknown/log
%AppData%BasicScantoolbarguid.dat File name: %AppData%BasicScantoolbarguid.dat
File type: Data file
Mime Type: unknown/dat
%AppData%BasicScantoolbardtx.ini File name: %AppData%BasicScantoolbardtx.ini
Mime Type: unknown/ini
%AppData%BasicScantoolbarpreferences.dat File name: %AppData%BasicScantoolbarpreferences.dat
File type: Data file
Mime Type: unknown/dat
%AppData%BasicScantoolbarlog.txt File name: %AppData%BasicScantoolbarlog.txt
Mime Type: unknown/txt
%AppData%BasicScantoolbarcouponsmerchants.xml File name: %AppData%BasicScantoolbarcouponsmerchants.xml
Mime Type: unknown/xml
%AppData%BasicScantoolbarcouponscategories.xml File name: %AppData%BasicScantoolbarcouponscategories.xml
Mime Type: unknown/xml
%AppData%BasicScantoolbarcouponsmerchants2.xml File name: %AppData%BasicScantoolbarcouponsmerchants2.xml
Mime Type: unknown/xml
%Temp%BasicScantoolbar-manifest.xml File name: %Temp%BasicScantoolbar-manifest.xml
Mime Type: unknown/xml
%AppData%BasicScantoolbarversion.xml File name: %AppData%BasicScantoolbarversion.xml
Mime Type: unknown/xml
%AppData%BasicScantoolbaruninstallStatIE.dat File name: %AppData%BasicScantoolbaruninstallStatIE.dat
File type: Data file
Mime Type: unknown/dat

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

HKEY..\..\..\..{Subkeys}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREClassesCLSID{A40DC6C5-79D0-4ca8-A185-8FF989AF1115} "UrlHelper Class"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREClassesCLSID{A40DC6C5-79D0-4ca8-A185-8FF989AF1115}ProgID "BasicScanIEHelper.UrlHelper.1?HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerBrowser Helper Objects{99079a25-328f-4bd4-be04-00955acaa0a7} "BasicScan BasicScan Toolbar"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREClassesCLSID{A40DC6C5-79D0-4ca8-A185-8FF989AF1115}VersionIndependentProgID "BasicScanIEHelper.UrlHelper"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREClassesCLSID{99079a25-328f-4bd4-be04-00955acaa0a7} "BasicScan Toolbar"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREClassesCLSID{99079a25-328f-4bd4-be04-00955acaa0a7}InprocServer32 "C:PROGRA~1WINDOW~4ToolBarBasicScandtx.dll"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftInternet ExplorerToolbar "BasicScan Toolbar"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREClassesBasicScanIEHelper.DNSGuard.1HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREClassesBasicScanIEHelper.DNSGuardHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREClassesBasicScanIEHelper.DNSGuardCLSIDHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREClassesBasicScanIEHelper.DNSGuardCurVer
Loading...