Home Malware Programs Adware BetterAds

BetterAds

Posted: March 27, 2017

Threat Metric

Ranking: 16,623
Threat Level: 2/10
Infected PCs: 5,352
First Seen: March 27, 2017
Last Seen: March 5, 2025
OS(es) Affected: Windows

BetterAds is a browser extension that is being maintained by Ashbury Media Ltd. This extension's installation does not bring any useful features to the user's Web browser and, instead, it may become the reason for the appearance of many unwanted ads in all active Web browser windows. The peculiar thing about BetterAds is that this software only uses video advertisements to promote its content. Usually, adware like BetterAds may use a broad range of advertising techniques such as injecting banners, in-text ads, full-page ads, hyperlinked keywords, etc. However, BetterAds works in a different way – by displaying an overlay containing a video player that may play an audio or video advertisement.

If there's a positive side to software that loads video ads on every website you visit is that it is not harmful. Thankfully, BetterAds is not associated with a suspicious or potentially dangerous behavior, and having it installed on your computer should not be considered a security risk. However, it is undisputable that BetterAds may decrease the quality of your Web browsing experience greatly, and it might even cause performance issues due to the buggy video player it may use to display the video advertisements.

The installation of the BetterAds usually happens without the user's knowledge, since this software might be distributed with the help of low-quality download managers or software bundles that use deceiving tricks to get users to agree to the installation of BetterAds. If you often see unwanted video ads while browsing the Web, then we advise you to run an anti-malware tool that can help determine whether the cause of the problem is the BetterAds adware immediately.

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:



%WINDIR%\src_srv\winsrcsrv.exe File name: winsrcsrv.exe
Size: 16.38 KB (16384 bytes)
MD5: aaa2f595376cae20974f854e70649b0c
Detection count: 40
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %WINDIR%\src_srv
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: October 30, 2019
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\src_srv.exe File name: src_srv.exe
Size: 608.11 KB (608117 bytes)
MD5: ff59a8699d287a9a44dee07f263564f8
Detection count: 37
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\src_srv.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: November 19, 2021
file.exe File name: file.exe
Size: 607.99 KB (607995 bytes)
MD5: d1ecbf19501012ffd33fd8ab1130c695
Detection count: 9
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: August 17, 2022

More files

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

Regexp file mask%APPDATA%\input\winsrcsrv.exe%LOCALAPPDATA%\src_srv.exe%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\src_srv.exeHKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}SOFTWARE\betteradsSOFTWARE\mbs_installSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\betteradsSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\mbs_installSYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\srcsrvSYSTEM\ControlSet002\Services\srcsrvSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\srcsrvHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}{376CA350-6C34-4F10-B8DC-586F8CA03009}_is1

Additional Information

The following directories were created:
%APPDATA%\betterds%WINDIR%\src_srv%WINDIR%\src_srv_2
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