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Posted: December 8, 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:	5,850
Threat Level:	1/10
Infected PCs:	5,010

First Seen:	December 8, 2014
Last Seen:	October 15, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

CrimeWatch is an adware program that may modify your browser to display additional advertisements and redirect your online searches. The tangible benefits of CrimeWatch's functions are minimal, at best, and this software has a prolonged history of using poor business practices. Based on these factors, malware researchers advise you to delete CrimeWatch, in most cases. Some variants of CrimeWatch may install themselves in ways that may obfuscate their removal (for example, by refusing to show its Control Panel entry). However, CrimeWatch has no defenses against dedicated anti-adware solutions, such as scanners.

CrimeWatch: the Advertising Crime Against Your Browser

CrimeWatch is a browser add-on that markets itself as a provider of automatic news associated with local and national crime. Along with its news-reporting features, CrimeWatch also may make multiple modifications to your browser and may be bundled with additional adware or other formats of unwanted programs. CrimeWatch advertisements may include injected banners, pop-ups, injected text hyperlinks and product comparisons, as some examples. In all cases, CrimeWatch advertisements may load automatically and can't be removed without the complete removal of CrimeWatch.

CrimeWatch also resets your default search settings to affiliated websites. However, malware researchers were predominantly concerned with CrimeWatch's actions against standardized installation practices; most CrimeWatch installers were detected using randomized filenames. Examples of CrimeWatch's file names include 'ktdkziev.exe,' 'tcmdln.exe' or 'wcxkeakadqy.exe.' These types of randomly-generated file names are very common for software installed by threats, although CrimeWatch also may distribute itself by other means, such as freely downloadable bundles.

Finally, CrimeWatch also may update itself automatically. This practice is a potential security risk, and some PC security products may misclassify CrimeWatch as a Trojan downloader due to its auto-update functionality.

Stopping Yourself from Watching CrimeWatch without Due Cause

Although CrimeWatch does provide features unrelated to its advertisements, its poor installation practices make CrimeWatch an unlikely add-on for finding legitimate crime information without harmful side effects for your browsing experience. Adware programs like CrimeWatch may incidentally slow your browser's performance or expose you to threatening Web content, such as common phishing hoaxes that circulate via advertising networks. Therefore, uninstalling CrimeWatch should be undertaken in any circumstance where you're not wholly confident about benefiting from its features.

Some PC users have reported problems with removing CrimeWatch easily, and not all variants of CrimeWatch add-ons install visible browser components besides their advertisements. Although the majority of PC security companies still have yet to include CrimeWatch in their databases, for those that do, a full system scan should be the only solution to CrimeWatch that you need.

Technical Details

Additional Information

The following URL's were detected:

https://feed.streams-search.com/?q=