Facemoods Toolbar

Facemoods is a toolbar that provides Facebook emoticons and other text enhancements. Although Facemoods hasn't been classified as a form of malware by the majority of PC security brands, SpywareRemove.com malware research team has found that Facemoods contains many characteristics of malicious software, such as installing features and the entire toolbar without your consent, changing your browser settings, avoiding easy deletion, hijacking your web browser and harvesting confidential information. Facemoods may not be as dangerous as a Banker Trojan or a rootkit, but overall, its attributes are primarily negative, and removing Facemoods is encouraged to insure the safety and privacy of your PC.

Why the Look on Your Face Should Be a Frown After Facemoods Attacks

Facemoods is promoted at the facemoods.com website in the form of a useful emoticon-enabling tool for Facebook and other forms of text-based communication. Even though facemoods.com makes Facemoods sound both harmless and handy, Facemoods has a number of traits that make Facemoods mildly to moderately malicious. Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of Facemoods that SpywareRemove.com malware researchers have noted is its tendency to install itself without your consent. If you've had any contact with facemoods.com or other websites with poor reputations, you may be the victim of drive-by-download script attacks that install Facemoods.

Other issues that SpywareRemove.com malware analysts have found with Facemoods include:

• Facemoods will change your browser settings, such as your homepage, without your permission. Furthermore, Facemoods will refuse to allow you to change these settings back to their original values (at least, not until you've removed Facemoods itself).
• Trying to delete Facemoods is far more difficult than it would be for any legitimate toolbar, and may require anti-malware software to remove all Facemoods components.
• Even though Facemoods offers opt-out selections for many of its features during the installation process, Facemoods will still install all of its questionable features even if you try to don't check them.
• Facemoods will engage in browser hijacker-like behavior by changing your search engine without your permission.
• Most dangerously, SpywareRemove.com malware experts have found that Facemoods will harvest private information from Facebook profiles that Facemoods can access. This can include email addresses, street addresses, phone numbers and account passwords.

Wiping the Smirk Off of the Face of Facemoods

Because Facemoods is a recently-classified threat as of August 2011, many forms of security software haven't identified Facemoods as a definitive threat. However, some software may classify Facemoods, rather mildly, as a variant of Win32/SweetIM.B or as a 'potentially unwanted application.' Regardless of what type of anti-malware program you're using, keeping your software up-to-date for threat definitions will help you delete Facemoods and its various components. Until this is accomplished, it's strongly suggested that you avoid using links that are related to Facemoods browser hijacks, since these links may contain malware of their own or be hostile to your PC in other ways.

Technical Details