Freedeal

Posted: December 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.

Threat Level:	8/10
Infected PCs:	7

First Seen:	December 12, 2014
Last Seen:	August 26, 2020
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Freedeal is a browser add-on that delivers additional advertising content while you surf the Web, supposedly to provide you with price discounts and other, limited shopping offers. While Freedeal's quantifiable benefits for price-efficient shopping are debatable, its classification as adware is not, and removing Freedeal will improve the performance and safety of your Web-browsing experience. In recent incidents, malware experts traced Freedeal's distribution to the same means as other, common adware programs: bundles with streaming media applications from questionable sources.

Free E-Shopping Deals that aren't Entirely Free

Freedeal has joined other advertising programs recently confirmed as part of the adware distribution campaign exploiting variants of Popcorn Time, a torrent based movie streaming application. A previous, unanticipated rise in this software's popularity has lead to numerous branches in the original project, which are maintained by diverse developers. Regrettably, some branches, such as Time4Popcorn, also include adware in their installers. In addition to Freedeal, other adware distributed via the same model include ClipCnv, Giftssoft, VideoCnv, BoomCheap, Gimmishop and CheapDeals.

Although more than one kind of Windows browser has been affected by such adware, Freedeal specializes in modifying Chrome and Firefox – while Internet Explorer appears to be unaffected. Like previous adware from the same source, Freedeal changes your Web pages as your browser loads them to insert new advertisements. These advertisements typically are formatted as product offers, but, in rare cases, could contain threatening content. Malware experts also warn that Freedeal advertisements may cause increases in loading times, unforeseen site interactivity problems and other performance-based errors.

Putting Advertisement-Laden Popcorn Back on the Shelf

Freedeal offers no more advantages to your shopping experiences than any other adware, and, along with its 'discounts,' also includes browser changes that could harm your PC's online safety, accessibility or stability. While Freedeal and other Potentially Unwanted Programs aren't immediate threats to your computer, malware researchers find few justifications for not deleting Freedeal outright. Freedeal sometimes is seen reinstalling itself when not removed completely, and using dedicated anti-adware programs for the latter purpose is highly recommended.

Freedeal exploits the public's desire to participate in media consumption via branches of the Popcorn Time project, and will not request your permission before Freedeal installs itself. Even for the most movie-hungry Web surfers, avoiding products and services with adware-rich histories is a critical step in keeping your browser unmodified by dubious add-ons like Freedeal.

When installing software related to this project, malware experts would recommend availing yourself of the official software or a provider that has a good reputation. Scanning any files with the help of anti-adware products prior to opening them also should let you detect a possible carrier of Freedeal, BoomCheap or other adware.

FreeDealsApp

Freedeal

Threat Metric

Free E-Shopping Deals that aren't Entirely Free

Putting Advertisement-Laden Popcorn Back on the Shelf

Related Posts

Leave a Reply