GoldenCoupon

Posted: November 13, 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:	2/10
Infected PCs:	79

First Seen:	November 13, 2014
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

GoldenCoupon is a browser extension that delivers advertising content through HTML injections. Although these activities are insufficient for classifying GoldenCoupon as a threat, GoldenCoupon is potentially unwanted software that may be an inadvertent source of browser or performance problems. Malware experts find using anti-adware tools for removing GoldenCoupon to be the simplest and safest response to its accidental installation.

Why not All Advertisements that Glitter are Gold

GoldenCoupon is adware previously distributed by goldencoupon.info, a currently defunct Web domain with no content. Despite its website's abrupt departure, GoldenCoupon still is in distribution via bundling with third-party software, like many advertising add-ons with identical functions but unrelated company branding. Installing a separate application bundled with GoldenCoupon also may install GoldenCoupon and its browser modifications, which may implement themselves by default. A few of the complications that may take place as a direct result include:

Website text content may be modified to provide underlined Web links to sponsored advertisements.
Banners and other graphical elements may be inserted into Web pages arbitrarily. This content injection may modify the format of the affected site and interfere with the legibility of subject matter or your aptitude to interact with the site's interface.
Additional search results sponsored by GoldenCoupon may be visible in popular search engines.

GoldenCoupon advertisements market themselves based on their theoretical money-saving capabilities, but the legitimate savings provided by GoldenCoupon's online coupons are highly questionable. As a standard precaution, advertisements delivered by defunct companies or companies with poor histories of customer service, like GoldenCoupon's brand, should be distrusted as sources of online bargains.

The Value of Dropping Golden Browser Advertisements

Setting aside its poor installation practices, GoldenCoupon also is a likely source of browser crashes, poor loading times or even potential advertisement content hijackings that redirect revenue away from a website. Potentially Unwanted Programs like GoldenCoupon always should be judged with their tangible benefits weighed against their disadvantages. Some PC security products have mistakenly classified GoldenCoupon as a Trojan, but while malware experts disagree with that assessment, they do recommend uninstalling GoldenCoupon.

Updated anti-adware products of reliable brands should be able to delete browser changes associated with GoldenCoupon along with the actual browser add-on. Using the Windows Safe Mode feature to terminate all conflicting programs and keeping all browsers closed in the meantime can help make sure that your anti-malware scanners do their jobs with no interruptions.

The different brands of browsers that have been affected by GoldenCoupon add-ons are being investigated. Until further information is made available, Windows browsers are estimated to be at the greatest risk of GoldenCoupon advertising injections. Nevertheless, even Linux and OS X browsers are equally capable of being forced to generate new advertisements in an identical fashion.

GoldenCoupon

Threat Metric

Why not All Advertisements that Glitter are Gold

The Value of Dropping Golden Browser Advertisements

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