ISoft Online

Posted: April 2, 2013

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:	5/10
Infected PCs:	15

First Seen:	April 2, 2013
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

ISoft Online or Isoft.us is a search engine consolidation website that also displays additional advertisements, along with the results of other search sites. In and of itself, this minor issue isn't sufficient to bring ISoft Online up on the radar of SpywareRemove.com malware analysts, but ISoft Online also has been found to be used as a homepage by a variety of browser hijackers. Browser hijackers of any stripe should be considered dangers to your PC, and browser hijackers for relatively harmless sites like ISoft Online should be deleted with as much haste as any virus or Trojan. To guarantee that all changes to your browser forcing exposure to ISoft Online are undone, you also should utilize appropriate security software (such as an anti-malware scanner) while removing ISoft Online-related PC threats.

How Your Browser Can Be Not-So-Softly Pushed Towards ISoft Online

In a subcategory of search sites that are devoted to consolidating the results of multiple search engines together, ISoft Online doesn't stand out – except with respect to its pop-up advertisements, which are displayed along with the relevant search results. A cautious analysis of ISoft Online's history by SpywareRemove.com malware research team hasn't found any hints of ISoft Online being used to promote malicious content, and while using ISoft Online may not offer many advantages, neither should a fleeting brush with ISoft Online be any cause for worry.

These facts alone are insufficient to make ISoft Online worthy of a report to itself, but there are repeated cases of browser hijackers promoting ISoft Online. Browser hijackers associated with ISoft Online may do the following:

Create additional bookmarks for sites associated with ISoft Online.
Lock your homepage to ISoft Online.
Redirect you to ISoft Online from other search-related websites.

As a sobering note, SpywareRemove.com malware experts remind readers that browser hijackers are a threat that should be removed from your computer – even when the sites that they promote, like ISoft Online, aren't especially toxic.

Taking a Hard Stance Against an ISoft Online Browser Hijacker

Redirects to ISoft Online usually entail changes to your system settings that can't be reversed by the mere act of switching browsers or uninstalling a particular add-on. To be certain that your browser is entirely restored to normal, SpywareRemove.com malware experts typically suggest using anti-malware programs as they're needed to delete browser-hijacking PC threats, including ISoft Online's browser hijackers.

As a footnote, SpywareRemove.com malware experts also recommend that you use caution whenever you're interacting with advertisements based on sites with minimal web footprints like ISoft Online. While ISoft Online is unlikely to promote malicious content deliberately, advertising rings are one of the most prominent infection vectors for distributing scamware, adware, phishing attacks and, yes, even other browser hijackers.

ISoft Online

Threat Metric

How Your Browser Can Be Not-So-Softly Pushed Towards ISoft Online

Taking a Hard Stance Against an ISoft Online Browser Hijacker

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