Message Viewer Toolbar
Posted: December 2, 2013
Threat Metric
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 |
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Infected PCs: | 30 |
First Seen: | December 2, 2013 |
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OS(es) Affected: | Windows |
The Message Viewer Toolbar is a browser add-on often installed with, unsurprisingly, the Message Viewer by the Encryptomatic software company. These two products aren't considered threatening and shouldn't harm your PC, but the Message Viewer Toolbar does have a history of being exploited to hijack its user's Web searches, redirecting traffic to undesired results and sites. Whether or not you have any use for Message Viewer is besides the point that you never should let a third party choose what sites are loaded through your browser, and malware experts always would consider uninstalling a Message Viewer Toolbar with competent PC security products to be a sensible and responsible decision.
What You Might End Up Viewing Besides Messages
The Message Viewer application is a general file reader for Outlook messages and similar e-mail clients. This product only truly became of interest to malware analysts when they found reports of a related add-on, the Message Viewer Toolbar, being used as a browser hijacker. Hijacks have used the format of a common search redirect, forcing visitors to Google to redirect to alternate search results and sites. However, it should be stressed that these redirects have not yet had any evidence of being used for illegal or harmful purposes, although unconfirmed allegations of such have been made.
The Message Viewer Toolbar may be installed with promotional content describing the Message Viewer Toolbar as a useful addition to your browser's repertoire. In reality, malware experts always consider browser hijackers of any stripe to be pests at best, and security risks at worst, and this remains true even when the Message Viewer Toolbar happens to be attached to an otherwise legitimate product. This especially is the case due to one of the defining traits of all browser hijackers, including the Message Viewer Toolbar, which is to ignore any normal browser settings that would let you control your homepage, error pages and/or search engine of choice.
A View of the Web that Doesn't Have an Extra Toolbar Included
Message Viewer Toolbar is classified as a Potentially Unwanted Program, the Message Viewer Toolbar, along with other PUPs, may present obstacles to its complete removal, particularly with respect to removing its search-hijacking browser modifications. To get your browser back to its usual self while still removing the Message Viewer Toolbar safely, anti-adware, anti-malware or other PC security products should be trusted to handle an automated uninstall.
The Message Viewer Toolbar has a more well-defined distribution and installation technique than most other browser hijackers. If you're installing any version of Message Viewer software by the previously mentioned company or any related software product, double-check the installation options for offers to install add-ons. Most official toolbar-based products, if caught during the install process, will provide options for stopping their installation – even if those options sometimes are hidden more carefully than is palatable to the unsuspecting clientele.
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