‘Please Update Player’ Pop-Up

The 'Please Update Player' pop-up is a fraudulent update notification that's used to distribute unsafe or unwanted software. A 'Please Update Player' pop-up may be seen on hacked sites modified by criminals or on intentionally unsafe sites, such as lpcloudsvr302.com. Malware researchers especially would warn against installing the potentially threatening 'updates' from a 'Please Update Player' pop-up, but variants of the 'Please Update Player' pop-up also may be able to install threats. This latter security hazard makes it intelligent to use anti-malware programs after any exposure to a 'Please Update Player' pop-up, even if your computer hasn't shown symptoms of being infected.

The New Media Player that's Playing All of the Wrong Things

Although, in many ways, the 'Please Update Player' pop-up is just another fake update-based attack, the 'Please Update Player' pop-up is worth a little analysis for its implementation of social engineering scams. Unlike a similar drive-by-download attack, the 'Flash Player Update' pop-up, the 'Please Update Player' pop-up doesn't specify which 'media player' program the 'Please Update Player' pop-up supposedly updates. By withholding this information, the 'Please Update Player' pop-up makes itself generically applicable to any PC user who visits media-oriented sites, such as movie-streaming domains. The 'Please Update Player' pop-up distracts any readers from this omission by including details about the fake features being offered, including security fixes that are labeled as being 'critical.'

However, the contents of a 'Please Update Player' pop-up's downloads aren't security fixes or any other kinds of patches. PC users who install the 'Please Update Player' pop-up may compromise their PCs with damaging software or, in a minority of cases, Potentially Unwanted Programs. With respect to threats, malware researchers often see the 'Please Update Player' pop-up and other drive-by-downloads exploited to delivery information-stealing Trojans, as well as Trojans that block other programs or create major security vulnerabilities.

Even minor PC threats also are delivered through pop-ups like the 'Please Update Player' pop-up. Symptoms of these PUPs often focus on browser-based issues, such as being redirected to an unrecognized search site or being shown advertisements that are injected into your browser's Web pages. They may be installed with or without the threat described previously, which forces malware experts to recommend comprehensive solutions to a 'Please Update Player' pop-up's attack.

Keeping Your Software Outdated in the 'Right' Way

Even though malware researchers recommend that you download and apply updates to all of your software as regularly as possible, they also advice taking appropriate precautions against compromised sources for your updates. Pop-ups like the 'Please Update Player' pop-up never should be seen on official websites that value your safety, and can, for the most part, be avoided with appropriately safe Web-browsing behavior. Responsible use of your browser's security features, such as the selective disabling of Java, also may prevent many problematic aspects of a 'Please Update Player' pop-up's attack from harming your computer.

Nonetheless, even protected contact with a 'Please Update Player' pop-up is a reasonable cause to worry about your PC's security. Malware researchers recommend using anti-malware software to analyze and disinfect any PC that comes into contact with an infection vector, including ones like the 'Please Update Player' pop-up. Even if you refuse the 'Please Update Player' pop-up's fake update, secondary exploits hosted by the 'Please Update Player' pop-up's website still could infect your PC with a backdoor Trojan or other types of threatening software.

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