SkypEmoticons

Posted: March 26, 2015

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.

Ranking:	12,281
Threat Level:	2/10
Infected PCs:	50,978

First Seen:	October 29, 2013
Last Seen:	February 6, 2025
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

SkypEmoticons is a Potentially Unwanted Program that may load advertisements in your browser or modify your Skype experience in negative ways. Although only a minority of PC security entities have flagged the SkypEmoticons website as a potential threat, malware experts have seen behavior from SkypEmoticons consistent with non-consensual distribution models. You should strongly consider deleting SkypEmoticons in all cases, which, as with most adware, is doable with proper PC security tools.

SkypEmoticons: an Extended Adware Experience

SkypEmoticons is a Potentially Unwanted Program that may install from SkypEmoticons.com, but, also may be introduced via the embedded links in its automatic Skype messages. Skype users who download SkypEmoticons may have their Skype instant messaging experience hijacked by that PUP, which may spam the victim's contact list members with links recommending its installation for using 'extended icons.' The wording of this message implies that SkypEmoticons is a default part of the Skype experience, although malware experts quickly verified that SkypEmoticons is a third-party, unsupported product. If you disable the automatic invitation settings that SkypEmoticons uses for sending these messages, SkypEmoticons will reactivate them automatically.

Along with its unusual distribution model, SkypEmoticons also includes functions for modifying your Web browsing experience. These features insert additional advertisements into unrelated HTML pages, and also may generate pop-up windows automatically. Most PC users found that a standard, manual removal of SkypEmoticons failed to remove the browser settings responsible for SkypEmoticons advertisements. Malware experts have associated a small number of SkypEmoticons installations (and incomplete deletions) with other issues, especially failures to login to your Skype account.

Using Skype with the Right Emotional Package

Because of their generic usability and seemingly harmless nature, emoticon add-ons are favored packages for the developers of Potentially Unwanted Programs. However, these PUPs, like SkypEmoticons, typically include other functions and unwanted side effects that may harm your computer (or the computers of your Skype contacts). Adware programs also may block any simple, manual uninstall attempts, which is a trait malware experts also verified for SkypEmoticons.

You can delete SkypEmoticons with any anti-adware application of your choice, after which you also may wish to either reset all relevant Skype and browser settings or uninstall and reinstall those applications. Until you confirm the removal of SkypEmoticons, advertisements loaded in your browser should be regarded with all the suspicion due to third-party content affiliated with disreputable business models. As a result of the natural vulnerabilities of script-based Web content, such advertisements may endanger even PCs whose users fail to interact with them deliberately.

Lastly, malware experts also would recommend speaking with any Skype contacts delivering SkypEmoticons-associated messages to verify that they're aware of the hijacking of their instant-messaging experience. In most cases, SkypEmoticons messages may not display in the conversations of the originating user, which can allow SkypEmoticons to distribute itself without the full awareness of those responsible for it.

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:

C:\POPS Backup\USERS AND STUFF\AppData\Roaming\SkypEmoticons\SE.exe

File name: SE.exe
Size: 5.67 MB (5679008 bytes)
MD5: 165b96fdfdb68677da27f4716cf59d59
Detection count: 8,167
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\POPS Backup\USERS AND STUFF\AppData\Roaming\SkypEmoticons\SE.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: November 2, 2024

H:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\SkypEmoticons\SEDownloader.exe

File name: SEDownloader.exe
Size: 434.68 KB (434688 bytes)
MD5: 3b6ff68f02d9c05ba13da3d885aedce8
Detection count: 110
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: H:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\SkypEmoticons\SEDownloader.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 6, 2025

%APPDATA%\SkypEmoticons\sInstaller.exe

File name: sInstaller.exe
Size: 392.19 KB (392192 bytes)
MD5: 8b857ee5a6f9e8c6ac1f12bdcc70824d
Detection count: 9
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %APPDATA%\SkypEmoticons
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: October 30, 2013

D:\logiciel\skypemoticons_new.exe

File name: skypemoticons_new.exe
Size: 432.46 KB (432464 bytes)
MD5: a28d6efff7b9a1dfcc93e176ecf5a7bd
Detection count: 5
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: D:\logiciel
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: October 30, 2013

More files

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}SkypEmoticons_is1

Additional Information

The following directories were created:

%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\SkypEmoticons%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\SkypEmoticons%APPDATA%\SkypEmoticons