Smart Suggestor

Posted: January 29, 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:	185

First Seen:	January 29, 2013
Last Seen:	May 2, 2022
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Smart Suggestor is a web browser add-on that claims to be able to enhance your search results, when its features actually are focused on providing affiliate links and other self-profiting content that may or may not be relevant to your searches. Smart Suggestor's advertisement-related components being installed without any obvious link to its browser add-on files, which complicates the already difficult process of removing Smart Suggestor from your computer. If Smart Suggestor was installed without your knowledge, it's suggested that you remove Smart Suggestor, and most anti-malware products should be capable of deleting Smart Suggestor without any fuss.

The Reasoning Behind Smart Suggestor's Personal Recommendations

Smart Suggestor is marketed as an enhancement to your online searches, a tool that's theoretically capable of suggesting keywords and links for your searches that other search engines might have missed. Smart Suggestor usually is encountered after you've installed a freeware application that includes Smart Suggestor – with or without mentioning that fact during the installation process. Most installation routines for Smart Suggestor are avoidable by sticking to reputable download sources, but, in some cases, Smart Suggestor also may be installed without your consent entirely.

Smart Suggestor usually is detectable right away due to its visible browser add-on for Firefox and other browsers. However, some Smart Suggestor infections may be installed without any visible browser add-on. Other symptoms of Smart Suggestor's attacks include the presence of unusual advertisements in your search results, highlighted text, unfamiliar text pop-ups and additional search result links sponsored by Smart Suggestor's company.

Telling Smart Suggestor Where It Can Take Its Suggestions

Most adware programs try to avoid being removed from your PC, and Smart Suggestor, unfortunately, isn't a standout in that regard. Some extreme cases of Smart Suggestor infections may even fail to display visible files or programs associated with Smart Suggestor – even while Smart Suggestor's extra search 'suggestions' continue to appear in your browser.

Although Smart Suggestor's marketing focuses somewhat on Firefox, there are versions of Smart Suggestor that are compatible with other browsers, such as Chrome and Internet Explorer, also exist. Any variant of Smart Suggestor always should be considered an adware program and, as such, a potentially unwanted application for your computer. While deleting Smart Suggestor by hand may appear difficult, Smart Suggestor hasn't shown any signs of being able to resist the advanced disinfection capabilities of a proper anti-malware program. Naturally, deleting Smart Suggestor with said anti-malware software always should be your go-to solution for a typical Smart Suggestor infection.

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:

smartsuggestor-toolbar.exe

File name: smartsuggestor-toolbar.exe
Size: 1.92 MB (1921672 bytes)
MD5: de2c272fa8cfdc9eaee6b0372956df50
Detection count: 80
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: April 16, 2013

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

HKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{3BD44F0E-0596-4008-AEE0-45D47E3A8F0E}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\{4fe7b266-0f61-4273-bf6f-bc20043c287d}