SolteraTop

Posted: December 17, 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:	2/10
Infected PCs:	59

First Seen:	December 18, 2013
Last Seen:	May 10, 2019
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

SolteraTop is adware that appears to be designed by the same developers responsible for a generous handful of similar Potentially Unwanted Programs, all of which change your browser to load new advertisements with no benefit to you. Although SolteraTop doesn't try to attack your PC and doesn't intend to damage it, damage may, nonetheless, arise from insecure advertisements delivered through SolteraTop. Malware researchers also note that SolteraTop may cause performance issues even without considering the risks involved in its content, and for all of these reasons, deleting SolteraTop with a good anti-adware product should be easily justifiable.

The Adware that Sits Atop Your Browser and Chooses What It Will Show

Seemingly part of an ongoing campaign of adware add-ons that use varying brand names to hide their poorly-received functions, SolteraTop has little other than a name to differentiate itself from its recent forebears. Like any self-respecting adware, SolteraTop may make changes to your browser that are meant to load third party advertisements and related content, which let your traffic provide semi-passive revenue for SolteraTop's developers. Unlike more legitimate programs, SolteraTop doesn't let you control the display of these advertisements extensively or restrict them to relevant websites, and malware researchers warn that you may expect SolteraTop issues like the following to appear on most sites completely unrelated to SolteraTop:

SolteraTop may load pop-up windows including advertisements whenever you visit other sites or at completely random intervals. Alternately, SolteraTop also may load pop-unders, which are displayed below your browser's active window.
SolteraTop may insert links to affiliated advertisements by modifying the text content of Web pages as your browser loads them.
SolteraTop may inject graphics-based advertisements, including banners or price comparison references, into various popular sites. Because these types of advertisement injections may change the format of the underlying Web page temporarily, they also may harm your ability to access that Web page's content (such as by blocking a menu button unintentionally).

With an automatic updating mechanism that lets SolteraTop add new features at a whim and without a warning, SolteraTop also may include other functions besides those noted here. However, advertisements are of most concern to malware researchers for their potential to harm your PC. Attacks often seen through insecure advertising channels include fake Flash updates, drive-by-downloads and fraudulent security warnings that promote rogue security products.

Climbing Back Down from the Top of the Advertising World

SolteraTop may not mean any intentional ill will to its users, but, at the same time, SolteraTop has no advantages that malware experts can discern that would improve your browser or your online experiences. With the natural security problems that always are a part of allowing any program to load third party content regularly, it should be obvious that deleting SolteraTop is best for your browser. Since uninstallation routines for adware often fail to remove all Registry entries, browser changes and other side components, the use of anti-malware or anti-adware programs for this process usually should be taken for granted as your best option.

Recognizing SolteraTop may be easy enough, but keeping track of the numerous offshoots of similar adware programs is an ongoing process. While you should do your best to avoid any unneeded contact with sites and brands associated with SolteraTop's family, you also should be prepared to identify untrustworthy adware programs by their symptoms and marketing attributes. Particularly, browser add-ons distributed through bundles and other adware-favored methods should be treated with suspicion until they prove themselves trustworthy.

Based on malware experts' latest analyses, some other brands of similar adware to watch for include EnhanceTronic, Larparus, BeepieBear, JoomiWeb and VeberGreat. However, this list is exemplary rather than a conclusive one.

Technical Details

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

HKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{5aad43b7-8f9d-4d7b-a01e-c9c24ab250ae}

Additional Information

The following directories were created:

%PROGRAMFILES%\solteratop%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\solteratop