Squirrel Web

Posted: December 10, 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.

Ranking:	16,360
Threat Level:	2/10
Infected PCs:	1,949

First Seen:	December 10, 2013
Last Seen:	December 26, 2024
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Squirrel Web is adware that's considered a Potentially Unwanted Program – because the Squirrel Web generally is a drawback for your PC but isn't deliberately threatening. Since adware functions, such as pop-ups or injected text links, often cause security problems by exposing you to hostile Web content, malware researchers would consider removing the Squirrel Web to be best for both you and your computer. However, with so many adware products still being installed through consensual methods, you also may wish to contemplate discerning browsing practices that can keep a Squirrel Web add-on ever from being installed at all.

The Squirrel Web: a Hasty Advertisement Provider that Sees You as Its Tree

The billion dollar adware industry is full of new add-on developers eager to taste the fruits of its labors, but most PC users are understandably uninterested in keeping extra advertisements on their browser. Hence comes the incentive to develop new adware brands regularly, such as You-Bar, OffersWizard, and now, Squirrel Web. Like other adware products, Squirrel Web claims to use its advertising features for your benefit, with shopping-related price comparisons and 'special offers' that actually aren't selected for optimal savings on your part. If you've any suspicion about a potential Squirrel Web installation affecting your browser, malware researchers advise watching for some of these typical symptoms:

Injected hyperlinks to third party content, sometimes called inline text advertising.
Pop-up or pop-under advertising windows that appear without being connected to specific sites that are known to use them.
Web pages being modified to display additional advertisements banners.

Since the Squirrel Web has the potential to modify Web pages in a style that makes it hard to use the underlying site's interface, the Squirrel Web may be a direct impediment to browsing the Web conveniently. The Squirrel Web also may cause performance issues (even though it is highly conditioned on the system specifications of the individual affected computer).

Cutting Your Browser Free of an Advertising Web

While its effects are significantly more invasive than those of the rodent bearing its name, the Squirrel Web still should be removable relatively effortlessly by any updated and competent anti-malware or anti-adware program. Increasing the certainty of success in the Squirrel Web's elimination can be done through following a few common sense security tips before scanning your PC, as rebooting in Safe Mode or keeping your browser closed for the duration of the scan. Since the Squirrel Web doesn't try to attack your PC or harm its security settings deliberately, there shouldn't be any permanent damage from an appropriately-removed Squirrel Web installation.

On the other hand, letting the Squirrel Web remain on your PC and continue to load additional content in your browser does have its own price to pay – even if you're not spending anything on its advertised products. Frequently, malware experts see various third party attacks delivered through compromised advertisements networks and adware programs such as the fake system warnings of Gir.driveropti.net. Good PC security behavior always should take into account the potential for risks from all software, even programs that aren't classified as a threat.

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:\Program Files\SquirrelWeb\SquirrelWeb.ico

File name: C:\Program Files\SquirrelWeb\SquirrelWeb.ico
Mime Type: unknown/ico
Group: Malware file

C:\Program Files\SquirrelWeb\SquirrelWebBHO.dll

File name: C:\Program Files\SquirrelWeb\SquirrelWebBHO.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file

C:\Program Files\SquirrelWeb\sqlite3.exe

File name: C:\Program Files\SquirrelWeb\sqlite3.exe
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file

C:\Program Files\SquirrelWeb\updateSquirrelWeb.exe

File name: C:\Program Files\SquirrelWeb\updateSquirrelWeb.exe
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file

C:\Program Files\SquirrelWeb\SquirrelWebUninstall.exe

File name: C:\Program Files\SquirrelWeb\SquirrelWebUninstall.exe
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

CLSID{58BB7423-A9E3-47E0-9742-61E3BC3D5A18}{7F2F43AC-A6F0-4685-A6BD-6550C3836F91}{dd86af49-1ef1-4532-89f7-41eda1dbbe6d}HKEY..\..\{Value}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\SquirrelWebHKEY..\..\..\..{Subkeys}HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SquirrelWebHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\SquirrelWebHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Update SquirrelWebHKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{dd86af49-1ef1-4532-89f7-41eda1dbbe6d}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing\updateSquirrelWeb_RASAPI32SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing\updateSquirrelWeb_RASMANCSSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{dd86af49-1ef1-4532-89f7-41eda1dbbe6d}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{DD86AF49-1EF1-4532-89F7-41EDA1DBBE6D}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{DD86AF49-1EF1-4532-89F7-41EDA1DBBE6D}Software\SquirrelWebSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Tracing\updateSquirrelWeb_RASAPI32SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Tracing\updateSquirrelWeb_RASMANCSSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{dd86af49-1ef1-4532-89f7-41eda1dbbe6d}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SquirrelWebSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\eventlog\Application\Update SquirrelWebSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\Update SquirrelWebSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\Application\Update SquirrelWebSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Update SquirrelWebHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}SquirrelWeb

Additional Information

The following directories were created:

%ProgramFiles%\SquirrelWeb%ProgramFiles(x86)%\SquirrelWeb

The following URL's were detected:

SquirrelWeb