Zula Games

Posted: November 4, 2013

Threat Metric

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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:	16,352
Threat Level:	1/10
Infected PCs:	42,586

First Seen:	November 4, 2013
Last Seen:	January 27, 2025
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Zula Games is a toolbar and Potentially Unwanted Program that includes the definitive traits of a browser hijacker and adware-based PC threat. By taking over your browser to display advertisements and redirect you to Zula Games-affiliated sites, Zula Games impedes your ordinary Web-browsing activities without so much as giving you any easy options for restoring your browser to normal. Even though Zula Games shouldn't be mistaken for a Trojan or other high-level PC threat, deleting Zula Games via suitable anti-malware utilities should be treated as the SOP for keeping your browser at optimal performance and under your complete control.

When Gaming Goes Too Far into Your Browser

As an appendage of yet another freeware gaming site that hopes to make money off of fiddling with the browsers of its user base, Zula Games is packaged with other software from zulagames.com as a semi-hidden add-on, and most Zula Games infections are the direct result of interested gamers indulging in zulagames.com products. However, along with the prerequisite gaming experiences, Zula Games also delivers more than most gamers would bargain on getting – as malware experts have discovered:

Zula Games modifies your browser's default search engine to promote its alternative search features.
Zula Games locks your browser's homepage to an affiliated website.
Zula Games redirects your browser when it encounters certain stock website error messages (such as 'URL not found').

Zula Games injects advertisements (banners, hyperlinks, etc.) into your Web browser and monitors your online habits to deliver advertisements that seem relevant to any loaded sites.

Even though the Zula Games website provides uninstallation instructions, most scenarios involving normal uninstall methods for Zula Games have failed to delete all associated components and system changes. Like most PUPs designed to take advantage of the user through basic browser changes, Zula Games is equally compatible with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome – as well as Apple's Safari.

How to Find Free Entertainment without Getting Browser Hijacks in the Bargain

Even though Zula Games only is categorized as a PUP and, therefore, more of a minor inconvenience than a major security issue, malware researchers still consider deleting Zula Games and other browser-hijacking programs to be an essential part of keeping your browser optimized. To be sure of removing Zula Games and the semi-universal browser changes Zula Games causes, using anti-malware programs to scan your PC and remove all relevant components strongly is recommended for an efficient but easy solution.

Zula Games is a clear case of social engineering-based browser attacks, wherein the visitor is offered something valuable – free games – and, in exchange, is subjected to various negative and unwanted system changes. While Zula Games's gaming library may seem tempting, malware experts note that numerous safe free gaming sites exist around the Web and that you never should need to let your browser be attacked in exchange for some platforming or shoot 'em up playtime.

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\Zula Games\BackgroundHost64.exe

File name: BackgroundHost64.exe
Size: 475.45 KB (475456 bytes)
MD5: ff829dfd5a5b90a497a20ff4f939bdff
Detection count: 1,209
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Program Files\Zula Games\BackgroundHost64.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: December 19, 2024

C:\Program Files\Zula Games\BackgroundHost.exe

File name: BackgroundHost.exe
Size: 635.71 KB (635712 bytes)
MD5: dfe3f6f9cb055d1f3c9a0948817875d1
Detection count: 1,150
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Program Files\Zula Games\BackgroundHost.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: December 19, 2024

%PROGRAMFILES%\Zula Games\ScriptHost.dll

File name: ScriptHost.dll
Size: 400.7 KB (400704 bytes)
MD5: ad7963c4b8c5e13e67991c495fef35d8
Detection count: 11
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\Zula Games
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: January 8, 2014

%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Free Games (4351)\ScriptHost64.dll

File name: ScriptHost64.dll
Size: 381.76 KB (381760 bytes)
MD5: caeff4959080b286ee98e5eb6bd63e61
Detection count: 5
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Path: %PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Free Games (4351)
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: November 5, 2013

More files

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

CLSID{0D5F364D-D6A9-43C1-BF0C-99B378972C5B}{0FA62FD2-7954-4EE5-9648-128C4EF47ECF}{2665A19D-89C6-4E55-994B-ABDDA56F7F81}{2977C29A-6723-4436-90BB-F7C5FDEF88A1}{4398032D-0040-451D-9AB9-5CE5597EB103}{48F1DBA1-4003-4D25-8A10-6614ED65ED94}{5C71ACCF-F361-40F4-9E19-23D831490AAB}{703F72F9-5E77-450B-91D4-B594CF167EC7}{739CDEE7-D45D-426F-9776-8BC4F8C1A4AB}{813FB3C5-A4D9-4CD8-BDD0-750F40E68908}{939C3962-7375-49AF-B7B6-6730422CEC00}{A052690D-325F-467A-BCFE-0F93199835EF}{A72BB09D-9450-4909-864F-B3D5AF734D51}{D1172C15-3FA2-41ED-9CCA-C777F005DFF1}{DF776000-0872-4D61-B445-CAD0C227C731}{EF5F0737-3612-44C1-A30F-0BAAFB596EBE}HKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{2977C29A-6723-4436-90BB-F7C5FDEF88A1}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{402E8195-2AC9-4A7F-9BA5-14B93F1D8045}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{0D5F364D-D6A9-43C1-BF0C-99B378972C5B}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{2977C29A-6723-4436-90BB-F7C5FDEF88A1}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{402E8195-2AC9-4A7F-9BA5-14B93F1D8045}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{2977C29A-6723-4436-90BB-F7C5FDEF88A1}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Google\Chrome\Extensions\occpfaboijojdgcgbgldjckfijcdlfghSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{2977C29A-6723-4436-90BB-F7C5FDEF88A1}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{402E8195-2AC9-4A7F-9BA5-14B93F1D8045}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}Free Games (4357)

Additional Information

The following directories were created:

%AppData%\freegames4351%ProgramFiles%\Free Games (4351)%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Free Games (4351)

One Comment

esmeralda maria de lira says:

July 14, 2014 at 11:50 pm

QUANTO VOU PAGAR?