Attack of the PUPs
Keep annoying bundleware off your PC with our guide to potentially unwanted programs.
As reported on the previous page, the biggest individual threat to consumers these days comes from adware. In the past, adware tended to simply mean ad-supported software, and later it evolved to include so-called PUPs (potentially unwanted programs), which are offered alongside the original program during installation. Sometimes these unsolicited extras are flagged and easy to avoid, but some use deliberately misleading language and confusing options to trick you into installing them.
These days, PUPs are better known as bundleware, and are usually more annoying than outright malicious – most are ignored by your security software, so you’ll need additional help: Unchecky ( www.unchecky.com) offers limited free protection, but Malwarebytes Premium is by far the best at blocking these.
Most PUPs should be removable via ‘Settings > Apps > Apps & Features’, but third-party apps make them easier to spot – IObit Uninstaller ( www.iobit.com/ advanceduninstaller.php) is one such tool with a dedicated Bundleware section, but it ironically offers bundleware as part of its own setup process (IObit’s free Advanced SystemCare Free tool).
Social engineering scams
Adware as a threat has shifted away from being merely annoying and is now considered dangerous once again. That’s because it’s often used to identify software used by scammers to try and hack people’s computers through social engineering.
Scammers directly contact users through legitimate channels – including the phone, text messages, social media and email – to try and trick them into handing over sensitive personal details such as bank account information. This may be attempted directly through tricking the victim into volunteering the information themselves, or it may be an indirect attempt. Examples of the latter include the well-known tech-support scam. This can originate in a phone call or via fake error messages on website that pop up as you’re innocently browsing away, asking you to call a number. In both cases, you may be asked to provide payment
before fixes can be applied or directed to download and install software that will allow the scammer to take control of your computer, ostensibly for the purpose of fixing the problem, but more likely to lower your defences and install more malware.
In all cases, social engineering scams are designed to unsettle you and then – while you’re off-balance – trap and ultimately defraud you. We recommend you take the time to visit www.moneysmart.gov.au and work your way through the useful tips (with a particular focus on online shopping, email and phone scams) to get sound guidance on how to avoid being caught out.
Strengthen protection
Many scams originate on the web.
These type of social engineering scams are part of the wider malvertising – or malicious advertising – family of malware. These are advertisements that can appear on any web page, and may contain malicious code or – more commonly – rely on trickery to trigger the scam. Those who fall for it are then redirected to the scammer’s landing page.
While many fake websites are quickly reported by sites like PhishTank ( www.phishtank.com), which in turn leads to them being blocked by your web browser’s own security tools, you should go further to proactively block these from getting a foothold in the first place. The step-by-step guide reveals what you can do to minimise the risk from these – and other web-based – threats in your web browser and the rest of your PC.
Also check to see if your security software offers additional protections against web-based threats – free products may offer some limited protection but paid-for products will usually extend this further, and that includes the paid-for Premium version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.
The free version of Malwarebytes works as a scan-and-removal tool – there’s no active protection against keeping threats off your PC in the first place. The premium version offers four real-time components
– malware, ransomware, exploit and web – and is more aggressive than other tools when it comes to adware and so-called riskware (see over the page). This means that sometimes you may have legitimate cause to disagree with its findings.
Start by researching the threat – click the link in the Quarantine to get a detailed report from Malwarebytes’ own website, then look further afield ( https://forums. malwarebytes.com/ is a good place to start) for other people’s opinions. If you decide the tool is safe, open Malwarebytes and click ‘Detection History’ to access the Quarantine. First, restore the file by selecting it from the list and clicking Restore, then switch to the ‘Allow List’ tab and click Add to select the program file to exclude it from future scans.