04-01-2020, 02:50 PM
1
PUPS from Google
I just had a fright.My freebie malwarebytes just returned 26 of these non-furry critters ... they seem to be on a google chrome extension (Adblock).
Am right in thinking they are snooping on me and reporting back?
And what should I do with all these PUPS (apart from give them a fuss and take them walkies)... is it safe for me to quarantine them all and just delete them?
All suggestions gratefully received as I'm an imbecile on computers.
I never used to get them on IE, or chrome until I added an extension. I just got a little worried.
04-01-2020, 04:51 PM
6
Re: PUPS from Google
Originally Posted by Morticia
->
I just had a fright.My freebie malwarebytes just returned 26 of these non-furry critters ... they seem to be on a google chrome extension (Adblock).
Am right in thinking they are snooping on me and reporting back?
Yes, that's what they are for.
They can be there to track your purchase history, your search history, you name it.
And what should I do with all these PUPS (apart from give them a fuss and take them walkies)... is it safe for me to quarantine them all and just delete them?
Just delete them - quarantining just stops them from showing up on later scans.
All suggestions gratefully received as I'm an imbecile on computers.
I use Malwarebytes (free version) about once a month.
Also, SkyBot "search & destroy", the same.
My main Antivirus prog is Norton.
04-01-2020, 05:03 PM
7
Re: PUPS from Google
PUPs are Potentially Unwanted Programs and are usually bundled up with free software that you may have installed. That's why it is important that if you do decide to install free software, use the `expert` option rather than just going ahead with the install. The expert option gives you the chance to deny any extra software being installed.
04-01-2020, 05:52 PM
9
Re: PUPS from Google
As a precaution, I'd quarantine the PUPs for an hour or two just to make sure the computer runs OK when they are taken out of the system. It's not unknown for security programs, including Malwarebytes, to make false positives (files detected as malware that aren't). You can always put a quarantined file back if Malwarebytes has taken it out by mistake but if it's deleted straightaway, this won't be possible.uBlock Origin is thought by many to be better than Adblock Plus. Search for Adblock Plus versus uBlock Origin to read more.
Edit: I've just been reading about some rogue ad-blocking extensions but it looks like they were removed by Google a while ago.
https://threatpost.com/malicious-ad-...scheme/148591/
04-01-2020, 11:23 PM
10
Re: PUPS from Google
Long story short. Keep your personal stuff - bank details etc- Super secure. Maybe on a seperate drive- NOT the cloud - that you can disconnect. Other than that everybody is spying on you. You can't avoid it. Not that I know of anyway. Even people who use the so called "dark web" think they are invisible but they aren't. Everybody wants to track you with cookies. They give you no choice. I just don't have anything on the damned computer that I want kept private. I have AVAST and MALWAREBYTES security which is brilliant and use adblock. I guess I have the luxury of having time to do things via other ways. Waddya do! Other than that all the advice here seems pretty good|
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