MalwareBytes has detected numerous registration keys for PUP.Optional.MindSpak.W and when I quarantined them and scanned the computer again, the same PUP comes back. It doesn’t seem to go away. My computer is extremely slow now and it always displays numerous ads on my browser. Is this thing a virus or malware? How do I get rid of it completely?
PUP.Optional.MindSpak.W is associated with potentially unwanted program or adware that usually installs on vulnerable computers without any permission. Technically speaking, PUP is not a virus but it must be something you don’t really want to have installed on your PC. Mostly, it gets installed as a bundle. This means that it is sneakily packaged with another program or application that you are installing, streaming or downloading. It also can be acquired when visiting malicious web pages, downloading compromised files, or using file-sharing apps. Therefore, we suggest computer users read the End User License Agreement carefully and check or uncheck boxes that state an added extra is included in the download. Don’t let additional programs change the computer settings.
PUP.Optional.MindSpak.W comes from PUP.Optional.MindSpak family and performs the same evil actions like PUP.Optional.MindSpak.A does once it is installed. It can be extremely annoying and quite difficult to get rid of. Once installed, it targets mostly known browsers like Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari and it is designed to monitor your Internet usage and record data about the pages you look at and the products or services contained within those pages. This data can be sent back to the owner of the PUP who will use it to send you more customized adverts reflecting the things you have been looking at online. Obviously this is an invasion of your privacy. In addition, it can modify your default homepage and redirect web browser to a predefined site that sells other unwanted programs to you all the time. Your online activities will be interrupted by tons of sponsored ads. A PUP is also able to open a doorway on infected computer to allow remote attacker to gain full access or install other threats. It is recommended users get rid of it manually as quickly as possible.
Slow down your PC speed notably.
Add other dangerous Trojan or Spyware to your system secretly.
Allow the hacker to access your entire system.
Collect all your personal information and transfer to a remote hacker.
Destroy critical system files and make PC unstable.
From malicious drive-by-download scripts from corrupted porn and shareware / freeware websites.
Through spam email attachments, media downloads and social networks.
When clicking suspicious pop-ups or malicious links.
Open unknown email or download media files that contain the activation code of the virus.
Note: No matter how the virus accesses your PC, users should know that there are no tools can remove this pesky Trojan automatically at this moment, it is suggested users not spend much time in downloading or paying any security software which claims can delete this stubborn virus. It is totally useless. To completely get rid of PUP.Optional.MindSpak.W, professional manual guide is needed.
Currently many computer users had the same experience that this virus couldn’t be removed by any anti-virus applications. So the manual approach is always required to combat this virus. And here is the step-by-step removal guide for all computer users.
1. End the malicious process from Task Manager.
Once PUP.Optional.MindSpak.W virus is installed, computer user may notice that CPU usage randomly jumps to 100 percent. At any time Windows always has many running processes. A process is an individual task that the computer runs. In general, the more processes, the more work the computer has to do and the slower it will run. If your system’s CPU spike is constant and remain at a constant 90-95%, users should check from Task Manager and see if there is a suspicious process occupying system resources and then end it immediately.
(The name of the virus process can be random.)
Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to quickly bring up Task Manager Window：
2. Show hidden files and folders.
Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Folder Options.
Click the View tab.
Under Advanced settings, click Show hidden files and folders, uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) and then click OK.
3. Open Registry entries. Find out the malicious files and entries and then delete all.
Attention: Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.
a. Press Windows key + R to open Run box. In the “Open” field, type “regedit” and click the “OK” button.
Then a Registry Editor window will pop up as the following picture shows:
b. Search malicious files and registry entries and then remove all of them:
%AllUsersProfile%\[random]
%AppData%\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates\[random]
%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\[random]
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Temp
PUP.Optional.MindSpak.W is a potentially unwanted application that will hijack your web browser and display advertisements on your computer. It’s not particularly dangerous but very annoying. When it is downloaded, it has an effect on the functioning of your web browsers including Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer. It can display tons of disturbing ads in all sorts of forms on your screen like pop-up, banner, in-text and link ads. The threat could gather your personal information like browsing history, search queries or most visited sites as well, in order to show you more and more related ads. PUP is not like other legitimate programs so the removal will be more difficult because it won’t be shown in control panel. Even though antivirus programs like Malwarebytes indicates it has been removed, but once you reboot the computer it comes back immediately. Even in safe mode with networking it does the same thing. Manual removal is considered to be the best way to remove PUP.Optional.MindSpak.W from the machine.
Note: If you are not knowledgeable enough to be able to distinguish the location of this virus, or you are afraid of making mistake during the manual removal, please contact experts from Yoocare Online Tech Support for further help.
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Published by & last updated on March 20, 2015 1:47 am
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