Many people may ask themselves what adware is, well, to put it simply, it is any piece of software that is used so that ads may be displayed. There are a lot of adware families that are malicious and that simply infect your computer so that you are redirected to some other website. Here, we would discuss five of these. You should also read this Macsecurity.net guide about being redirect in order to get more about this topic.
1. Fireball
This malicious adware became known to the public in 2017 when it has been established that more than 250 million computers have been infected by it. It should be mentioned that this particular adware has been designed by Rafotech, which is a digital marketing company based in China and this infection actually works as a browser hijacker. So, if you install any software made by the same company, for example, Mustang Browser and Deal WiFi, you may install this adware without knowing it.
2. Appearch
Img source: cio.com.au
This malicious software also works as a browser hijacker and people usually infect their computers with it when they download some free software. The problem with this one that it is very present in numerous advertisements that pop-up when you open something into your browser and this all makes surfing and browsing the net impossible. It often functions by retrieving the message about the limited access to a particular website.
3. DollarRevenue
We should also mention that this one has not been “operational” for some time, but it is sure worth mentioning. Why? Well, it has been the first one of its kind that was spread worldwide. What did it do? Well, first of all, it downloads a browser toolbar of the user’s computer and when it does it, it then keeps track of all the search history of the user. Moreover, it would also display numerous deceptive advertisements and there would be annoying and numerous pop-ups that would make browsing impossible. This adware has been initially designed in the Netherlands and from its creation in 2005 until 2007 it has infected 22 million computers around the globe.
4. Gator
Img source: solidsystemsllc.com
As well as the previous one, this one is not active anymore and it has been very malicious especially when it was used along with other software just like Kazaa and Go!Zilla. How did it work? Well, it would simply remove all other advertisements that are present on a website and simply input its own. Luckily, the company behind all this stooped to exist in 2008 and we saw the end of this adware infection.
5. DeskAd
The main purpose of this adware is to show deceptive advertisements on the browser when you are simply redirected to the websites that are suspicious, to put it mildly. This one is very malicious simply because it starts to work as almost unnoticed in the background to gradually take control of the user’s browser. It usually worked by sending some unwanted attachments along with e-mails.
