How to remove a PUP

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I’m plagued by this PUP that gets added to any searches using Chrome:

?trackid=sp-006

Avast did not detect any issues and I can’t get rid of it.

Any help appreciated.

2

Have you turned on pup scanning in the scan settings, Malwarebytes will also remove pups in the detection and protection settings.

3

Please follow the instructions:
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=53253.0

4

trackid=sp-006 that is google I believe

5

Thanks folks

I’ve downloaded Malwarebytes and it seems to be finding and identifying a lot of PUP’s. I honestly thought Avast Pro was all I needed. Would you recommend buying a full licence for Malwarebytes? Any conflict issues with Avast; and where in settings does one turn on PUP scanning?

6

Yes, there are issues with avast and MBam if you run mbam in real time.

PUP scanning can be enabled in the file shield settings.

7

Thanks Eddy - PUP scanning was actually turned on in Avast.

8

Keep it enabled is what I recommend.
Use avast for real time protection and run MalwareBytes e.g. once a week.

I do suggest you run the scans mentioned in the link I gave you.
A good checkup can’t hurt. :wink:

9

One common PUP that AVAST doesn’t flag up is Open Candy.

Both Malwarebytes and Spybot scans will identify it as a PUP and get rid of it. Unfortunately there are a significant number of otherwise good ‘free’ programs that now come bundled with it as a non-optional extra. You won’t know this unless you read through the program’s User Agreement conditions thoroughly and those can change even when you are updating an existing program.

I’m sure many of us don’t thoroughly check an update installer’s UA and so such stuff can easily get on to a computer. I suspect that is how a lot of other PUPs get installed.

10

Really! I’ve been running both alongside each other for years and never had an issue, though I do exclude their program folders from one another ;D