What to do with PUP's after Anti-malware scan

[blockie]

I did a full scan using Anti-Malware by Malwarebytes. The results showed 75 Entries that were marked as PUP. What should I do with them? I'm reluctant to delete them until I know what they are.

 

[Rawad]

I did a full scan using Anti-Malware by Malwarebytes. The results showed 75 Entries that were marked as PUP. What should I do with them? I'm reluctant to delete them until I know what they are.

Hello Blockie,

PUP detection are Potentially Unwanted Programs , don't be reluctant to delete them because these entries aren't safe.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

PUP means Potentially Unwanted Program. It doesn't mean they are all automatically bad; it depends on each PUP itself. Some program installation files get tagged as PUPs because they will install undesirable programs, such as toolbars; often, you can block those installations while installing the program itself. I'm learning how to use a new (to me) program called FreeFileSync. The program itself tests clean but the installation file gets tagged as a PUP, probably because it tries to install crapware (I was able to block that). Just to be safe, I changed the filename by adding .disabled to the end of it. That keeps it from coming up in security scans and can't be executed accidentally or maliciously without renaming it back to the original name (I keep all the installation files on downloaded programs).

You will have to look at each PUP individually to determine what to do with it. Generally, you will want to delete them but there can be exceptions.

 

[Rawad]

PUP means Potentially Unwanted Program. It doesn't mean they are all automatically bad; it depends on each PUP itself. Some program installation files get tagged as PUPs because they will install undesirable programs, such as toolbars; often, you can block those installations while installing the program itself. I'm learning how to use a new (to me) program called FreeFileSync. The program itself tests clean but the installation file gets tagged as a PUP, probably because it tries to install crapware (I was able to block that). Just to be safe, I changed the filename by adding .disabled to the end of it. That keeps it from coming up in security scans and can't be executed accidentally or maliciously without renaming it back to the original name (I keep all the installation files on downloaded programs).

You will have to look at each PUP individually to determine what to do with it. Generally, you will want to delete them but there can be exceptions.

This explains it all, I didn't go into much detail.

 

[andrew129260]

Could you please upload the malware bytes log file to this site? I want to see what it has flagged.

 

[Layback Bear]

When I find PUP's on my computer I remove all of them because I know I didn't intensionally install them. Somebody or something slipped then in the back door.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

When I find PUP's on my computer I remove all of them because I know I didn't intensionally install them. Somebody or something slipped then in the back door.

The problem with that is the PUPs, such as Open Candy, often hitchhike on an otherwise valid and desirable file, usually put there by the maker of the file but antimalware scans will tag the entire file. The installation file for FreeFileSync gets tagged as a PUP because it has Open Candy (a program for installing toolbars, advertising, etc.) but FreeFileSync itself doesn't get tagged. In this case, Open Candy wants to install some toolbars or something like that (I don't remember exactly) but all I have to do to avoid that is to do the custom install and deselect the bad stuff (there's only a couple). Since I like to keep my downloaded program installation files, I disabled FreeFileSync's installation file, after I installed it, by adding .disable to the end of the file name. That way, I avoid the antimalware hits and can still use the file again later by deleting the .disable from the end of the filename.