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This section is designed to be the PTES technical guidelines that help define certain procedures to follow during a penetration test. Something to be aware of is that. Harden Windows 10 A Security Guide gives detailed instructions on how to secure Windows 10 machines and prevent it from being compromised. We will harden the system. Answers to common security questions Best Practices. About those Toolbars and Add ons Potentially Unwanted Programs PUPs which change your browser settings. Many programs, toolbars, add onsplug ins, and browser extensions come bundled with other free third party software you download from the Internet often without the knowledge or consent of the user. In some cases, they may be included in Installers or Downloaders found at hosting sites such as CNET, Download. Brother. Soft, Softonic, Freeware. Files and Tucows. These bundled packages, installers and downloaders can often be the source of various issues and problems to include Adware, pop up ads, browser hijacking which may change your home page and search engine, and cause user profile corruption. As such, they are typically classified as Potentially Unwanted Programs PUPs. When a vendor includes bundled software, they do so as a way to pay per install and recoup associated business costs. This practice is now the most common revenue generator for free downloads and is typically the reason for the pre checked option. Third Party Bundling. If pre checked by default, that means you need to uncheck that option during installation if you dont want it. If you install too fast, you most likely will miss the opt out option and end up with software you do not want or need. However, in some cases, this opting out does not always seem to work as intended. Sometimes, PUPs will just naturally be bundled into pseudo legitimate applications and you wont even get the option to not install it. Uninstall Mcafee Virus Scan Enterprise Scripts' title='Uninstall Mcafee Virus Scan Enterprise Scripts' />Encountering the Wild PUPEven if advised of a toolbar or Add on, many folks do not know that it is optional and not necessary to install in order to operate the program. Since this sometimes occurs without your knowledge, folks are often left scratching their heads and asking how did this get on my computer. Regardless of where you go to download software, you always have to be careful with deceptive download links. Clicking on the incorrect link may redirect to another download site which uses heavy and confusing advertising with more download links. On almost every site, including safe software download sites, you may encounter an obtrusive green Download Now button as a type of advertisement. These buttons ads come from third party ad networks and work well because many users are capricious by nature. Clicking on one of these Download Now buttons thinking its the one you want often results in downloading a program the user did not intend to download. Folks need to take some personal responsibility and educate themselves about the practice of bundling software. Toolbars, add ons and bundled software can install themselves in various areas of your operating system to include your browser and Windows Registry. Since some of their components and behavior are determined to be harmful, some anti virus and anti malware tools may detect them as Potentially Unwanted Programs PUPs andor Potentially Unwanted Applications PUAs which do not fall in the same category as malicious files such as viruses, Trojans, worms, rootkits and bots. PUPs and PUAs are a very broad threat category which can encompass any number of different programs to include those which are benign as well as problematic. Thus, this type of detection does not always necessarily mean the file is malicious or a bad program. PUPs in and of themselves are not always bad. Adware or bundled with other free third party software to include toolbars, add onsplug ins and browser extensions. W10_Mcafee.png' alt='Uninstall Mcafee Virus Scan Enterprise Scripts' title='Uninstall Mcafee Virus Scan Enterprise Scripts' />PUPs are considered unwanted because they can cause undesirable system performance or other problems and are sometimes installed without the users consent since they are often included when downloading legitimate programs. However, some PUPs can be more nefarious that others. The PUP That Can Detect Anti Malware Programs. PUPs may also be defined somewhat differently by various security vendors and may or may not be detectedremoved based on that definition. Malwarebytes What are the PUP detections, are they threats and should they be deletedMalwarebytes Adopts Aggressive PUP PolicySophos Potentially unwanted applicationsBitdefender What is a PUAPUP softwareEset What is a potentially unwanted applicationEset Online Scanner FAQs 1. What are Potentially Unwanted ApplicationsMicrosoft How Microsoft antimalware products identify potentially unwanted softwareLavasoft What are Potentially Unwanted Programs PUPSMc. Afee White Paper Potentially Unwanted ProgramsAVG FAQ 2. Potentially Unwanted ProgramsSymantec Potentially Unwanted Programs. Some programs falling into the PUP category have legitimate uses in contexts where an authorized user or administrator has knowingly installed it. Since PUP detections do not necessarily mean the file is malicious or a bad program, in some cases the detection may be a false positive. Anti virus scanners cannot distinguish between good and malicious use of such programs, therefore they may alert you or even automatically remove them. If you installed, use or recognize the program and it is not causing an issues, then you can ignore the detection. Your anti virus may not detect all PUPs. This is because anti virus and anti malware programs each perform different tasks as it relates to computer security and threat detection. The scanning engines of anti virus programs and anti malware tools look for detect and remove different things based on the criteria used by the vendor. Anti virus primarily protect against viruses, worms, Trojans, rootkits while anti malware programs generally tend to focus more on adware, spyware, browser hijackers and PUPs. There can be some overlap in functionality and detection features between the two but the security vendor defines a specific threat and what Malware Naming Standards are used. Note Many anti virus programs and some security scanners have options to include or exclude the detection of PUPs because of how they are defined. If your anti virus is not finding any PUPs, then most likely the settings have been set to exclude or ignore detection. If your anti virus is finding but not removing PUPs, then most likely the settings are set to detect but not take any action. Again keep in mind that not all toolbars and add onsplug ins are bad. Many of them also come bundled with other free software as a common practice by legitimate vendors. Adobe Reader includes Google Chrome or Mc. Afee Security Scan pre checked by default during installationAdobe Shockwave. Player includes Google Chrome or Norton Security Scan pre checked by default during installationCCleaner standard installer includes Yahoo Toolbar pre checked by default during installationFoxit Pdf Reader includes Ask Toolbar and ebay shortcut in desktop pre checked by default during installationGOM Player includes Ask Toolbar pre checked by default during installationGIMP includes AVG Safe. GuardSecure Search toolbar pre checked by default during installationJava includes Ask Toolbar pre checked by default during installationUnlocker includes Babylon Toolbar or Delta Toolbar pre checked by default during installation. The Installers Hall of Shame contains a more comprehensive list of software bundled with unwanted junkware. Even Anti virus and security vendors bundle toolbars and other software with their products as a cost recoup measure.