Any kind of malware exists with the only target – make money on you¹. And the developers of these things are not thinking of morality – they use all possible methods. Taking your private data, getting the payments for the banners you watch for them, exploiting your CPU and GPU to mine cryptocurrencies – that is not the complete list of what they do. Do you like to be a riding horse? That is a rhetorical question.

What does the notification with HackTool:Win32/AdPack detection mean?

The HackTool:Win32/AdPack detection you can see in the lower right corner is demonstrated to you by Microsoft Defender. That anti-malware application is good at scanning, however, prone to be mainly unreliable. It is vulnerable to malware attacks, it has a glitchy user interface and bugged malware clearing features. Therefore, the pop-up which says about the AdPack is rather just an alert that Defender has recognized it. To remove it, you will likely need to make use of another anti-malware program.

Microsoft Defender: “HackTool:Win32/AdPack”

HackTool:Win32/AdPack unwanted program is a case in point of PUA, which are pretty widespread nowadays. Being free to use, it may offer you “the extended functionality” for the additional payment. Some examples of this program type can have no real functionality whatsoever – only the shell with the bright interface. You can see it promoted as a system optimization tool, driver updater or torrent downloadings tracker. This or another way it does not bring you any kind of real capability, exposing you to risk instead.

Unwanted Program Summary:

Is HackTool:Win32/AdPack dangerous?

I have actually mentioned that HackTool:Win32/AdPack PUA is not as safe as it pretends to be. The “legitimate and effective” tool may unexpectedly discover itself as a downloader trojan, spyware, backdoor, or coin miner malware. And you can never estimate what to expect even from separate variants of AdPack unwanted program. That still does not say that you need to panic – probably, this unpleasant thing has not succeeded to do bad things to your computer.

The exact harm to your system may be caused not just as a result of the malware injection. A considerable share of questionable programs, like the AdPack app is, is just poorly designed. Perhaps, their actions are fairly helpful than pointless if done on particular system configurations, however, not on each one. That’s how a basic system optimization tool may create chaos with continuous BSODs on your system. Any type of interruptions to the system registry are dangerous, and they are a lot more unsafe if done with such programs.

How did I get this virus?

It is difficult to trace the origins of malware on your PC. Nowadays, things are mixed up, and spreading ways chosen by adware 5 years ago can be utilized by spyware nowadays. However, if we abstract from the exact spreading way and will think of why it works, the answer will be really uncomplicated – low level of cybersecurity knowledge. Individuals click on promotions on weird websites, click the pop-ups they get in their browsers, call the “Microsoft tech support” believing that the scary banner that states about malware is true. It is very important to know what is legit – to prevent misunderstandings when trying to find out a virus.

Microsoft tech support scam page

Nowadays, there are two of the most common ways of malware spreading – lure emails and injection into a hacked program. While the first one is not so easy to stay away from – you must know a lot to understand a counterfeit – the second one is simple to solve: just do not utilize cracked apps. Torrent-trackers and various other sources of “totally free” applications (which are, exactly, paid, but with a disabled license checking) are just a giveaway point of malware. And HackTool:Win32/AdPack is just among them.

How to remove the HackTool:Win32/AdPack from my PC?

HackTool:Win32/AdPack malware is extremely hard to remove manually. It stores its data in numerous locations throughout the disk, and can restore itself from one of the parts. Furthermore, a number of modifications in the windows registry, networking settings and also Group Policies are quite hard to discover and change to the initial. It is better to use a special tool – exactly, an anti-malware program. GridinSoft Anti-Malware will fit the best for malware removal purposes.

Why GridinSoft Anti-Malware? It is pretty light-weight and has its detection databases updated nearly every hour. Moreover, it does not have such bugs and weakness as Microsoft Defender does. The combination of these details makes GridinSoft Anti-Malware suitable for clearing away malware of any form.

Remove the viruses with GridinSoft Anti-Malware

• Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware. After the installation, you will be offered to perform the Standard Scan. Approve this action.
• Standard scan checks the logical disk where the system files are stored, together with the files of programs you have already installed. The scan lasts up to 6 minutes.
• When the scan is over, you may choose the action for each detected virus. For all files of AdPack the default option is “Delete”. Press “Apply” to finish the malware removal.

References

1. Read about malware types on GridinSoft Threat encyclopedia.