FormatBoost

FormatBoost is adware and a browser hijacker that can generate unwanted advertisements or force your browser into loading unwanted websites. Since it's a security risk, most users should treat uninstalling it as the default response. Remove FormatBoost with any preferred anti-adware software and consider scanning the system with more comprehensive anti-malware utilities as a precaution.

Boosting Browsers Face-First into Pop-Ups

A security issue that's becoming a routine in the adware-plagued Mac user base is staying strong into March, with new variants of Adload payloads for the unwary. Incautious users installing what looks like a media player update for viewing a movie could end up with more than a movie-viewing experience: like FormatBoost. This adware is a typical member of the Adload Trojan's adware family with all the characteristic web-browsing dangers.

The delivery stages for FormatBoost's campaign involve, at first, tricking users into downloading Adload in a software bundle, such as a modified Flash Player update. Adload, a years-aged Trojan downloader, may deposit various threats or PUPs on the target system, depending on metrics such as the user's geo-located region. Potentially, the payload includes FormatBoost.

FormatBoost then modifies the macOS user's browsing experience with the following symptoms and features:

• Generating pop-up windows with unwanted advertisements
• Loading new tabs, also with unwanted advertisements
• Redirecting searches, home pages, etc., to third-party websites
• Tracking the user's Web-browsing activity for monetization
• Locally injecting 'Ads by FormatBoost' content into Web pages as they load

A particular giveaway clue in the security risks of FormatBoost lies in its repeatedly, triggering default Mac security warnings unintentionally. Users can recognize the prompt by the 'FormatBoostd will damage your computer' text, with the extra 'd' in the name being a shared trait across other Adload payloads.

Tailoring a Web-Browsing Format to One's Taste

FormatBoost is part of a large rotation of combination adware-browser hijackers that differ from each other in names but rarely in features. Slightly-older cases include ActivityInput, OperativeMachine, InitialSkill, CleanParameter, or DominantPartition, all of which target macOS users. Regardless of the name behind the product, apps that features similar symptoms are security risks that put users in danger of encountering tactics and drive-by-downloads while they're browsing the Web.

Since its installation routine may telegraph itself poorly or not ask for consent, users should mind their file-downloading habits for possible exposure to FormatBoost. Downloading from disreputable sources like torrenting networks or software piracy websites almost always endangers the user, especially if they don't scan their download with an appropriate security solution. Malware experts also point to media player tactics like fake Flash Player updates as a still-current theme in Adload's campaigns.

However, FormatBoost has no sophisticated defenses against removal by competent security software. Most anti-adware products should delete FormatBoost, although additional work may be necessary for dealing with Adload, which could download and install more than just FormatBoost.

FormatBoost boosts nothing except, possibly, an iffy developer's revenue. Mac users should remember that security warnings come for good reasons and, as a warning siren, can be shrill but necessary for everyone's protection.