StandBoost

StandBoost is adware and a browser hijacker that generates third-party advertisements automatically and redirects the user's browsers to its search service. Although it's not a Trojan or virus, StandBoost may harm your browser's safety and performance. Most Mac users should use compatible anti-adware solutions for uninstalling StandBoost from their computers.

Browser Advertisements Getting Another Boost

Web advertisements mean money for illegitimate businesses as much as for reputable ones, and threat actors take advantage of that shortcoming in different ways. As a particularly repetitive theme against Mac computer owners, the various payloads of Adload Trojans double as security concerns and optimal performance hindrances. Another advertising software that some Trojan-infested users might see is StandBoost.

StandBoost has a large family of predominantly-similar advertising software, such as ActivityInput, Configtype, FormatBoost, or CleanParameter. In virtually all samples, malware researchers see consistent features and behavior, such as loading pop-up advertisements, taking over the user's browser homepage and search settings, and locally injecting advertisements into Web pages as they load. Users might tell the additional advertisements from default ones thanks to an 'Ads by StandBoost' line.

StandBoost also may cause regularly-occurring security alerts whenever the system reboots. The warning, 'StandBoostd will damage your computer,' includes an additional letter for unknown reasons, which is typical for this adware family. Although StandBoost is adware and, technically, a Potentially Unwanted Program, its installation may employ Trojans that remain on the computer (see below for further details).

Standing on Top of Authoritarian Adware

Most users should understand intuitively that adding extra advertisements to no benefit is harmful to the safety and integrity of anyone's Web-browsing experience. StandBoost also may change settings in more than one browser, including Safari, Chrome or Firefox. However, StandBoost's campaign can complicate matters with the insertion of real Trojans and illicit, hostile software.

StandBoost's family traditionally uses Adload Trojan downloaders for circulating to users in bundles. The bundles may describe the adware and browser hijacker in vaguely positive terms or not do so at all. Standard scenarios involve users visiting a movie-streaming site, seeing a fake Flash Player update pop-up, and installing the update, which, in reality, is Adload and its affiliate adware.

Naturally, all operating systems in any significant use have issues with adware like StandBoost. For this case, however, macOS users are the only ones at risk. Recommended solutions for removing StandBoost include in-depth systems scans by competent anti-adware and anti-malware utilities for dealing with all possible threats. Users still may require changing their browser's settings afterward.

StandBoost doesn't bother boosting anything but its money-earning potential at the cost of safety for Web surfers everywhere. Being on a Mac machine isn't like putting on armor against adware; although there might be more advertising pests for Windows, Apple's OS also is in criminals' sights.