Zip Cruncher

The Zip Cruncher software from h[tt]p://www.zipcruncher[.]com is promoted as a one-click file extractor and compressor for Windows systems. The Zip Cruncher is supposed to rival shareware like WinRAR and WinZip, as well as free tools like 7Zip and PeaZip. The Zip Cruncher program can be downloaded for free, and you are not required to pay a subscription fee to unlock all of its features. You may consider installing the Zip Cruncher on your PC, but there are a few things we think you should know.

In many cases, the Zip Cruncher software is bundled with third-party products like the VSCodec PRO and the PC Codec Pack that make potentially dangerous changes to your Internet settings. We found that Zip Cruncher uses some of the resources shipped with the VSCodec PRO and the PC Codec Pack and you may find that some of your browser settings are locked by the Zip Cruncher. We have received many complaints about the Zip Cruncher in the first weeks of April 2018 and discovered that PC users are forced to load h[tt]p://go.zipcruncher[.]com. Additionally, the Zip Cruncher is stated to come from a company called meme Ltd. that does not appear to have a valid business registration and an official site. You may be shown a link to zipcruncher[.]com/privacy but there is no content on the page, and there is a generic EULA at zipcruncher[.]com/eula that is of no use.

Computer security analysts classify the Zip Cruncher as a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) from meme Ltd. Researchers and found that the Zip Cruncher is designed to change your new tab, homepage and default search settings to h[tt]p://go.zipcruncher[.]com. You may find a browser extension titled 'Zip Cruncher' in Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox that loads baseapp[.]zipcruncher[.]com when you click on its icon in the navigation panel. Baseapp[.]zipcruncher[.]com may allow users to open various archive files and download their content to the disk. However, the Zip Cruncher may use its browser integration to read your Internet history and show personalized advertisements in pop-up windows, banners and floating ad-boxes.

You should use a trusted anti-spyware scanner and remove all the files related to the Zip Cruncher on your machine safely. AV companies are known to flag the files created by the Zip Cruncher as:

• W32/HWorld.A!Generic
• W32/Scribble-B
• W32/Virut.E.gen!Eldorado
• Win32.Virtob.Gen.12
• Win32.Virus.Patched.L@susp
• Win32.Virut.dd.368640
• a variant of Win32/Agent.NDM