What is “Potentially Unwanted Program”?

A Potentially Unwanted Program (shortly PUP or PUA) is a application which can contains adware, toolbars or has other unuseful functions.

The term “Potentially Unwanted Program” was offered by McAfee to avoid labeling downloadable programs as malware. What makes such PUP`s are different from threats or malware. When you are get a program from the Internet and forgets to read the EULA, you might fail to recognize what various unwanted programs are being downloaded. For the most part these Potentially Unwanted Programs are adware or internet browser hijackers. These unwanted programs change your default homepage and default search engine, or show you not relevant ads.

Here are a indicators that you have Potentially Unwanted Programs on your PC:

  • Unwanted advertisements in places they should not be.
  • Website links redirect to websites various from what you expected.
  • Browser popups show up which recommend fake updates or various other software.
  • Your default homepage has mysteriously changed.
  • Various other strange apps may installed without your permission.
Click any title to read information about PUP.

If you can’t find what you are looking for, try using the search bar to find a specific threat.

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