HuntBar, aka WinTools or Adware.Websearch, was installed by an ActiveX drive-by download at affiliate Web sites, or by advertisements displayed by other

spyware Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is software with malicious behaviour that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user—for example, by violating their privac ...

programs — an example of how spyware can install more spyware. These programs add toolbars to

Internet Explorer Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical user interface, graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft which was used in the Microsoft Wind ...

, track aggregate browsing behavior, redirect affiliate references, and display advertisements.

HuntBar spyware information

This is a hijacker application. Hijackers take control of your web browser's settings, and usually change your homepage, search page or other default pages to point to web sites owned by the hijacker. Since the hijackers can make money based on the number of visits to their web sites, they benefit from forcing you to view their web sites each time your web browser opens. Hijackers don't normally damage your computer or steal your personal information. * Size: 1,532,928 bytes * Threat level: Low * Author: First Cash Reserve, LLC * Appeared: Variants from April, 2003 to February, 2004 * Detections: 6,803,305

References

Spyware {{Malware-stub