They also gather information relating to users' browsing activities (e.g., geolocations, entered search queries, addresses of visited pages, IP addresses, and other browsing data). Usually, the other apps are browser hijackers and adware-type apps.īrowser hijacking apps promote the addresses of fake search engines by changing certain browser settings. Therefore, people often install more than one PUA through a single setup.

PUAs are often distributed together with other apps of this type. The main purpose of this is to trick people into activating the software (paying for the 'full version'). I.e., they generate fake results so that users believe that, by fixing the 'detected issues', they will improve computer performance. They might allow users to scan systems for various issues and errors, but they do not fix them. WinOptimizer is a legitimate application, however, there are many PUAs that are not. Commonly, users download and install PUAs inadvertently. In fact, this program is categorized as a potentially unwanted application (PUA), since developers distribute it through the set-ups of other programs. Like most programs of this type, it suggests that people can scan their computers for unnecessary files, registry entries and running services, invalid shortcuts, etc. As its name suggests, WinOptimizer is software that supposedly analyzes and optimizes Windows computers.

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