What is UC Browser? Is UC Browser legit or a scam? Is UC Browser an adware? How to remove UC Browser PUP from your PC or Mac?
The UC Browser PUP is a malware version of a legitimate and well-known web browser. It is made by multiple hacker groups and distributed over the Internet in large-scale distribution campaigns. These samples can lead to many different types of malicious actions, including the delivery of other threats. Even if the real UC Browser is installed on a given system we recommend that users check if it is not a malware or a PUP.
Threat Summary
| Name | UC Browser |
| Type | Adware, PUP |
| Short Description | Poses as a legitimate and useful web browser. |
| Symptoms | The victims may notice performance issues and can get infected with other malware. |
| Distribution Method | Mainly via download sites and file sharing networks. |
| Detection Tool |
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User Experience | Join Our Forum to Discuss UC Browser. |
UC Browser PUP — How Did I Get It?
The UC Browser is a popular web browser of which many PUP derivatives have been made. They are virus-infected copies of the software which are widely distributed posing as the real and safe program. This is a very popular threat as there are various made for many operating systems.
Infections can be made using a variety of methods, due to the fact that it is one of the most popular browsers among the younger generation. This has provoked a rise of the PUP variants. A common method is the coordination of email phishing campaigns that are sent to the victims. Various social engineering tactics are used in order to persuade them into installing the UC Browser PUP — an optimized web browsing experience, improvements over previous versions and etc.
The other popular method is to create scam Internet sites that aim to imitate well-known download portals, search engines and landing pages. They are hosted on similar sounding web pages to popular locations and may be signed with security certificates.
The installation of the browser can be triggered by interaction with various payload carriers of which there are two main types — modified documents that include malicious macros (of all types: text documents, spreadsheets, presentations and databases) and application installers.
The UC Browser PUP infection can also be triggered via the installation and use of browser hijackers which are dangerous plugins made for the most popular browsers. They are widely used to redirect the users to a hacker-controlled page (usually a download landing site) or to directly deliver the UC Browser PUP to the victim computers. One of the most popular places where such hijackers can be found are the associated plugin repositories where they are posted with fake user reviews and developer credentials.
UC Browser PUP – What Does It Do?
The malicious UC Browser PUP versions can cause a series of dangerous actions on the affected devices. In many cases the users will not be able to distinguish between the legitimate and a fake and malicious PUP. In this case there may be more than one hacker collective sending out the UC Browser PUP to their intended victims. This means that different campaigns can be intermixed and several different infections can provide different behavior patterns.
Such samples can launch a sequence of dangerous actions that are governed by the hackers. Such infections usually begin with a data harvesting component which can be used to gather information about the victim users thereby exposing their identity. It can also be used to generate an unique infection ID that can differentiate each host.
The UC Browser has recently been found to include a bug in its stable release which allows computer hackers to deliver malware. This is found within the Android release showing that the company behind it has also violated the rules of the Google Play Store which prohibits such software to be uploaded to the official repository. Given this history of violations it is recommended that users of all UC Browser versions check if they are running the latest version. It is alarming that this is due to a design flaw which may pave the way for other exploits in future releases which may still remain undiscovered.
Many similar PUPs can use the acquired information in order to bypass the existing security applications and services which usually targets anti-virus programs, firewalls, virtual machine hosts and sandbox environments.
When these components have finished running various other malicious actions can take place:
- Windows Registry Changes — The associated engine can lead to multiple edits in the Windows Registry. They can create strings for the PUP itself and modify existing entries and delete them. This leads to serious performance issues, unexpected errors and loss of data.
- Persistent Infections — The UC Browser PUPs can be programmed to edit important configuration files which can block the users ability to access recovery boot menus. An additional consequence is that this will make most manual user removal guides worthless.
- Data Removal — The engine can locate and remove sensitive data which makes recovery much more difficult: backups, shadow volume copies and restore points.
- UC Browser Adware Component – UC Browser can add an adware component that can load a lot of pop-ups and gather data about its users.
- Additional Threats Deliver — The dangerous versions of the UC Browser can be programmed to deliver other threats, popular ones include Trojans and cryptocurrency miners.
As the UC Browser PUP samples are made by various hacker collectives around the world the variants will just continue being produced. Moreover, the UC Browser Adware can be added. Every single acquired samples can have a different behavior pattern which makes this PUP extremely dangerous. As soon as it has been placed on a given computer we advise that a quality anti-spyware solution is used in order to ensure that it is not a malicious release.
Remove UC Browser PUP
In order to fully remove UC Browser from your computer system, we recommend that you follow the removal instructions underneath this article. If the first two manual removal steps do not seem to work and you still see UC Browser or programs, related to it, we suggest what most security experts advise – to download and run a scan of your comptuer with a reputable anti-malware program. Downloading this software will not only save you some time, but will remove all of UC Browser files and programs related to it and will protect your computer against such intrusive apps and malware in the future.
Martin Beltov
Martin graduated with a degree in Publishing from Sofia University. As a cyber security enthusiast he enjoys writing about the latest threats and mechanisms of intrusion.
Follow Me:
- Guide 1: How to Remove UC Browser from Windows.
- Guide 2: Get rid of UC Browser from Mac OS X.
- Guide 3: Remove UC Browser from Google Chrome.
- Guide 4: Erase UC Browser from Mozilla Firefox.
- Guide 5: Uninstall UC Browser from Microsoft Edge.
- Guide 6: Remove UC Browser from Safari.
- Guide 7: Eliminate UC Browser from Internet Explorer.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
How to Remove UC Browser from Windows.
Step 1: Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove UC Browser
Step 2: Uninstall UC Browser and related software from Windows
Here is a method in few easy steps that should be able to uninstall most programs. No matter if you are using Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP, those steps will get the job done. Dragging the program or its folder to the recycle bin can be a very bad decision. If you do that, bits and pieces of the program are left behind, and that can lead to unstable work of your PC, errors with the file type associations and other unpleasant activities. The proper way to get a program off your computer is to Uninstall it. To do that:
Follow the instructions above and you will successfully uninstall most programs.
Step 3: Clean any registries, created by UC Browser on your computer.
The usually targeted registries of Windows machines are the following:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
You can access them by opening the Windows registry editor and deleting any values, created by UC Browser there. This can happen by following the steps underneath:
Tip: To find a virus-created value, you can right-click on it and click "Modify" to see which file it is set to run. If this is the virus file location, remove the value.
Before starting "Step 4", please boot back into Normal mode, in case you are currently in Safe Mode.
This will enable you to install and use SpyHunter 5 successfully.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Get rid of UC Browser from Mac OS X.
Step 1: Uninstall UC Browser and remove related files and objects
1. Hit the ⇧+⌘+U keys to open Utilities. Another way is to click on “Go” and then click “Utilities”, like the image below shows:
- Go to Finder.
- In the search bar type the name of the app that you want to remove.
- Above the search bar change the two drop down menus to “System Files” and “Are Included” so that you can see all of the files associated with the application you want to remove. Bear in mind that some of the files may not be related to the app so be very careful which files you delete.
- If all of the files are related, hold the ⌘+A buttons to select them and then drive them to “Trash”.
In case you cannot remove UC Browser via Step 1 above:
In case you cannot find the virus files and objects in your Applications or other places we have shown above, you can manually look for them in the Libraries of your Mac. But before doing this, please read the disclaimer below:
You can repeat the same procedure with the following other Library directories:
→ ~/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
Tip: ~ is there on purpose, because it leads to more LaunchAgents.
Step 2: Scan for and remove UC Browser files from your Mac
When you are facing problems on your Mac as a result of unwanted scripts and programs such as UC Browser, the recommended way of eliminating the threat is by using an anti-malware program. SpyHunter for Mac offers advanced security features along with other modules that will improve your Mac’s security and protect it in the future.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Remove UC Browser from Google Chrome.
Step 1: Start Google Chrome and open the drop menu
Step 2: Move the cursor over "Tools" and then from the extended menu choose "Extensions"
Step 3: From the opened "Extensions" menu locate the unwanted extension and click on its "Remove" button.
Step 4: After the extension is removed, restart Google Chrome by closing it from the red "X" button at the top right corner and start it again.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Erase UC Browser from Mozilla Firefox.
Step 1: Start Mozilla Firefox. Open the menu window
Step 2: Select the "Add-ons" icon from the menu.
Step 3: Select the unwanted extension and click "Remove"
Step 4: After the extension is removed, restart Mozilla Firefox by closing it from the red "X" button at the top right corner and start it again.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Uninstall UC Browser from Microsoft Edge.
Step 1: Start Edge browser.
Step 2: Open the drop menu by clicking on the icon at the top right corner.
Step 3: From the drop menu select "Extensions".
Step 4: Choose the suspected malicious extension you want to remove and then click on the gear icon.
Step 5: Remove the malicious extension by scrolling down and then clicking on Uninstall.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Remove UC Browser from Safari.
Step 1: Start the Safari app.
Step 2: After hovering your mouse cursor to the top of the screen, click on the Safari text to open its drop down menu.
Step 3: From the menu, click on "Preferences".
Step 4: After that, select the 'Extensions' Tab.
Step 5: Click once on the extension you want to remove.
Step 6: Click 'Uninstall'.
A pop-up window will appear asking for confirmation to uninstall the extension. Select 'Uninstall' again, and the UC Browser will be removed.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Eliminate UC Browser from Internet Explorer.
Step 1: Start Internet Explorer.
Step 2: Click on the gear icon labeled 'Tools' to open the drop menu and select 'Manage Add-ons'
Step 3: In the 'Manage Add-ons' window.
Step 4: Select the extension you want to remove and then click 'Disable'. A pop-up window will appear to inform you that you are about to disable the selected extension, and some more add-ons might be disabled as well. Leave all the boxes checked, and click 'Disable'.
Step 5: After the unwanted extension has been removed, restart Internet Explorer by closing it from the red 'X' button located at the top right corner and start it again.
