PUP.Optional.Conduit

Short bio

PUP.Optional.Conduit refers to an online platform that allowed web publishers to create custom toolbars and apps at no cost. Conduit toolbars may change user and/or browser settings, display advertising leading to other known potentially unwanted programs (PUPs), and cause the overall speed of the computer to diminish.

Conduit was merged with Israeli-based Perion, and the company ceased toolbar operations in 2014.

Type and source of the infection

Conduit was one of the most widely-encountered toolbars of its time.

While the impact of this PUP has diminished with the dissolution of the Conduit brand, detections may remain on legacy systems.

Protection

Malwarebytes protects users from PUP.Optional.Conduit by using real-time protection.

Malwarebytes blocks PUP.Optional.Conduit

Remediation

Malwarebytes can detect and remove PUP.Optional.Conduit without further user interaction.

Please download Malwarebytes to your desktop.
Double-click MBSetup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
When your Malwarebytes for Windows installation completes, the program opens to the Welcome to Malwarebytes screen.
Click on the Get started button.
Click Scan to start a Threat Scan.
Click Quarantine to remove the found threats.
Reboot the system if prompted to complete the removal process.

Add an exclusion

Should users wish to keep this program and exclude it from being detected in future scans, they can add the program to the exclusions list. Here’s how to do it.

Open Malwarebytes for Windows.
Click the Detection History
Click the Allow List
To add an item to the Allow List, click Add.
Select the exclusion type Allow a file or folder and use the Select a folder button to select the main folder for the software that you wish to keep.
Repeat this for any secondary files or folder(s) that belong to the software.

If you want to allow the program to connect to the Internet, for example to fetch updates, also add an exclusion of the type Allow an application to connect to the internet and use the Browse button to select the file you wish to grant access.