
On September 18th, 2017, Cisco’s Talos announced that CCleaner, a popular utility with billions of worldwide users, had been compromised by hackers, and was used to unwittingly distribute hidden malware in its installer. Later in the day, Piriform, the publisher of CCleaner, confirmed the problem.
Undetected by all but 1 major antivirus including CCleaner’s own parent company, this occurred for over a month and impacted over 2.7 million users. Users of CCleaner v5.33.6162 and CCleaner Cloud v1.07.3191 for 32-bit Windows are affected. These downloads were live on CCleaner’s official site from August 15th to September 12th, 2017. Anyone who downloaded the program during this time could be affected.
The company claims that while the hackers set up the backdoor and many users were impacted, that the perpetrators have been arrested and that the malware never successfully performed its full task and compromised user’s PCs or sent out their data; in the wake of recent security breaches such as Equifax, users are understandably worried. Given the severity of the threat of hacking and data theft, users should take action immediately if they have CCleaner.
First reported by Talos, the malware, which was hidden in the CCleaner installer without the publisher noticing (despite them being owned by Avast, a massive Anti-virus company), modified a core program DLL file to evade detection, and creates several registry keys. Not only were these files not flagged by any major Anti-Virus, but they were also even digitally signed by Piriform via their Symantec certificate, meaning your PC and security program would likely whitelist and trust the malicious installer. The malware gathers personal information on a user’s PC, including IP address and running programs, and sends it to a remote server. In our testing, the program sent data to IP 216.126.225.148.
As of the publication of this article, there have been no assurances given that updating or even uninstalling CCleaner will remove the malware is installed. The only action thus far has been shutting down the remote server where user data was being sent has been shut down by authorities. For this reason, it is best to remove the underlying malware separately, as its presence represents a serious security threat. Unfortunately, as this could have been installed as far back as August 15th, 2017, your System Restore points may not go back that far, or even if they do, restoring to such an outdated point may cause unintended problems with other programs you use and potentially lost files and data. Manually backing up files and doing a full format or clean Windows installation would likely be successful in fully removing the malware, but is extremely time-consuming and can be difficult for many PC users. Unfortunately, this makes a PC Restore or format an unattainable option for many.
While CCleaner has told users to update to the latest version of the program. Prior to doing so, we recommend fully uninstall CCleaner, ensuring you check its program files folders and registry keys, manually deleting any remnants, and then re-downloading the latest version from the official site and reinstalling clean.
You may experience error code 24 when you try to use a device on your PC that is not properly installed or its driver is corrupted. Code 24 is a Device Manager error and it pops up on your computer screen in the following format:
“This device is not present, is not working properly, or does not have all its drivers installed. (Code 24)”
Error code 24 may be triggered due to several reasons. However, the most common causes for this error code include:
It is recommended to resolve the error code to ensure your PC works at its optimal performance. Error code 24 can lower the device functionality and PC performance dramatically.
Since this error code can mean several different things, troubleshooting it can be quite tricky but to make it simple to resolve, we have listed down some easy methods to repair error code 24.
Try these methods to fix error 24 on your PC and ensure your system works at its optimal pace. Let’s get started….
Problems with BIOS, the controlling software in the PC motherboard, can sometimes trigger hardware conflicts resulting in Device Manager error code pop-ups.
In such a scenario, it is advisable to update BIOS. To update, go to your PC motherboard manufacturer’s website. Here you will be able to find instructions on updating BIOS.
Follow the instructions carefully to resolve error code 24 on your system. If the error code still persists, then try other methods discussed below.
If you experienced code 24 on your PC after installing new devices, then it is advisable to remove them to resolve the error code.
If the device is attached to your computer, then simply disconnect and remove it immediately. Once you disconnect it, reboot your system to activate changes.
If device removal does not resolve the problem, then consider updating the device driver. Code 24 is also related to driver problems.
It can occur if a device driver is corrupted or outdated. In such an event, it is advisable to update the driver by installing the new and latest device driver version on your PC.
For doing this, simply download the latest device driver version from the manufacturer’s website and update it.
Finding problematic drivers and the latest device driver versions to update them, however, can be time-consuming and sometimes even frustrating. To avoid being in this situation, it is advisable to download DriverFIX.
DriverFIX is a cutting-edge, user-friendly and an innovative program exclusively designed to resolve device driver related issues and problems on computer systems
It is integrated with the newest technology and intelligent programming system that enables and empowers PC users like you to repair device driver error codes in seconds.
Once you install this software on your PC, simply run it. The software program instantly detects all problematic drivers and updates them with their latest versions available on the internet.
All this is done in mere seconds and it’s not time-consuming at all. Moreover, device driver updates are performed frequently to ensure that you don’t experience any driver problems again.
Click here to download DriverFIX and repair Device Manager error code 24 right away.
Holiday Photo Edit is a Browser Extension for Google Chrome developed by Mindspark Inc. and offers users a basic photo editing tool alongside links to some popular editing websites.
When installed this extension changes your default search engine to MyWay and hijacks your New Tab page, changing it to HolidayPhotoEdit. It monitors user browsing activity recording visited websites and clicked links in order to learn more about the user, this data is later used/sold to better target Injected Ads.
While browsing the internet with the HolidayPhotoEdit extension enabled, users will experience more ads throughout their search results, additional sponsored links to partner products, and sometimes even pop-up ads with special giveaways designed to lure users to buy something.
Popular anti-virus scanners have marked HolidayPhotoEdit as a Browser Hijacker, and it is recommended to remove it from your computer.
“We couldn’t install Windows 10. The installation failed in the SAFE_OS phase with an error during INSTALL_UPDATES operation: Error 0x800F081F” “The installation failed in the Safe_OS phase with an error during apply_image operation: Error: 0x800f081f – 0x20003”To fix this kind of Windows Update error, you need not use external programs but you can try to disable the Developer Mode, run the Windows Update troubleshooter or restart all the Windows Update-related services and components. For more details, refer to the options provided below.