Do you know what Magala is?
Magala is an invisible threat whose activity you cannot notice unless you observe something using up your computer’s resources. This threat is a Trojan that was created to automatically click certain links to boost traffic and click-counts for a monetary gain. Although the parties using this click-fraud tool are not trying to harm specific users, they are doing a disservice to those parties who pay for the promotional services. These parties might be paying to have their links/ads advertised to real people, and, of course, that is not what the Trojan is all about. Because money is given for every click made, unreliable advertisers are using the Trojan to help them make money faster. Although the infection does not threaten its victims directly, it employs toolbars that are classified as potentially unwanted programs and search tools that are classified as browser hijackers. Interacting with them can be risky, and so their removal is recommended. Of course, it is also very important to delete Magala.
The questionable Magala uses a virtual Desktop to conceal its activity. The infection adds itself to the startup, ensuring that click-fraud is performed even if the user restarts the computer. The Trojan downloads a toolbar, and a browser hijacker follows it. There are hundreds of toolbars that Mindspark Interactive Network has developed and that can be employed by the Trojan, a few of them including MapsGalaxy Toolbar, MyTransitGuide Toolbar, and FlightSearch Toolbar. All of these toolbars employ the MyWay browser hijacker that takes over the home page and the default search provider of the Internet Explorer browser. Notably, the Trojan works only if IE is newer than version 8. Magala connects to a remote server for a list of links that must be clicked. After this, it sends a query via a search engine and clicks the first 10 results just to make money. As mentioned previously, the Trojan does all of that silently, but this activity could lead to slower connection speeds, and so it might be noticeable in some cases.
The parties that the malicious Magala Trojan is associated with are not known, and so it is hard to say that all parties are clueless about the fraud. It is also possible that malicious parties are using the infection to click on ads that will place malicious tracking cookies that might record personal and non-personal information. This, of course, could affect the victim directly. Due to this, we cannot say that Magala is not a danger to regular users. Although it does not affect the user directly, its activity could lead to virtual security problems. The same can be said about any interaction with the toolbar and the hijacker that the infection employs. In conclusion, the Trojan is a threat that must be removed as soon as possible.
The manual removal instructions posted below should help you remove Magala from your operating system, and the section showing how to change search provider and homepage settings should free your Internet Explorer browser. Afterward, we also recommend clearing the cookies and then performing a full system scan to examine your operating system. The scanner will not take much time, and if any malicious leftovers are found, you want to know about that right away so you could take action. Since manual removal is not for everyone, we also have to discuss automatic elimination. Have you considered installing anti-malware software to clear your operating system from malicious infections? If you want reliable protection against dangerous threats in the future, you need this software, and if you install it now, you do not need to worry about the elimination of the Trojan.
Delete Magala
- Tap Win+E to launch Explorer and enter %LOCALAPPDATA% into the bar at the top.
- Right-click and Delete the folder representing the Mindspark toolbar (e.g., MapsGalaxy, MyTransitGuide, FlightSearchtooltab, etc.).
- Open Internet Explorer and tap keys Alt+T to access the Tools menu.
- Click the General tab and then move to the Home Page.
- Overwrite the URL and click OK.
- Tap Alt+T again, select Manage Add-ons, and then move to the Search Providers menu.
- Select the preferred provider, Remove the hijacker, and click Close.
- Tap keys Ctrl+Shift+Delete to access the Delete Browsing History menu.
- Check the boxes representing the data you want to remove (e.g., Cookies) and click Delete.
- Empty Recycle Bin.
In non-techie terms:
Magala is a Trojan that must be deleted from the Windows operating system immediately. This threat is silent, and it performs click-fraud by silently connecting to certain sites and clicking advertisements. Though this infection is not intended to harm the victim directly, its interaction with links could, for example, lead to the placement of unreliable tracking cookies. This is one of the things that can happen if you do not remove Magala right away. Although it is best to install anti-malware software to have this threat eliminated automatically, we have also created a manual removal guide for those with more experience. If you are having issues with the operation, start a discussion in the comments section.