Win32.TrojanSpy.Plankton

Win32.TrojanSpy.Plankton is a malicious application that tends to come affiliated with harmful entities, which will only compromise the performance of any computer it has embedded itself within.
Win32.TrojanSpy.Plankton is also believed to display properties of a Browser Helper Object, as Win32.TrojanSpy.Plankton consists of an add-on to Internet explorer that tracks the text users enter into a search field.
What Win32.TrojanSpy.Plankton will do is load up with Internet Explorer, as a Browser Helper Object (BHO). This means that Win32.TrojanSpy.Plankton is a dynamic link library (DLL) that tends to run as soon as Internet Explorer is started.
Although this type of program is not always malicious, it has been known to perform suspicious activity such as monitoring the user’s internet behavior, forwarding that along (with information regarding the other programs on the infected computer) to third-party sources.

BHO’s are usually installed covertly onto an unsuspecting computer system, so as to ensure the secretive gathering of information from the infected computer to a remote controller; therefore Win32.TrojanSpy.Plankton is considered malware, as it enters into a system usually without the user\'s knowledge or consent.

Once the Win32.TrojanSpy.Plankton program is installed it may start to display very intrusive pop-up messages and advertisements.

The pop-up messages may take up all of the available workspace on a users screen, rendering the computer useless for several moments.

Unfortunately, the end-user typically has no knowledge of the presence of this malware ... until things start to go wrong.

There are a few ways this application could have entered into a system, namely:
- The user’s operating system and Web browser security setting are too flexible and relaxed
- The user does not follow safe Internet and PC practices.

There are also a few symptoms affiliated with this type of malware infection, which are usually tell-tale signs of an infection:

1. PC is working slowly
2. New desktop shortcuts are displayed on the system
3. Annoying pop-up messages (in some cases) keep appearing on the PC
4. E-mails are being sent from your email address without your consent.

The best way to ensure whether your system has been infected is to perform a full computer system scan with a legitimate anti-spyware application.

The fact that Win32.TrojanSpy.Plankton can easily enter any PC system via security exploits and flaws, most times without the user’s interaction, means that it is that much easier for Win32.TrojanSpy.Plankton to enter the system and ensure the system’s security is immensely compromised.

The best way to deal with the threat of Win32.TrojanSpy.Plankton is to simply remove it from the affected PC system.

Although manual removal may be the best way to delete this parasite, and all its affiliates, the manual removal process is rather complicated and cumbersome, and should not be attempted by a computer novice, as one needs to be able to navigate their way around the registry files of the infected system.

I would recommend that in order to avoid any unneeded risks of damage to your computer system, it is highly recommended to make use of a reliable and legitimate anti-spyware application, so as to remove Win32.TrojanSpy.Plankton and all its components from the infected computer system.