Zip Cruncher Removal Guide

You might want to install Zip Cruncher and use it as a tool for extracting and archiving files, but, in our opinion, you should not do this, especially when there are so many other trustworthy applications available on the market. No, Zip Cruncher is not considered a malicious application; however, specialists tend to classify it as a potentially unwanted application, or PUP. One of the reasons it has been put under this category is the fact that its quality is very poor. As researchers at 411-spyware.com have noticed during the analysis they carried out, it has many flaws in its UI and, on top of that, it even loads its interface from http://baseapp.zipcruncher.com/, which suggests that it is not hardcoded. Despite having a bunch of drawbacks, it seems that it is capable of extracting and archiving files; however, we still suggest that you replace this program with a more reliable program with similar features. If you decide to remove Zip Cruncher, we are sure you will successfully do this yourself manually because this program has an uninstaller. That is, its entry can be found in Control Panel.

Even though Zip Cruncher has drawbacks, it still works. To be more specific, you could compress and decompress .zip and .rar files with it. As has been observed, it places all compressed files in one particular directory, so if you cannot locate them, you should check the %USERPROFILE%\Documents directory. Speaking about archived files, they are always extracted to a new folder named after the archive. You will find this new folder in the archive’s location, for example, if you select to extract \Desktop\dog.zip, you will find the extracted file in \Desktop\dog.zip\dog.jpg.

The Zip Cruncher application does what it says, but it is far from being a perfect file zipper/extractor. It has been observed that it not only compresses and decompresses files. It has turned out that it also uses the Internet connection to connect to two domains: alpha1.giantlaser.net and suggestqueries.l.google.com. Evidently, one of these domains is associated with Google, so it should not be dangerous, but it is hard to judge the trustworthiness of the other one. According to our researchers, there is a possibility that Zip Cruncher connects to these domains because it sends some information from the user’s computer. Potentially unwanted programs are not real malicious applications, so they do not access passwords, logins, and other personal details. Instead, they focus on the collection of the so-called non-personally identifiable information that consists of various details about users’ online behavior, habits, and interests. These details might be disclosed to third parties, including advertisers and business partners. There is nothing we know about them, so we cannot tell you what they will do with the recorded information if they receive it.

Researchers have also come across a search tool (http://go.zipcruncher.com/) of Zip Cruncher. Even though it did not set it on web browsers at the time of research, there is a possibility that this program will be updated in the future. If it happens, you might find this search provider set as your new homepage/default search tool/New Tab URL after you install Zip Cruncher on your computer. You should never blindly trust search providers promoted by suspicious software.

Let’s now talk about the distribution of Zip Cruncher. As mentioned in the first paragraph of this report, Zip Cruncher can be downloaded directly from its official source – http://www.zipcruncher.com/, but it would be very naïve to expect that all users who encounter this potentially unwanted program install it on their systems consciously. Potentially unwanted applications are often spread bundled, so you could have installed this program alongside other programs. It is the same potentially unwanted application in all the cases, so we suggest that you remove Zip Cruncher no matter how it has entered your system.

We are sure you will delete Zip Cruncher yourself manually. You simply need to delete it using Control Panel. If this does not tell you anything, you should use our manual removal guide to – it will guide you through the Zip Cruncher removal. Alternatively, you can remove the main folder (AppMaster) from %APPDATA% by hand or use an antimalware scanner.

How to delete Zip Cruncher

Windows XP

1. Click Start to open the menu and select Control Panel.
2. Click Add or Remove Programs.
3. Select Zip Cruncher.
4. Click Remove.

Windows 7/Vista/8/8.1/10

1. Press two buttons: Win+R.
2. Type Control Panel in the box and click OK.
3. Click Uninstall a program.
4. Select Zip Cruncher from the list.
5. Click Uninstall.