Engage

Engage is not some kind of new malware discovered by our malware researchers. Instead, a thorough analysis conducted by specialists has shown that it is nothing more than a tracking cookie. Tracking cookies are not considered to be harmful malicious software, but, in some cases, they might raise privacy concerns. Speaking about Engage, it was detected by specialists for the first time 18 years ago, and it seems that it had been active for two years only. As a consequence, it is not very likely that your diagnostic scanner will inform you about its presence on your system or you discover it yourself today unless you have been using the same computer and web browser for the past 18 years. We know this is not very likely, but if the miracle happens and you find it listed next to other cookies on the web browser you use, or your antimalware/antivirus scanner informs you about its presence, remove it if you consider yourself a privacy-minded person. Keep in mind that the presence of tracking cookies on the system is only a tiny problem if compared to the entrance of real malicious applications, for example, ransomware, Trojans, or spyware.

Let’s talk about Engage in more detail even though, as mentioned, this tracking cookie is no longer active, and it is impossible to encounter it these days. Research has revealed that Engage was closely associated with the website Engage.com while it was still active. Theoretically, users could have found it installed on their computers after a visit or a redirect to this website, but other websites, even those completely legitimate ones, could have placed it on users’ computers too. Specialists say that this website is already dead, so they could not closely inspect it, but, according to them, it is very likely that it was primarily focusing on online advertising. Today, it redirects straight to another website which is not linked to advertising in any way. As for the main functions performed by Engage back then, specialists have no doubt that it was used to track users’ online behavior. Additionally, it could have been used to provide users with targeted advertisements, i.e. commercial advertisements that are linked to users’ Internet surfing behavior, habits, and their interests. Last but not least, the Engage tracking cookie could have been used to track certain advertising campaigns. Speaking about the collection of information about users in more detail, it is not very likely that it collected any details that fall into the personally-identifiable information category, specialists say. In other words, it is more likely that it used to collect various non-personally identifiable details about users’ online behavior, interests, habits, and, most importantly, preferences.

Tracking cookies are tiny pieces of information that might be placed on users’ computers. While they, theoretically, might be related to privacy concerns, they are no doubt not as dangerous as real malicious applications. As a consequence, they are NOT distributed using typical malware distribution methods. The same can be said about Engage. It is no longer active, so our specialists could not test it; however, they suspect that it used to act like other tracking cookies that can be encountered these days. To be more specific, it was probably placed on users’ computers after visiting certain websites. As mentioned, it is not very likely that you will find it on your computer today, but if you do, it would be best to get rid of Engage. It is, technically, not malicious, but it will not enhance your web browsing experience in any way either, so we see no reason you should keep it.

It might seem that it is quite tricky to remove tracking cookies at first, but it is not, believe us, especially if you use our instructions (they are provided right below this paragraph). As we have already mentioned in this report, users should not encounter Engage these days, but we have asked our specialists to prepare these step-by-step instructions just in case. You can use our manual removal guide to delete other undesirable cookies from your computer too.

Delete Engage manually

Internet Explorer

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Press Alt+T on your keyboard and open Internet Options.
3. Open the General tab.
4. Under Browsing history, click Delete.
5. Mark Cookies and website data.
6. Click Delete.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Click the menu button after you launch Mozilla Firefox.
2. Click Library.
3. Click Clear Recent History… under History.
4. Set Everything next to Time range to clear.
5. Click on the arrow next to Details and then mark Cookies.
6. Click Clear Now.

Google Chrome

1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Press Alt+F to access the browser’s menu and click Settings.
3. Click Advanced at the bottom.
4. Select Content settings under Privacy and security.
5. Open Cookies.
6. Access See all cookies and site data.
7. Click Remove all.
8. Confirm the removal by clicking Clear all.