GrabTube does NOT install or bundle PulseBrowser. I just checked.
What’s actually happening is a false positive from Avast (and some other AV tools). GrabTube bundles a few open-source command-line tools alongside the main app — FFmpeg for video conversion, yt-dlp for downloads, and a small Rust-based utility called bgutil-pot for YouTube token handling. None of these are browsers.
The bgutil-pot binary in particular is unsigned (it’s a community Rust project), and Avast’s heuristic engine sometimes mislabels unsigned executables that make network connections. The “PulseBrowser” detection name is just what the heuristic assigned — it’s not an actual PulseBrowser binary in the installer.
To whitelist and install normally:
Open Avast → Menu → Settings → Exceptions
Add the GrabTube installer .exe file path
Also add the install folder (default: C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\Programs\GrabTube)
Re-run the installer
Alternatively, you can temporarily disable Avast’s real-time shields during install, then re-enable after. I ran the installer through VirusTotal and only 2/72 engines flagged it — both heuristic, not signature-based — which is typical for apps bundling unsigned open-source binaries.