Did you find Augmenter on your machine?
You can remove Augmenter with FreeFixer:
Or from the Windows Control Panel:
Did that solve the problem?
Monthly Archives: November 2014
Remove BrickBooster / BrickBooster.exe – Reported as Adware and Trojan
Just a short post on this. If you’ve found the BrickBooster trojan / adware on your machine, you should remove it. Either using FreeFixer or from the Add/Remove programs dialog.
The BrickBooster.exe process:
Here’s how to remove BrickBooster from the Windows Control Panel:
Thanks for reading.
Remove BrickStrengthener – BrickStrengthener.exe Uninstall Guide
Hello readers. Welcome to the blog. Today I wanted to talk about an adware/trojan called BrickStrengthener and thought I should give you some removal instructions. If the BrickStrengthener adware is running on your machine, you will see BrickStrengthener.exe running in the Task Manager and a new scheduled task called “BrickStrengthener” added on the computer. I’ll show how to remove BrickStrengthener in this blog post with the FreeFixer removal tool.
BrickStrengthener.exe is located in C:\ProgramData\Trusted Publisher\BrickStrengthener\.
BrickStrengthener is distributed by a tactic called bundling. Bundling means that a piece of software is included in other software’s installers.
As always when I stumble upon some new bundled software I uploaded it to VirusTotal to check if the anti-virus software there detect anything suspicious. 30% of the scanners detected the file. The BrickStrengthener files are detected as TR/Crypt.ZPACK.73153 by Avira, Trojan.GenericKD.1867152 by F-Secure, Artemis!DEBA33DB1675 by McAfee and BehavesLike.Win32.FakeAlert.bc by McAfee-GW-Edition.
Since you probably want to remove BrickStrengthener, these are the items you should check for removal if you want to remove it with FreeFixer. A reboot of your machine may be required to complete the removal. Problem solved.
Hope this helped you remove the BrickStrengthener adware.
I stumbled upon BrickStrengthener while testing out some downloads that are known to bundled lots of unwanted software. Any idea how BrickStrengthener was installed on your system? Please share by posting a comment. Thank you very much!
Hope you found this useful. Thanks for reading.
How To Remove PremiumEnforcer
Found a new program called PremiumEnforcer bundled with another download this morning. You probably want to remove PremiumEnforcer and it’s pretty easy. Just uninstall it from the Add/Remove programs dialog:
How To Stop sweepappliance.biz Pop-Up Surveys – Adware Removal Guide
Did you just get a pop-up survey from sweepappliance.biz and ask yourself where it came from? Did the sweepappliance.biz survey appear to have been launched from a web site that under normal circumstances don’t use aggressive advertising such as pop-up windows?
If you see this survey, you probably have some adware installed on your machine that pop up the sweepappliance.biz ads. I’ll try help you with the sweepappliance.biz removal in this blog post.
wxdzz.promorewards.sweepappliance.biz resolves to the 96.126.122.65 IP and sweepappliance.biz resolves to 184.73.247.179.
For those that are new to the blog: A little while back I dedicated a few of my lab systems and deliberately installed a few adware programs on them. I have been monitoring the behaviour on these machines to see what kinds of advertisements that are displayed. I’m also looking on other interesting things such as if the adware updates itself, or if it downloads and installs additional unwanted software on the machines. I first spotted the sweepappliance.biz pop-up survey on one of these lab computers.
So, how do you remove the sweepappliance.biz pop-up pop-up ads? On the machine where I got the sweepappliance.biz ads I had SmartOnes and CheckMeUp installed. I removed them with FreeFixer and that stopped the sweepappliance.biz pop-ups and all the other ads I was getting in Firefox.
Judging from Alexa’s traffic rank, sweepappliance.biz is getting some traffic:
The issue with this type of pop-up is that it can be launched by many variants of adware. This makes it impossible to say exactly what you need to remove to stop the pop-ups.
Anyway, here’s my suggestion for the sweepappliance.biz ads removal:
The first thing I would do to remove the sweepappliance.biz pop-ups is to examine the software installed on the machine, by opening the “Uninstall programs” dialog. You can find this dialog from the Windows Control Panel. If you are using one of the more recent versions of Windows you can just type in “uninstall” in the Control Panel’s search field to find that dialog:
Click on the “Uninstall a program” link and the Uninstall programs dialog will open up:
Do you see something suspect listed there or something that you don’t remember installing? Tip: Sort on the “Installed On” column to see if something was installed approximately about the same time as you started observing the sweepappliance.biz pop-ups.
I think you will be able to track down and uninstall the adware with the steps outlined above, but in case that did not work you can try the FreeFixer removal tool to identify and remove the adware. FreeFixer is a freeware tool that I’ve developed since 2006. It’s a tool designed to manually identify and uninstall unwanted software. When you’ve tracked down the unwanted files you can simply tick a checkbox and click on the Fix button to remove the unwanted file.
FreeFixer’s removal feature is not crippled like many other removal tools out there. It will not require you to purchase the program just when you are about to remove the unwanted files.
And if you’re having troubles figuring out if a file is clean or adware in FreeFixer’s scan result, click on the More Info link for the file. That will open up a web page which contains more information about the file. On that web page, check out the VirusTotal report which can be very useful:
Are you a Mac or Linux user and get the sweepappliance.biz popups? What did you do to stop the pop-up in your browser? Please share in the comments below. Thanks!
What adware did you remove from your machine?
Did this blog post help you to remove the sweepappliance.biz pop-up ads? Please let me know or how I can improve this blog post.
Thank you!
Remove BuyNSave and BrickProvider Adware
Just wanted to write a short blog post before going back to coding. I just found another bundled adware called BuyNSave / BrickProvider and give you some removal instructions. If you got BuyNSave / BrickProvider on your computer, you will see BrickProvider.exe running in the Task Manager, an add-on named BuyNSave added into Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox and a new scheduled task called BrickProvider. Chrome dodged the adware. I’ll show how to remove BuyNSave / BrickProvider in this blog post with the FreeFixer removal tool.
Here’s BrickProvider.exe in the Task Manager:
BuyNSave add-on in Firefox:
And BuyNSave in Internet Explorer:
BuyNSave / BrickProvider is bundled in other software’s installers. Here’s how it was disclosed in the installer where I found it:
YouTubeAdBlocke was also included in the installer.
As always when I find some new bundled software I uploaded it to VirusTotal to test if the anti-malwares there find something. The detection rate is 11/55. Malwarebytes classifies BuyNSave / BrickProvider as PUP.Optional.MultiPlug, McAfee-GW-Edition calls it BehavesLike.Win32.PWSYunsip.bm and Qihoo-360 calls it HEUR/QVM30.1.Malware.Gen.
If you’d like to remove BuyNSave / BrickProvider you can do so with the FreeFixer removal tool. Just check the BuyNSave / BrickProvider files as the screenshots below shows. You may have to reboot your computer to complete the removal.
Hope that helped you with the removal.
I stumbled upon BuyNSave / BrickProvider while testing out some downloads that are known to bundled lots of unwanted software. Any idea how BuyNSave / BrickProvider was installed on your system? Please share by posting a comment. Thank you!
Hope you found this useful and thanks you for reading.
Update 2014-11-21: Found some variants that don’t use the BrickProvider name. Instead they are called:
BrickProlonger & SoftwareProlonger. SoftwareProlonger.exe shows up in the Task Manager. The file is located in c:\programdata\trusted publisher\softwareprolonger.
Remove GS-Booster and GS-Booster.exe
Do you see something called GS-Booster on you machine, or GS-Booster.exe running in the in Task Manager.
No problem, you can remove GS-Booster with FreeFixer. Just select the GS-Booster.exe process and the scheduled task, then click Fix, reboot and the problem should be gone.
Thanks for reading! Any idea how you got this on your machine?
How To Remove hurryingadserver.xyz Pop-Up Ads and Surveys
Does this sound like what you are seeing right now? You see pop-up surveys from hurryingadserver.xyz appear in a new tab while browsing web sites that in general don’t advertise in popup windows. The pop-ups manage to get round the built-in pop-up blockers in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari or Opera. The full domain name was bpezz.rewardzone.hurryingadserver.xyz:
If this sounds like your machine, you most likely have some adware installed on your computer that pop up the hurryingadserver.xyz ads. I’ll try help you to remove the hurryingadserver.xyz in this blog post.
If you have been visiting this blog already know this, but if you are new: Recently I dedicated some of my lab machines and deliberately installed some adware programs on them. I have been following the actions on these computers to see what kinds of advertisements that are displayed. I’m also looking on other interesting things such as if the adware updates itself automatically, or if it installs additional unwanted software on the computers. I first noticed the hurryingadserver.xyz survey on one of these lab computers.
hurryingadserver.xyz resolves to the 208.87.34.65 IP-address and bpezz.rewardzone.hurryingadserver.xyz resolves to 96.126.126.254. The domain was registered in the middle of November 2014.
So, how do you remove the hurryingadserver.xyz pop-up survey ads? On the machine where I got the hurryingadserver.xyz ads I had TinyWallet, PriceFountain and CheckMeUp installed. I removed them with FreeFixer and that stopped the hurryingadserver.xyz pop-ups and all the other ads I was getting in Firefox.
The issue with this type of pop-up is that it can be launched by many variants of adware. This makes it impossible to say exactly what you need to remove to stop the pop-ups.
Anyway, here’s my suggestion for the hurryingadserver.xyz ads removal:
The first thing I would do to remove the hurryingadserver.xyz pop-ups is to examine the programs installed on the machine, by opening the “Uninstall programs” dialog. You can open this dialog from the Windows Control Panel. If you are using one of the more recent versions of Windows you can just type in “uninstall” in the Control Panel’s search field to find that dialog:
Click on the “Uninstall a program” link and the Uninstall programs dialog will open up:
Do you see something strange-looking in there or something that you don’t remember installing? Tip: Sort on the “Installed On” column to see if something was installed about the same time as you started getting the hurryingadserver.xyz pop-ups. What did you remove? Did that stop the hurryingadserver pop-ups?
In case that did not work you can try the FreeFixer removal tool to identify and remove the adware. FreeFixer is a freeware tool that I started develop many years ago. FreeFixer is a tool designed to manually find and remove unwanted software. When you’ve tracked down the unwanted files you can simply tick a checkbox and click on the Fix button to remove the unwanted file.
And if you’re having difficulties figuring out if a file is clean or adware in FreeFixer’s scan report, click on the More Info link for the file. That will open up your browser with a page which contains additional details about the file. On that web page, check out the VirusTotal report which can be very useful:
Are you a Mac or Linux user and get the hurryingadserver.xyz pop-ups? What did you do to stop the pop-up in your browser? Please share in the comments below. Thank you very much!
Did this blog post help you to remove the hurryingadserver.xyz pop-ups ads? Please let me know or how I can improve this blog post.
Thank you!
Remove TornPlusTV Adware – TornPlusTV_version1.11 Removal Guide
Hi there. Today I wanted to talk about an adware named TornPlusTV or TornPlusTV_version1.11 and thought I should give you some removal instructions. TornPlusTV_version1.11 appears to be a variant of CrossRider that I’ve blogged about before.
If TornPlusTV is installed on your system, you will find new the TornPlusTV add-ons installed in Firefox and Internet Explorer, TornPlusTV_version1.11-bg.exe running in the Windows Task Manager and many new scheduled tasks installed. The Chrome browser seems to stay unaffected. I’ll show how to remove TornPlusTV_version1.11 in this blog post with the FreeFixer removal tool.
Here’s the TornPlusTV add-on in Internet Explorer:
And the TornPlusTV_version1.11 add-on in Firefox:
You might also spot the TornPlusTV_version1.11-bg.exe in the Task Manager:
When I mess around with some new software I always upload it to VirusTotal to verify if the anti-malware progams there find something. Of the 55 scanners, 15 detected the file. The TornPlusTV_version1.11 files are detected as DLOADER.Trojan by DrWeb, W32/A-ee826839!Eldorado by F-Prot, Gen:Application.Heur.Ky9@ky9OVaii by F-Secure and Crossrider (fs) by VIPRE.
The files are digitally signed by Arod Group (BrightCircle Investments Limited): The certificated is quite new, it’s valid from the 17th of November 2014.
I’m sure you’d like to remove TornPlusTV_version1.11, and that’s pretty easy with FreeFixer. Select the TornPlusTV_version1.11 items, as shown in the screenshots below, click Fix, and reboot your machine and the problem should be gone.
The TornTVPlus process:
And the DLL loaded into Internet Explorer:
The scheduled tasks for TornPlusTV:
And last, the add-ons in Internet Explorer and Firefox:
Hope this helped you solved the TornPlusTV_version1.11 problem.
Do you also have TornPlusTV_version1.11 on your machine? Any idea how it installed? Please share your story the comments below. Thank you!
Thanks for reading!
Update 2014-11-26: Now the files are signed by Aussie Labs (BrightCircle Investments Limited):
Update 2014-12-04: Now the files are signed by “BadFinger Project (BrightCircle Investments Limited)”.
Update 2014-12-19: Files now signed by Armageddon Labs (BrightCircle Investments Limited).
Update 2015-01-15: The files are now digitally signed by Berta Dress Apps (Bright Circle Investments Ltd).
Update 2015-01-20: Now they are signed by Selecao Technologies (Bright Circle Investments Ltd).
How To Remove gov-surveys.com Pop-Up Survey Ads
Do you see pop-up surveys from gov-surveys.com while browsing sites that generally don’t advertise in pop-up windows. The pop-ups manage to circumvent the built-in pop-up blockers in Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer or Safari.
Here’s how the gov-surveys.com pop-up survey looked like when I got it on my machine yesterday. I’ve framed some of the interesting properties of the screenshot.
Does this sounds like your story, you apparently have some adware installed on your machine that pop up the gov-surveys.com surveys. So don’t send angry emails to the website you were browsing, the ads are presumably not coming from them, but from the adware on your system. I’ll try help you to remove the gov-surveys.com in this blog post.
Generally this type of survey tries to make the impression that it came from the web site you where browsing, that you will get some sort of compensation for completing the survey, that your feedback will be used to improve the web site. More often that not, the survey is also translated into you language, often poorly translated. Since I own the www.freefixer.com web site, I know the survey is fake.
For those that are new to the blog: A little while back I dedicated some of my lab machines and intentionally installed some adware programs on them. Since then I have been following the actions on these computers to see what kinds of advertisements that are displayed. I’m also looking on other interesting things such as if the adware auto-updates, or if it installs additional unwanted software on the machines. I first noticed the gov-surveys.com pop-up survey on one of these lab machines.
So, how do you remove the gov-surveys.com pop-up survey ads? On the machine where I got the gov-surveys.com ads I had PriceHorse, SaferSurf and CheckMeUp installed. I removed them with FreeFixer and that stopped the gov-surveys.com pop-ups and all the other ads I was getting in Firefox. Sorry, I don’t know which of them was responsible for the pop-up.
Judging from Alexa’s traffic rank, gov-surveys.com is getting quite a lot of traffic. From the diagram, we can see that the traffic started booming in the middle of October.
The gov-surveys.com domain was also registered in the middle of October 2014. It’s hosted on 209.126.106.182 which appears to be a dedicated server.
The issue with this type of pop-up survey is that it can probably be launched by many variants of adware. This makes it impossible to say exactly what you need to remove to stop the pop-ups.
Anyway, here’s my suggestion for the gov-surveys.com ads removal:
The first thing I would do to remove the gov-surveys.com pop-ups is to examine the software installed on the machine, by opening the “Uninstall programs” dialog. You can reach this dialog from the Windows Control Panel. If you are using one of the more recent versions of Windows OS you can just type in “uninstall” in the Control Panel’s search field to find that dialog:
Click on the “Uninstall a program” link and the Uninstall programs dialog will open up:
Do you see something dubious in there or something that you don’t remember installing? Tip: Sort on the “Installed On” column to see if something was installed approximately about the same time as you started seeing the gov-surveys.com pop-ups.
I think you will be able to find and uninstall the adware with the steps outlined above, but in case that did not work you can try the FreeFixer removal tool to identify and remove the adware. FreeFixer is a freeware tool that I started develop many years ago. It’s a tool designed to manually track down and remove unwanted software. When you’ve found the unwanted files you can simply tick a checkbox and click on the Fix button to remove the unwanted file.
FreeFixer’s removal feature is not crippled like many other removal tools out there. It won’t require you to pay for the program just when you are about to remove the unwanted files.
And if you’re having problems determining if a file is safe or malware in FreeFixer’s scan report, click on the More Info link for the file. That will open up your web browser with a page which contains additional information about the file. On that web page, check out the VirusTotal report which can be quite useful:
Are you a Mac or Linux user and get the gov-surveys.com pop-ups? What did you do to stop the pop-up in your browser? Please share in the comments below. Thank you!
Did this blog post help you to remove the gov-surveys.com pop-ups ads? Please let me know or how I can improve this blog post.
Thank you!