I found the SyncPulse Manager software while installing another download called BitLord. SyncPulse Manager was included in the BitLord installation package, or installed by one of the programs that were bundled with BitLord. Unfortunately, I could not see any notice that SyncPulse Manager would be installed while proceeding though BitLord’s installation wizard. Maybe I did not examine the various licence agreements shown during installation with enough care, or perhaps SyncPulse was not disclosed at all?

Anyway, if you have SyncPulse Manager on your machine, you’ll see SyncPulseManager.exe running in the Windows Task Manager:

Out of curiosity, I uploaded the SyncPulseManager.exe file to VirusTotal. Currenly, none of the anti-virus programs is detecting SyncPulse. It will be interesting to see if any of them will detect SyncPulseManager.exe.

So should it be removed? I think so, since it was bundled and I could not see any notice that it would be installed. If you’d like to remove SyncPulse Manager, you can do so with FreeFixer, or from the Windows Control Panel:

How did you get SyncPulse Manager on your computer? Please share in the comments below. If it was bundled, did you see any disclosure that it would be installed?

Did your search settings and home page in Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer just change to websearch.fixsearch.info? No worries, I’ll show how to remove websearch.fixsearch.info from your computer.

I found the unwanted websearch.fixsearch.info search engine while testing out some downloads. The downloaded files were digitally signed by Igor Kramoren and Alexey Kurilenko, publishers that have previously bundled unwanted software with their downloads.

How did you get fixsearch.info on your computer? Please share by posting a comment.

So, the websearch.fixsearch.info removal. One way to do the removal is to use the FreeFixer tool.

1. Download and install FreeFixer.
2. Click the Start scan button. It should complete in about 5 minutes.
3. Check the websearch.fixsearch.info items in the scan result.
4. Click the Fix button.
5. Restart your web browsers.

You can also use the reset function in Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer. The reset feature restores many settings of the web browser to its default state. The problem is that it may do a little to much.

How to reset Mozilla Firefox settings:

1. Click the menu button  in the upper-right corner of the browser.
2. Then click the Help button  at the bottom of the Firefox menu.
3. From the Help menu, choose Troubleshooting Information.
4. If you cannot access the Help menu, type about:support in the address bar to open up the Troubleshooting Information page.
5. Click the Reset Firefox… button in the upper-right corner of the Troubleshooting Information page.
   
6. A dialog will pop up explaining what settings Firefox tries to preserve. Notice that everything else will be removed! To continue, click the Reset Firefox button in the confirmation window that opens..
7. Firefox will close and reset itself. When the reset is done, a window will list the information that was imported. Click Finish and you’re done.

How to reset Google Chrome settings:

1. Click the Chrome menu  in the upper-right corner of Chrome.
2. Select Settings.
3. Click Show advanced settings and locate the “Reset browser settings” section. 
4. Click the Reset browser settings button.
5. In the confirmation dialog that appears, review the changes the reset feature performs, then click Reset.

 How to reset Internet Explorer settings

1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. On the Tools menu,  that appears in the upper-right corner of the browser, click Internet options. If you can’t see the Tools menu, press Alt on your keyboard.
3. In the Internet Options window, click the Advanced tab. 
4. Click Reset… If you’re using Internet Explorer 6, click Restore Default.
5. In the Reset Internet Explorer Settings dialog box, click Reset. 
6. Select the Delete personal settings check box if you want to reset home pages, search providers and accelerators. Delete temporary Internet files, history, cookies, web form information, ActiveX Filtering data, Tracking Protection data, Do Not Track data and passwords.
7. When Internet Explorer has finished applying the default settings, click the Close button.
   
8. Reboot your machine.

Hope that helped you remove websearch.fixsearch.info.

Thank you for reading.

It saturday, but since I just found this new adware variant called “Videos MediaPlay-Air” I though I should write a quick post about it. The ads are labeled “Ad by Videos MediaPlay-Air” or “Click to Continue -> by Videos MediaPlay-Air” as shown below.

The Videos MediaPlay-Air adware is detected by some of the anti-virus programs. CrossRider and AppRider are some of the detection names:

Notice how the adware modified the webpage with the “PROGRAMS” link 🙂

Removing Videos MediaPlay-Air is easy. Just select the Videos MediaPlay-Air for removal in FreeFixer, click Fix, reboot your machine and the ads will be gone.

Any idea how you got this on your machine?

Hello there! Sorry for not posting for the last days. I’ve been on a short holiday. Came back home yesterday and found a search engine called search.safefinder.com that is being bundled with some downloads. Here’s how the search.safefinder.com appears in the web browser:

Do you also have safefinder.com on your machine? It probably installed as a bundled offer. That’s where I found it. Here’s how search.safefinder.com is disclosed in the installer:

Clicking the Terms of Service links in the installer brings up this web page:

According to the Terms of Service, safefinder is run by a company called MobileMonetizer LTD.

Removing search.safefinder.com is pretty straightforward. Just select the safefinder.com items for removal in FreeFixer and the problem should be solved:

Did you also get search.safefinder.com in your browser? Do you remember which download that bundled it? Please share by posting a comment below.

Did you spot something called ShopOp on your computer and wonder where it came from? It is likely that ShopOp was bundled with another software download. Here’s how ShopOp was disclosed when I found it bundled:

You can uninstall ShopOp from the Programs and Features dialog in the Windows Control Panel. If ShopOp cannot be found there, or if its uninstaller is not working, then you can use FreeFixer to remove the ShopOp files.

Did your browser’s home page and search settings recently change to istart123.com? Are you are wondering how this web site installed itself on your machine?

It’s likely that istart123.com was bundled with another software downloader. That’s where I found it, bundled in an unofficial Google Chrome download, digitally signed by Smart Secure Software. Here’s how IStart123.com was disclosed in the installer:

To uninstall Istart123.com, you can use the entry in the Add/Remove programs list or use FreeFixer to uninstall it.

Yesterday I was testing the Smart Secure Software download, that is known to bundle lots of unwanted programs. After going through the installer a new service appeared on the machine called score.exe. I though the file looked suspicious, since it was unsigned, had no version information, dropped in the c:\Windows folder,  and no entry in the Add/Remove programs dialog.

To my surprise none of the anti-virus programs over at VirusTotal detected the file:

It will be interesting to see if any of the anti-virus scanners starts to pick up score.exe.

So, should the score.exe file be removed? Yes I think so. You can remove it from FreeFixer by selecting the score.exe process and service:

Did you also find score.exe on your machine? Any idea how it got there?

Update 2014-10-07: Many of the anti-virus programs are now detecting score.exe:

• AVG Agent5.HW
• AVware Trojan.Win32.Generic.pak!cobra
• Ad-Aware Trojan.Generic.11822832
• Avast Win32:Dropper-gen [Drp]
• Baidu-International Trojan.Win32.Agent.BWGA
• BitDefender Trojan.Generic.11822832
• Cyren W32/Trojan.KZBC-4044
• ESET-NOD32 a variant of Win32/Agent.WGA
• Emsisoft Trojan.Generic.11822832 (B)
• F-Secure Trojan.Generic.11822832
• Fortinet W32/Agent.WGA!tr
• GData Trojan.Generic.11822832
• Ikarus Trojan.Win32.Agent
• McAfee Artemis!08675763B644
• McAfee-GW-Edition Artemis
• MicroWorld-eScan Trojan.Generic.11822832
• Qihoo-360 Win32/Trojan.Dropper.c9f
• Symantec Trojan.Gen.2
• TheHacker Trojan/Agent.wga
• TrendMicro TROJ_GEN.R0C1C0EJ514
• TrendMicro-HouseCall TROJ_GEN.R0C1C0EJ514
• VIPRE Trojan.Win32.Generic.pak!cobra
• nProtect Trojan.Generic.11822832