bhocop / bhodemon

[Phazor]

Does anyone use either of these two programs. Thoughts comments on one verses the other. Which do you like best?

[Pieter_Arntz]

No comparison from me, I just use BHODemon.
I have recommended it a lot of times, never learned of anyone that it didn´t work. It´s easy to use, free, small, fast and does what it´s supposed to do.
So it gets a http://www.plauder-smilies.de/happy/xyxthumbs.gif from me.

Regards,

Pieter

[MickeyTheMan]

I've tested all 3: Bho Captor, Bho Cop, Bho Demon
BHO Demon wins hands down.

[JacK]

quoting: MickeyTheMan link=board=9;threadid=4164;start=0#27283 date=1034446496]
I've tested all 3: Bho Captor, Bho Cop, Bho Demon
BHO Demon wins hands down.

Hi MTM

I can second that

Rgds

[TonyKlein]

Well, as regards which of the two is the better, both do detect all BHOs you may have, so there's no difference.
in 'detection'.

It's not like an antivirus where you need a huge database, and regular updates.

BHOs are invariaby installed in the same Registry Key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects, so as far as detecting them goes, it's not much of a feat.

However, I agree with everyone that BHODemon is the most informative of the two.

[TonyKlein]

As for the BHO's themselves, I've been "collecting" them for some time, and this is what I've dug up till now.

The list often comes in handy when trying to identify a BHO.

A thank you to Andrew Clover, whose site provided some of the definitions for these BHOs and to http://www.cexx.org/ , a great site about "Adware, Spyware and other unwanted "malware", and how to remove them".

Listed BHO's are tagged X for certified spyware/foistware, or other malware, L for legitimate items, O for 'open to debate' and ? for BHOs of unknown status.

It is updated on a weekly basis, usually on Saturday.


NOTE: The List has moved, and can now be viewed at the following location:

http://castlecops.com/CLSID.html

[Paul Wilders]

Awesome, Tony!

regards,

paul

[TonyKlein]

Thanks, Paul!

As I said, I'm a sucker for lists...

Any possibility to make this post into a sticky?

If no joy, I won't mind bumping it every time I update it, then delete the 'bump' post.

[Paul Wilders]

Any possibility to make this post into a sticky?

There is . Keep them coming!

regards.

paul

[TonyKlein]

Thanks Paul!. Appreciate it!

The list has been updated with a few items, and every entry is now tagged as either foistware, legitimate, open to debate, or unknown status, at least as far as I could determine.

Any further information anyone might have about any of them is appreciated.

And I'm always interested in trading duplicates for new ones!

Cheers,

I notice that the DefinitiveSolutions link ( http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bholist.htm ) is no longer working.

That's bad enough - does anyone know whether development of the program is stopped dead as well? IOW, it's not going to be updated anymore?

[Pieter_Arntz]

As Tony stated the program only needs to "read" one registry entry, so there isn't much to update.
I suppose they gave up making a list, because Tony's was longer
The download page: http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm
is in working order.

Regards,

Pieter

[TonyKlein]

quoting: Ghost link=board=9;threadid=4164;start=0#27882 date=1034953585]
I notice that the DefinitiveSolutions link ( http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bholist.htm ) is no longer working.

That's bad enough - does anyone know whether development of the program is stopped dead as well? IOW, it's not going to be updated anymore?

Well, the list only contained 5 or 6 entries to begin with, so it wasn't very useful anyway.

And as for "development" of the program, IMHO, there isn't anything much to 'develop'.

As Pieter already confirmed, the app detects all Browser Helper Objects, which is what counts.

[Mike_Healan]

quoting: Ghost link=board=9;threadid=4164;start=0#27882 date=1034953585]
I notice that the DefinitiveSolutions link ( http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bholist.htm ) is no longer working.

That's bad enough - does anyone know whether development of the program is stopped dead as well? IOW, it's not going to be updated anymore?

He's basically stopped with it. He even offered to sell the rights to me at one point, but I wouldn't know what to do with it.
If his download page ever disappears, I've been mirroring it for months now.
http://www.spywareinfoforum.com/downloads/bhod/

hm.. I must dissagree!
how do you re-enable disabled BHO's with BhoDemon?

I use it only as a back up to view active bho's but BhoCop is still my all time favorite! may not be informative as the other but easy to use and shows me all bho's list, enabled and disabled! also the option top create different profiles gives greater testing tools. and easy to re aneble any on the fly

[Pieter_Arntz]

Re-enable BHO's is done by running BHODemon.exe wich should give you a list of your BHO's, select the one you want to re-enable, hit the details button. You should see a window wich a short description of the BHO and the option to put a radio button in front of "Enabled - Allow this BHO to be loaded by your browser"
Selecting that one should do the trick.

Regards,

Pieter

[TonyKlein]

Well, any BHO detector lists every single BHO, so there's no difference there.

They only enumerate the contents of one single registry key, so there's not much 'detecting' involved there...

I prefer BHO demon, because it gives better information about each bho.

And as for how to re-enable a bho with BHO Demon?

Well, I admit that's incredibly complicated, but why not just recheck them?

I have lingering doubts whether you've actually tried the application.

Cheers,

oppss
I think i know what happened..at the moment i'm using both Bhodemon and Bhocop so the disabled ones by Bhocop do not appear to exist in the list of Bhodemon..since they were not disabled there to begin with..Bhocop runs as a process in startup and quits, while controling the bho's. maybe ill disable and swith to the other. i still like the different profiles options though!
Thanks for enlightening me

guess what?
you can put your linguering doubts to rest now, it worked!!!
re enabled all bho's in Bhocop, unticked it from startup and recreated my prefered list in demon.
Surprisingly so, i now have enabled and disabled ones listed.
Hm..but i must confess i like bhocop's interface so much better..no need to click to view more details, all i need is listed on one line-bho, version, path and CLSID

Well well, just run the famous hijack this and it listed my entire bho's , active and inactive alike, with a bhodemon_disabled extension at the end of the ones i disabled. Whereas when bhocop is active, hijack this shows only enabled ones, and disabled ones appear do be non existant.

Conclusion? bhodemon renames the bho's without altering any reg key, as opposed to bhocop that alters the reg key by removing disabled entries from registry, and keeping them as stored configuration keys in separate backups.

hm..not much of a brain-data process in either, but since i'm an old gashion gal i chose to revert to my favorite cop

[TonyKlein]

I've just added links to articles on most of the BHO's listed.

I think it makes the list somewhat more informative

[Pieter_Arntz]

Thnx Tony,

It's becoming quite a library
I noticed you listed Stardownloader as Legit. It might be, but I encountered it only once and that time it was causing trouble for the user.
Could have been a conflict (he was using DAP as well) or just a crummy programm. Your views?

Pieter

[TonyKlein]

Hi Pieter,

It may have been causing trouble for the user, but any IE plugin could, given the "right" circumstances.

Or it could of course have been due to sloppy programming.

However, as far as I know, (and some of this is admittedly third hand information), it doesn't phone home, or do anything else of an objectionable nature.

[Pieter_Arntz]

Ok Tony, thnxs for the info.
No need going around accusing something until proven guilty

Regards,

Pieter

My concern with the program not being updated/devved anymore referred to the fact that the information links about the various BHO's wasn't being updated - not about the program itself not being updated. (Sorry I didn't make that clearer).

Tony - Why don't you get together with the author of BHODemon, take over the program dev, then simply add all your info to it?