Pest Patrol on-line scan residues

Hi all,

After recently getting reports from Spy Sweeper that I had AMECISCO keylogger and SearchForIt adware on my PC (PII, 256Mb RAM, Win 98, IE6), and deleting the reported files, I was keen to get a second opinion as to whether I was now clear or not.

(I have now read here and elsewhere that this reporting may have been due to a software bug).

Without getting into a shooting match over the merits of the particular software involved, I now have a problem with the consequences of how I went about doing that.

After reading posts in several forums about how effective Spy Patrol was in hunting out keyloggers, I opted to take their on-line checkout.

After downloading the necessary, I ran the program.

Whilst it didn't turn up any evidence (other than the by now obligatory "unfortunately you have caught a dose of this-that-or-the-other" that you cannot remove without buying the product), it has left some unwanted components behind.

These are austensibly meant to make subsequent scans more speedy, but without particularly wanting to buy the software, I don't really want them on my system.

SpyBot says that I am giving home to:

PPSDKActiveXScanner.MainScreen

and

ppctlcab

These are reported as being ActiveX items and I would prefer that they were gone.

Does anyone know that it is safe to remove then using SpyBot?

If I punch in [contains] "pps" in the Windows search field, after 20 minutes it's still running - and just about every file on my system seems to be listed.

Perhaps I had one too many beers during that session, but I really don't remember being presented with an "uninstall" option - and that's what I would like to do now.

Can anyone throw any light on that for me please?

Am I stuck with some potential spyware now, as result of trying to detect the very same thing?

Any help on this would be much appreciated.

Best regards, eljay.

 

Thanks for that Ronjor,

I'll take a look tonight (UK time). I hadn't already looked there because I run Privacy Guardian from WinGuides and have it configured (or did when I last looked) to delete anything like that.

I appreciate that it's a fairly basic question, but is there one of us at some time who hasn't acted first and really thought about it afterwards when things have gone a bit pear-shaped?

That might take care of the ActiveX components, which I assume are the most significant, but as I can't find anything in my Progams menu, I don't really know how the entire download was made up (a Search on Pest Patrol, with a word space between produced nothing).

Thanks very much for taking the time and sharing your knowledge with me.

Best regards, eljay.

 

Thanks for that Ronjor,

I must admit to having been accused of being a bit paranoid before.

I resent the theft of information without my consent, that in the hands of a third party becomes a saleable commodity and results in more junk in my
e-mails - minimum.

Spyware seems to be the growth security issue at the moment and I do try not to give it disk space where I can.

I've seen Pest Patrol both praised and blasted. I have no feelings on the matter except to say that what happened wouldn't win me over to buying it, if they use a "hidden agenda" approach to sales, which it would appear they do.

That being said, it could still be a very capable product.

Best regards, eljay.