Pest Patrol...Political Pests?

Hi, Does anyone out there understand the log descriptions in Pest Patrol of the various pests that it finds? Alot of the time they are understandable however there are some that are confusing. For example I downloaded a program called CMOS 4.3 because I have a notebook computer that i dont have the password to. I have not run the program yet because i am not that optomistic that it will work but the download is still on my desktops hard drive. Here is the problem, Pest Patrol calls CMOS 4.3 "adware", and it says that it has confirmed that it is. If that is the case, shouldn't it list the adware? Below I will include a screenshot of the log entry. The link to the description of the "pest" is

http://pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/c/cmos_password.asp

I doubt you will gain any insight from that URL, but they do have a rather cool animation of pests running under a magnifying glass that I feel makes the trip worthwhile.

Back to the logs. I have other various documents on my computer that have been branded as pests under the heading "anarchy" and "phreaking text". Come on guys, these are TEXT FILES. They are just words. For a time I was interested in trying to find out what was going on the minds of hackers...you know, understanding the enemy, and so on. I have downloaded text like "Owning the Box", and "How to Write a Computer Virus". I have only read a little, but it is mostly stuff i don't know enough about to really understand. These are of type .txt, but Pest Patrol calls them "executable" without eleborating.

My point is...are there pests here or not?

- HandsOff

 

Hi, HandsOff

Do not know if I can help, but you say:-

Code:

 For example I downloaded a program called CMOS 4.3 because I have a notebook computer that i dont have the password to.

Etc.

Which password OS or BIOS are you talking about Please?

TheQuest

 

Certainly, Quest. The specifics on the laptop are these:

HP Notebook xh136 (Celeron 600mhz) 96 mb RAM - 100 Mhz, 24x CD-ROM
Phoenix BIOS-4.0 release 6

I bought it from someone who did not have the password. I had hoped it was like a desktop computer where all you have to do is remove the battery and the BIOS will forget the password. He was honest to tell me it would not be that easy but i felt in a gambling mood. The facts (as I now believe) are that this computer uses a CMOS password that is stored on an EPROM (Eraseable PROgramable Memory) and and that it will not forget wether it has power or not, until it is reprogrammed. At first I felt confident that the password could be reset. Then the more I read, the less confident I became. I am no techy, but all of the methods I came across seem to include removal of certain chips and either reprogramming with an EPROM programmer, or what amounts to shorting out certain connectors with the intent of causing the chip to produce an error without actually killing the chip. This seems worse than an episode of McGyver! Then I saw the CMOS Passord program download on one of the bios sites but actually gave up without even trying it...I mean, you can't change the boot order without accessing the bios, and the bios is password protected, so how am i supposed to execute the program? Actually, after saying all this I may as well run it and see if a miracle takes place.

Now you know "The Rest of the Story", as they say on radio.

- HandsOff

 

Hi, dvk01

The reason Pest Patrol is probably picking it up is because it see it as a hacking tool, and is there for seen as a threat to brake passwords if you understand what I mean.

So if you use it Delete it after.

Here is what Pest Patrol has to say about it:-
http://www.pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/c/cmos_password.asp

Pleae tell us how you get on.

The very best of luck.
TheQuest

Edit:- Ment to post HandsOff

 

yeah pest patrol is notorious for it's weal signatures, most often text based ones AND ahuge amount of false positives

do tests: create folders with the names borrowed from notorious trojans, like sub 7 etc, see if pest patrol detects them. i mean pest patrol even detects help files and readme's of trojans...

oh my god i'm infected... pest patrol found a trojan called sub7_help.txt...
LOL

 

I am enlightened. It never occurred to me that it was it cross-referencing with false data. Also makes you wonder how reliable various statisics on spread of viruses that is reported in the media and on certain websites is.

One the one hand I appreciate that Pest Patrol gives you the option of not sending info about pests on your computer. On the other hand, surely you can see that even that, with out even the presence of intentionally falsified results will skew the database.

As an aside i have a personal theory about adware derrived data. It goes like this:

a) The info they gather is skewed towards trends of the less informed, educated, and sophisticated (stupid for short) user.

b) The gatherers of this data are not concerned about that because stupid people are just the ones they want to reach!

- Handsoff!

 

Hi, HandsOff

Did you use it yet and DID it work.

TheQuest