VIEWPOINT

Twice, in the last two days, XoftSpy v.4.16 DB 125 has found a whole bunch of Viewpoint toolbar entries. Deleted them, which needed a reboot because 5 entries were more stubborn, but back they came today. I found Viewpoint.exe & Viewpoint Media Player in the programs section of ZoneAlarm Pro & set both entries to "kill". Had a security advisor flag that popped up a while ago which told me that Viewpoint was malicious & not being allowed to run. I've added Viewpoint to "always block" in IE too.
AOL downloaded a new connection utility a couple of days ago. Could Viewpoint have been a passenger? I was bothered by Viewpoint a couple of years ago, but after sorting it then, it never appeared in any scan until now. I hope this is not a case of XoftSpy & false positives. SpywareWarrior delisted them some time ago. I was under the impression that they were now doing a good job.
Ad-Aware SE personal, SpyBot S&D, SpywareBlaster & AOL Spyware Protection do not find Viewpoint.
Should I be concerned....have I done enough....If there's more to do, I need the info very non-tech & suitable for an active senior!!
Guitarelf.

 

Hi there guitarelf, your version of Xoftspy is legitimate. Regarding the viewpoint entries found, there seems to be a component of viewpoint on your computer that seems to reinstall it back after you delete it off, and I suspect AOL. From my own experience with viewpoint a long time ago, I strongly suspect AOL must be responsible for installing viewpoint. And make sure that you set your security programs to block viewpoint.
Also, can you check inside your add/remove programs in control panel and see if you can uninstall Viewpoint and AOL. I suspect AOL must be reinstalling viewpoint, so uninstall AOL and Viewpoint and scan with all your security programs to check if Viewpoint still comes back after uninstalling AOL and viewpoint. This is NOT a case of Xoftspy/false positives, take note.
Seems like only Xoftspy is able to detect Viewpoint on your computer.

 

Thanks, nadirah, that's just the sort of non-techy response I needed. I have "killed" viewpoint.exe & viewpoint media player in ZAPro & each time it tries to start up, ZA sends me a message to say that it has been prevented. I tried to delete the program files, but windows won't let me....says that some components are needed for other programs to run correctly. The only problem with deleting AOL is that it is my ISP. Is there another, straightforward way I can purge this nuisance from my machine & prevent it from ever appearing again?
Very Best,
Guitarelf.

 

Well, AOL is your ISP and it is responsible for installing Viewpoint, so, I'm afraid the only way out is to change your ISP and subscribe to another ISP. Because if you continue to stay with AOL they will keep reinstalling back Viewpoint on your computer!
I'm sure there are other better ISPs in the area where you live, right?
You need to get rid of AOL first by switching to another better ISP then you can get rid of Viewpoint.

 

Thanks for your time & expertise nadirah,
GElf.