Comodo firewall failed me...

A quick description of my problem.

I had google earth and chrome on my PC, unfortunately with these programs you also get googleupdate.exe Now this scum-ware cant be removed by in add/remove programs.

I uninstalled Chome, google earth and googleupdater. But I still see the process (googleupdate.exe) running in task manager 24/7.
I tried killing the process with task manager, unable to kill this process.

Well then I thought I'd try killing the process using Comodo's running processes, needless to say that was also infective at terminating this process.

I re-booted again, then tried to block it from connecting to the net, selected running process... googleupdate.exe...apply... reboot... still connecting to the net. OMG this is harder to stop than malware
Couldn't stop it from starting.
Well what good is a firewall to me that can't prevent this from happening

I can't see where I went wrong... Well I uninstalled Comodo firewall, then proceded to install Online Armor.

Selected BLOCK googleupdate.exe reboot and the process was blocked.

Needless to say google products will never reside on my PC again

 

Download this freeware
Process Explorer
it will tell you where the process is actually located and you can manually delete it.
Hope this helps!
Good Luck

 

This should disable the service. http://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/28/googleupdateexe/

Edit: It could be more complicated. The service may uninstall itself later. http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/10/invisible-googleupdateexe.html

If it doesn't, this may help. Edit your registry at your own risk. If you attempt the registry edit make a back up first!
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/...ound-process-googleupdateexe-from-the-system/

 

I think the most safe and easy way to get rid of the service is to find where it is located (using ProcessExplorer or if you installed OA it should show the path on the Programs tab) and try to remove it first. It a service is running then you cannot remove it because Windows doesn't allow to remove running proceses, but you can rename it to something like 1.1, then reboot, and after reboot you should be able to remove this 1.1 file

 

Revo Unistaller might work.
There is a process killer in the Auto Run Manager under the Tools tab.

 

I just disabled it using WinPatrol Plus under the services tab.

 

Having just recently removed Comodo firewall myself ... its worth checking to make sure you dont have any of the Comodo services left running on your system. Comodo firewall is without doubt the hardest program to remove I have come across. The uninstaller solutions on the Comodo forum are useless also. It still leaves huge chunks of itself.

Manually deleting registry entries is the only way to get it off completely.

 

Yes, that works like a charm, but, shouldn't be like that. The built-in uninstaller should do it's job properly. We know how solve issues, but can we say the same about more than 90% of users?

Or, at least, provide a remover, at the image of that batch file. I wonder why COMODO has never done that.

 

You basically said EVERYTHING I couldnt be bothered to say to ssj100.

I was bemused that he stated having to use a 3rd party uninstaller and a "CIS File+Registry Cleaner.bat batch file", as if that is fine and dandy.

Just smacks of total incredulity to the problem, and worse ... fanboyism.

 

I agree.
I don't understand why some programs don't have an uninstaller that works.
The user shouldn't have to resort to Revo or a Force Uninstaller.

 

Funny that people that have problems with uninstalling Comodo go to other forums instead of the Comodo forums... I've never seen something we couldn't fix with the tool or the build-in uninstaller...

To the OP - You should've simply gone to : Comodo --> Defense+ --> Active processes --> select any google service, rightclick on it and select "Terminate and block" . That should do the trick, please remember next time that you ask a question instead of just saying : "hey this software failed me because I couldn't find the way to do it."

Thank you

 

Well said. Some ppl just blow things out of all proportion imho.

 

Actually, he did try to terminate it.

And suggesting to permanently blocking it is not a sollution since goggle updater uninstalls itself after a few hours (when there is no other google app installed on the pc).

Panagiotis

 

All well, but I assume that the service will simply come back. That's why you will have to block it also !

I'm unaware on how Google updater works. I always hate programs installing things I do NOT need without asking me. But when you block it, you will never see it again anyway, so there is no need to unblock it (unless when you need more harddrive space)

Thanks

 

Wrong. Not all services can be terminated.

Same here, but I also do not like leaving behind registry keys, unecessary programs and especially services.

ps. HIPS are not meant to be a substitute of the 'control center of windows', the 'Microsoft Management Console' or the 'device manager'.

Panagiotis

 

We're getting slightly OT here, but could you please tell me what service (not windows services) you cannot block with the terminate and block function of Defense+ ?

(hehe )

True, but it can help sometimes

 

I only said terminated (not blocked).
Mainly the 'hidden' services loaded as drivers. You will find them at the device manager if you enable 'the hidden drivers'.

Yes, it sure does, especially when you deal with malware.
But for legit applications it should be used as the last resort.

Panagiotis

 

I guess it would depend on what services we would be talking about?

 

Is COMODO a decent Firewall/ VS option?

I have been getting poping sounds since I installed it...they sound like the sound you hear when a dl finishes.

 

When I installed Google chrome, I had no problem shutting down the updater and deleting the folder where it resided. If you don't want to deal with it, install SRWare Iron instead.

http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron.php

 

Thank you all for the useful information you all provided

I have successfully removed all traces of google from my system ie. folders and registry entries.

What really annoyed me more than anything else was the fact that the process could not be un-installed or terminated The process was not required to run with the applications I had installed (chrome & google Maps)

I agree and will also continue blocking

That I know, but it is not a vital process or important to system stability whist running google apps I should be able to terminate this process

I have had limited experience in using third party un-installers I have read that they can cause more problems. It was suggested by a few posts. I will do a little more research

I done exactly that, not just once but three times it would not block the process, even used the locate folder option (file path was the same)
It just didn't block it

 

There's no need for that. All people have to do, is to download the Chrome off-line installer (as in the full installer), and then extract it's contents with, for example, 7-zip, or any other supporting 7z format. Then run Chrome. It won't install client ID nor will it update or create any services to update. You must do it manually.

 

I didn't try that, it may have worked Then again I wanted to block it, and that is what should have happened... it should have been blocked.
I may be wrong, but it is my understanding that is how to block a program (depending on settings) from starting or accessing the internet.

I have used OA in the past as I mentioned it blocked it after a reboot.
Then I proceded to remove google.exe

 

Thanks for the tip I have used it in the past, but I use Anvir Task Manager Free. You might like to give it a try(softpedia), it's well featured

 

must be some problem, bug or conflict on your system. I installed google chrome just to test it. It was a piece of cake to kill google updatr via process explorer.