Purity scan??

bothered

Hi guys,
I keep getting an install box popping up for something called purity scan, I've no idea where it came from but it seems to be a porn filter of some sort. I haven't read the license agreement, I'm not interested in any software I haven't myself requested. Thing is I can't find it to delete it, it's not on my desktop anywhere and search finds nothing and there's nothing in add\remove progs. Anybody know how to get rid?

PressX

Virus I think mate. Have you run a full virus scan? Also, try deleting your temp files (windows\temp & C:\Documents and Settings\"username"\Local Settings\Temp)

Necropolis

Quick google reveals you have spyware mate. Time to break out the adaware / Spybot and worst comes to the worst hijackthis

bothered

Cheers guys,
I did search for it before I posted and there is a site for it. http://www.purityscan.com/
I saw something else that said it installs spyware which is why I haven't installed it and why I want rid of it but I don't know where it is. There is an uninstaller on their site but I don't think I trust it enough to click on it. Spybot doesn't find anything and nothing like it shows up in hijack, then again it isn't installed so it wouldn't? Something must be installed for the installer to pop up and that's what I can't find.

CB

When does it pop up? What are you doing when it happens?

bothered

Well today I saw it twice. Once when nobody was on the PC, I walked past it and there it was. The second time was an hour later, just after I started firefox up.

ron-matt

Purity Scan usually comes along with a download from a Warez site and locates itself
in your program files, in it's own folder. It doesn't get on the HD though so you can r-click and delete the folder. It sometimes takes a try or 2. After you delete it, reboot

Dexter

ron matt wrote:

Purity Scan usually comes along with a download from a Warez site and locates itself
in your program files, in it's own folder. It doesn't get on the HD though so you can r-click and delete the folder. It sometimes takes a try or 2. After you delete it, reboot

Ummm, if it does not get on your HD, then how is it in the Program Files, and how can you delete it if it is not on the HD...?

Dexter...

ron-matt

I'm a designer, not a techey, Purity Scan is in it's folder in Program Files. You right click
and delete and it goes away, never to pop up again. If you go to add/remove, it's never there. It's like a cookie that goes to Program files instead of where cookies go.
There are many mysteries in the universe. EX: Is an egg the method a chicken uses to reproduce itself? Or, is the chicken the method an egg uses to reproduce itself.
Mysteries man.

Dexter

I'm both a designer and a techie

Purity Scan is not very mysterious if you know where to look for info:

http://sarc.com/avcenter/venc/data/adware.purityscan.html

Lots of spyware apps will not be found in the Add/Remove programs control panel. That is because they do not enter any uninstaller info into the uninstall section of the system registry to point at an uninstaller program on the hard drive. Simply put, they don't want to make it easy for you to uninstall.

And, as you will see by the link I just gave, you need to do a little more than just delete the files in your Program Files folder, as it also sometimes installs files into the windows system folder, and adds an autostart key to the registry to start up at boot.

Oh, and the method chickens use to reproduce themselves is sex. Laying eggs just gets the eggs on the outside. Everything you ever wanted to know about chickens but were afraid to ask can be found here.

Thus endeth the lesson.

Dexter...

ron-matt

I really don't want to know anymore than I am expected to know, by my immediate peer group, about chickens. I did peek at you recommended site though, thanks. As for your multi-tasking, I'm glad for you and for me as well. Being a mono-tasker I can see that this cyberbanter could actually lead to my learning something. I manage to keep everything up and running. However, I am having a problem with my Epson Stylus Pro 5000 printer. Many flashing lights, no toner on paper. The book says that this is an omen of the dread 'maintenance required'. I live in the foothills in Northern California and the closest Epson maintenance yard is in PA. Know any tricks techie?
I know that on the big 9600 there is a work around for a bogus 'maintenance required'
warning. It's akin to the red light on your dashboard that tells you that 'service is required'. It's not actually hooked up to anything. I need to know if this is a simular problem. Epson's site is no help, The chickens ain't talkin'

navosho

I think the topic has wandered a bit from bothered's original request. I have the same problem as he (she?) and I, too, won't let Purity Scan install. I went to the Symentec link posted by dexter and checked all the registry values quoted, but since Purity Scan hasn't been allowed to install, they don't exist. I HAVE disabled the popup by not allowing pscanw.exe to execute (via the Local Security Settings in administrative tools.)
HOWEVER, every hour or so after a reboot, the temp folder for the user I am using (NEVER logged on as "Administrator" to do normal stuff) an apparently random .exe file is generated consisting of two or three numbers, i.e. 123.exe, 1549.exe, etc.
There is no unknown entry in Scheduled tasks.
HiJack This!, AdAware, Spybot S&D, andMicrosoft's Antispyware Beta all fail to identify whatever is causing the new entries in the temp folder. (BTW, whatever you think of Microsoft, the Antispyware Beta HAS identified things not found by the others, so it's now part of my security package.)
Do I need to allow this malware to be intalled before I can get rid of it, or am I missing an obvious fix?

navosho

Update:
I guess 123.exe and 1549.exe would be three or four #'s, huh?
Anyway, just checked the temp folder and now the entry has 5 numbers. The point remains the same, though. New .exe files are being generated hourly that can't be deleted without a reboot.
BTW, Powerdesk reports them as 0 (zero) byte files.