Hi Mike,

 

Thanks for posting. Thought I'd add a little more info, to inform users of this issue.

 

What you are seeing and describing is what we on the Community refer to as a PUA. (Potentially Unwanted Application) These are very annoying at best in that they cause pop-us, redirect your browser home page, and other behavior that may slow down the computer and direct ads your way, but they are not actually doing anything bad like damaging files or stealing information. Often they are installed intentionally by you the user as browser add-ons for various tasks such as quick search tools.. but they also come with the result of added annoying pop-ups and ads. Other times they 'piggy back' with other software that you installed, or try to 'sneak' onto your system entirely.

 

WSA does detect and remove many PUA's, and more are being added, but WSA does not detect all of them. A simple browser add-on with PUA behavior that is easy to identify and easy to remove is not likely to be detected and removed by WSA. Those that are intentionally difficult to locate and remove are. Please see THIS LINK for more information regarding Webroot's stance on these annoying programs.

 

For those that are not detected by WSA, please see this KB Article. It has some easy to follow directions on locating and removing PUA's. You may also want to submit a Trouble Ticket, especially if you cannot remove it easily from the directions in the KB Article.

 

For those that ARE detected by WSA, but cannot be removed automatically, you can submit a Trouble Ticket.  Webroot Support will help you get these annoying 'crapware' off your computer at no extra charge, and the additional examples may help to better automatic removal of that particular PUA for all users in the future.

 

To make sure that your WSA is checking for PUA's with the best proficiently, it sometimes helps to reset the PUA detection within WSA's settings. For PUA's that had previously been scanned and determined to be OK, but have since been added to detection/removal, you may want to complete the following steps:

 

• Open Webroot SecureAnywhere
  
• Click on ‘Advanced Settings’ from the top right
  
• Select ‘Scan Settings’ from the left side
  
• Unselect the option “Detect Potentially Unwanted Applications”
  
• Click on the Save button (you may have to enter in a CAPTCHA)
  
• Reselect the option to “Detect Potentially Unwanted Applications”
  
• Click on the Save button
  
• Run another scan with Webroot and remove any items that get detected.

To help avoid PUA's in the future, remember to read all of the information when installing or updating software (Adobe downloads often have those "extra special offers"attached... PUA'S!: often the PUA included will be mentioned, and you can opt out of installing it.  Those check boxes you see? Usually only one of them is for the User Agreement of the software you want, the others are for the junk you don't.

 

Cheers,

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@ wrote:

Has anyone noticed, probably have, that when the above has updates, they always try to get you to add McAffee, too? Don't forget to uncheck the box. 

 

Mike

Yes I agree with you and @ you got to be very careful to uncheck any unwanted add-ons!

 

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thank you for the added info, though it is difficult if not impossible for me to understand or read what is being said, due to my Aphasia. Imagine the need to call 911 but you did not know how? Global Aphasia is losing part of your brain, the rt, lft and posterior due to a stroke. Brain damage to these 3 parts of my brain.

 

Mike

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Interestingly...the last 2 updates that have presented themselves to me had the offer of the McAfee 'rubbish' unchecked by default...which I was somewhat surprised by, as I am always watch of this, up to recently, persistent blight in the upgrade process.

 

Perhaps someone is learning the lesson?  ;)

 

Regards, Baldrick 

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