Overview |
Category: |
Spyware: Any product that employs a user's Internet connection in the background without their knowledge, and gathers/transmits info on the user or their behavior. Many spyware products will collect referrer info (information from your web browser which reveals what URL you linked from), your IP address (a number that is used by computers on the network to identify your computer), system information (such as time of visit, type of browser used, the operating system and platform, and CPU speed.) Spyware products sometimes wrap other commercial products, and are introduced to machines when those commercial products are installed. See also Adware.
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Similar Pests: |
Spyware |
Origins |
Group: |
Avatar Resources, Inc. |
URL: |
http://AvatarResources.com |
Date of Origin: |
April, 2005 |
Distribution |
Distribution: |
May be bundled with Grokster. |
Prevalence: |
AutoStartup: < 0.00005%
More Info |
Clot Factor: |
AutoStartup: 2
The "Clot Factor" is a measure of how much a pest "gums up" a machine by adding registry entries, files, and directories. As more objects are placed in a machine, manual removal becomes more difficult and more error-prone. |
Operation |
Risks |
Privacy Policy: |
AutoStartup, during the delivery and your use of the Software, does not collect any personally identifiable information about you, nor does AutoStartup require such information from you before downloading or installing the Software. However, to enable AutoStartup to provide its Software, AutoStartup collects certain types of non-personally identifiable information about individuals who are served ads by the Software. This information may include your Internet protocol (IP) address, your domain, your operating system, your browser version, type and language and your Internet Service Provider. Advertisements may be displayed of advertisers who pay a fee to AutoStartup and you may be provided with and/or redirected to content of other parties and/or links to other third party websites or content or offered the opportunity to download Software from third party Software vendors. AutoStartup is not responsible for the privacy practices of such advertisers, content providers, third party Software vendors or websites. AutoStartup may use invisible tracking or counting devices known as "cookies" or alphanumeric identifiers that AutoStartup transfers to your computer's hard drive through your web browser to enable AutoStartup's systems to recognize your web browser. AutoStartup also collects and may use certain other types of non-personally identifiable information, including: certain of the web pages that you view, the amount of time that you spend on certain websites, your responses to ads served by AutoStartup, certain Software installed to your computer and Software characteristics and preferences, non-personally identifiable information on web pages and forms, Software usage characteristics and preferences, and your ZIP code. AutoStartup associates this information with a randomly-generated anonymous identifier for your computer and may use this information to enable the functionality of the Software, to periodically update the Software, to deliver and display ads served by AutoStartup of advertisers who pay a fee to AutoStartup, provide you with or redirect you to content or websites of such advertisers or other parties and offer you the opportunity to download Software from third party vendors. AutoStartup may share non-personally identifiable aggregate information with third parties, including advertisers. -- from the End User License Agreement. |
Detection and Removal |
Automatic Removal: |
 PestPatrol detects this.
PestPatrol removes this.
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Manual Removal: |
Use "Add/Remove Programs" in the Windows® Control Panel to remove 'AST'. |
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Stop Running Processes:
Kill these running processes with Task Manager:
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Remove AutoRun Reference:
Go To the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.
If you find the value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run\ast, delete it and reboot the machine immediately.
If you find the value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run\astart, delete it and reboot the machine immediately.
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Clean Registry:
Remove these registry items (if present) with RegEdit:
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Remove Files:
Remove these files (if present) with Windows Explorer:
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Research |
More Info: |
AllTheWeb, AltaVista, AOL Search, Ask Jeeves, Google, HotBot, Lycos, LookSmart, MSN, Yahoo! |
Research By: |
PestPatrol's Pest Research Center |
Last Revised: |
April 14, 2005 |