DealHelper.com

· Overview ·
· Origins ·
· Distribution ·
· Operation ·
· Risks ·
· Detection and Removal ·
· Research ·

Overview

Vendor Notes:

 'DealHelper at www.dealhelper.com is a product developed to bring you deals, offers, coupons and informational messages on the Internet. DealHelper provides you with the ability to obtain advertiser-supported versions of software products free of charge. DealHelper identifies your interests based on your computer usage and web surfing behavior and shows you advertising and contextual information and services that match your past and present viewing habits. These advertisements are delivered to your computer screen by pop-up windows and other ad formats. The ads or offers served to you are determined by the websites that you visit. Often, advertisements are from websites that are competitors of sites that you are viewing or have recently viewed. These ads allow you to shop comparatively.' -- http://www.dealhelper.com/privacy.html

Alias:

 Adware.DealHelper [Symantec], Adware/DealHelper [Panda], Trj/Downloader.OE [Panda]

See Also:

 AdvSearch · www.dealhelper.com. DealHelper.com and AdvSearch share a significant number of file locations, regkeys, and files in common.

Category:

Adware: Software that displays popup/popunder ads when the primary user interface is not visible or which do not appear to be assocaited with the product.

Browser Helper Object: (BHO). A component that Internet Explorer will load whenever it starts, shares IE's memory context, can perform any action on the available windows and modules. A BHO can detect events, create windows to display additional information on a viewed page, monitor messages and actions. Microsoft calls it "a spy we send to infiltrate the browser's land." BHOs are not stopped by personal firewalls, because they are seen by the firewall as your browser itself. Some exploits of this technology search all pages you view in IE and replace banner advertisements with other ads. Some monitor and report on your actions. Some change your home page.

Downloader: A program designed to retrieve and install additional files, when run. Most will be configured to retrieve from a designated web or FTP site.

Toolbar: A group of buttons which perform common tasks. A toolbar for Internet Explorer is nomally located below the menu bar at the top of the form. Toolbars may be created by Browser Helper Objects.

Trojan: Any program with a hidden intent. Trojans are one of the leading causes of breaking into machines. If you pull down a program from a chat room, new group, or even from unsolicited e-mail, then the program is likely trojaned with some subversive purpose. The word Trojan can be used as a verb: To trojan a program is to add subversive functionality to an existing program. For example, a trojaned login program might be programmed to accept a certain password for any user's account that the hacker can use to log back into the system at any time. Rootkits often contain a suite of such trojaned programs.

Similar Pests:

 Adware · Browser Helper Object · Downloader · Toolbar · Trojan

Origins

Mailing Address:

 DealHelper.com Inc. 22647 Ventura Blvd. Suite 103 Woodland Hills, CA 91364 US

Phone:

 818 438 1245 818 438 1246

EMail:

 support@dealhelper.com

Date of Origin:

 May, 2003

Distribution

Prevalence:
  • DealHelper.com: 72.3%
    • More Info

    Clot Factor:
  • DealHelper.com: 6

    • 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.

    Growth:
  • DealHelper.com: Insufficient data to report growth
    		•

    Operation

    Platform:

    		 Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows XP

    Storage Required:
  • DealHelper.com: at least 5165 KB
    		•

    Browser Performance:

    		 Likely to slow performance of Internet Explorer.

    Risks

    Privacy Policy:

    		 http://www.dealhelper.com/privacy.html

    Detection and Removal

    Automatic Removal:

    PestPatrol detects this.

    PestPatrol removes this.

    Manual Removal:

    		 Follow these steps to remove DealHelper.com from your machine. Begin by backing up your registry and your system, and/or setting a Restore Point, to prevent trouble if you make a mistake.
    Stop Running Processes:

    Kill these running processes with Task Manager:

    Remove AutoRun Reference:

    Go To the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.
    If you find the value HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run\dealhelperdown, delete it and reboot the machine immediately.
    If you find the value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run\dealhelperbrwsr, delete it and reboot the machine immediately.
    If you find the value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run\dealhelperupdate, delete it and reboot the machine immediately.
    If you find the value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run\dsi, delete it and reboot the machine immediately.
    If you find the value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run\timesyncapp, delete it and reboot the machine immediately.



    Unregister DLLs:

    Unregister these DLLs with Regsvr32, then reboot:

    Clean Registry:

    Remove these registry items (if present) with RegEdit:

    Remove Files:

    Remove these files (if present) with Windows Explorer:

    Remove Directories:

    Remove these directories (if present) with Windows Explorer:

    Research

    File Analyses:

    More Info:
  • AllTheWeb, AltaVista, AOL Search, Ask Jeeves, Google, HotBot, Lycos, LookSmart, MSN, Yahoo!
    		•

    Research By:
  • Benjamin Googins
  • PestPatrol's Pest Research Center
    		•

    Last Revised:

    		 April 02, 2005