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Morpheus

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

Overview

Summary:

StreamCast Networks counts the number of times its file swappers visit high-profile shopping sites. The company has begun installing a Web browser add-on that sends some Morpheus users on an invisible Web detour aimed at capturing data about file swappers' surfing habits.

Thus, when a file swapper visits a site such as Radioshack.com, eBay.com or a handful of others, their computer visits a separate site behind the scenes before loading the final destination site. Those separate servers, run by marketing companies including Be Free, count how many times Morpheus users stop by. Source

Vendor Notes:

 StreamCast Networks, Inc. provides advertisers with measurable, targeted, cost-effective advertising within a product that has been downloaded over 100 million times. Insertion orders can be placed for both traditional and rich media advertising, with a range of deliveries including: banners, sponsorships, pop-ups, spotlights, and Eyeblaster, an out of banner advertising solution that will help you to break through the clutter and create a lasting image with your target audience.

Category:

P2P: Any peer-to-peer file swapping program, such as Audiogalaxy, Bearshare, Blubster, E-Mule, Gnucleus, Grokster, Imesh, KaZaa, KaZaa Lite, Limewire, Morpheus, Shareaza, WinMX and Xolox. In an organization, can degrade network performance and consume vast amounts of storage. May create security issues as outsiders are granted access to internal files. Often bundled with Adware or Spyware.

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.

Variants:
  • Morpheus 1.9
  • Morpheus 2.0
  • Morpheus 3.1
    		•

    Similar Pests:

    		 P2P · Adware · Browser Helper Object

    Origins

    Group:

    		 StreamCast Networks

    Vendor:

    		 MusicCity.

    By This Group:

    		 Morpheus 1.9 ·

    EMail:

    		 info@morpheus.com

    URL:

    		 http://www.morpheus.com/

    Date of Origin:

    		 Variants from April, 2002 to August, 2004

    Distribution

    Distribution:

    		 Over 114,405,000 million downloads of Morpheus to date! - http://www.morpheus.com/

    Prevalence:
  • Morpheus: 34.2%
  • Morpheus 1.9: 16.4%
  • Morpheus 2.0: 4.1%
  • Morpheus 3.1: 1.4%
    • More Info

    Clot Factor:
  • Morpheus: 86

    • 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:
  • Morpheus: Insufficient data to report growth
  • Morpheus 1.9: Insufficient data to report growth
  • Morpheus 2.0: Insufficient data to report growth
    		•

    Operation

    Platform:

    		 Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP 128MB RAM

    General:

    PalTalk is included with Morpheus, a free program sponsored by advertisements through an ad server contained in the program. PalTalk contains third party advertising delivered and serviced by DoubleClick, which PalTalk confirms as their "Web advertising partner". Once you register with PalTalk, you will receive email solicitations from whatever companies are associated with both PalTalk, and DoubleClick. Once enrolled, you are offered the opportunity to unsubscribe from the PalTalk mailing list, but once you have been loaded onto other mailing lists you will have to unsubscribe from them too.

    Additionally, communications may be monitored and any form of your communication may be found published at another site for another purpose. Additionally, you waive all rights to any personal images sent through PalTalk to another user.

    More info:

    Storage Required:
  • Morpheus: at least 6737 KB
  • Morpheus 1.9: at least 13465 KB
  • Morpheus 2.0: at least 861 KB
  • Morpheus 3.1: at least 5037 KB
    		•

    Browser Performance:

    		 Likely to slow performance of Internet Explorer.

    Detection and Removal

    Automatic Removal:

    PestPatrol detects this.

    PestPatrol removes this.

    Manual Removal:

    		 Follow these steps to remove Morpheus 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\morpheus, 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:
  • Morpheus shutdown puts rival in the spotlight
  • Morpheus' downfall: Bills weren't paid
  • Morpheus tracks user surfing habits
  • AllTheWeb, AltaVista, AOL Search, Ask Jeeves, Google, HotBot, Lycos, LookSmart, MSN, Yahoo!
    		•

    Research By:
  • PestPatrol's Pest Research Center
    		•

    Last Revised:

    		 April 03, 2005