Malware / Adware woes thanks to a foolish µTorrent install

[Isaac Sauvage]

Yipes, just noticed a program called "WebHelper" running in the background, and at best it's evidently adware, but it may also be a keylogger. Great. :/

A little googling suggests that it got auto-installed with µTorrent, which I'd installed a couple months ago to download a backglass package, but never actually used. Disappointing, because µTorrent seemed to be safe enough these days and super-widely used.

So I've disabled both the program and WebHelper for now, but this is a reminder that I haven't installed or used any anti-malware software for ages. Back in the day I used "SpyBot," "AdAware" and sometimes "HiJackThis," but it looks like they're pretty obsolete now.

"MalWareBytes" and "SuperAntiSpyware" looked good at first, but I'm also seeing some reviewers dismiss them. So, any opinion on good anti-malware software (I don't need anti-virus) for 2022?

 

[GeorgeH]

I use Defender that ships with Windows and MalWareBytes that I bought for life time use with no fees. MalWareBytes works well with Defender but may not be sufficient by itself. I set up MalWareBytes so it does a full scan automatically every day and I don't notice that is is running. On Defender, I do a quick scan every day automatically. I do a manual full scan once a week on Defender because it uses a lot of resources and run it overnight when I go to bed. I have not had any serious problems with viruses, although I do usually do get some low threat viruses with the weekly scan with Defender. I also use Sandboxie on my web browser that I am sure helps and recommend it highly.

 

[StevOz]

Ike, internet pirate rule 1337, never use or update utorrent past version 2.21, all later versions became adware, after it was sold.

Download uTorrent 2.2.1 Build 25302 for Windows - OldVersion.com

www.oldversion.com

 

[AnonTet]

utorrent is the last torrent client you want installed for years now. Precisely because of all that crap.

qbittorrent, transmission... these I can recommend. I know they work with very large torrents and for years gave me 0 troubles.

 

[shiva]

use qbittorrent myself

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Ugh yeah, I obviously read the wrong info on utorrent at the time. It sounded like it used to be sketchy, but was more legit now. Not unlike how SourceForge (IIRC) was sketchy for awhile after it got bought out, but managed to get it's reputation back later with cleaner practices. Oh well.

The pitiful thing is that I never wound up using utorrent for my intent, which was to snag this collection. I don't know much about torrenting, and that link proved troublesome IIRC.

Anyway, once again I'm asking if anybody has an anti-malware rec beyond MalWareBytes or SuperAntiSpyware. What I've read is that the number of malware variants are kind of outpacing their ability to defend against them, and that one should look towards stuff like Kaspersky & Norton instead.

 

[xenonph]

I just use Windows Defender that comes with Windows.
But I also restore my computer to factory every few weeks, so I work with clean slate every month.
Not sure if this will help, but it has some handy tools, and they are free.
I think the Malware Hunter Pro is free to download, but costs for subscription I think.
It is called Glarys Utility Free.
https://www.glarysoft.com/glary-utilities/

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

A little update-- I did install MWB (MalWareBytes) a few weeks back, and it caught a fairly minor issue at the time.

And then a couple times recently, I saw a weird issue where various keys started acting strangely, as if the CTRL or WIN keys were being held down at the same time. That, or some keys just stopped working altogether.

I first determined that it wasn't a hardware issue, then realised that it was only happening in Chrome, and strangely behaved differently when typing on a page vs. typing in the URL field. After updating Chrome and turning off all my browser extensions, the issue persisted. A system reset has temporarily fixed the issue, but for how long?

So I finally got 'round to installing SAS (SuperAntiSpyware), and it too caught a minor issue or two, but nothing related to this new problem. Funnily enough, for all the internet talk about uTorrent's famous WebHelper bundle-in, neither program flagged it. I had to manually cripple that one myself by sabotaging its various .exe's, and am certainly not 100% that there isn't some lingering fluffery going on.

It's all a bit nerve-wracking, considering that I use this same machine to do my online banking and log in to my critical accts. (key-logger alert)

But if Defender, MWB and SAS all give a clean bill of health, what next?

 

[spookyMoulder]

I hate getting malware according to microsoft help you should run your pc in safe mode and do a scan I use IOBIT Advanced System Care. I never use torrent software but my friend used BitComet back in 2010 If your browser is acting up clean your history and don't use too many extenstions, don't install too many software and run a disk cleanup.

 

[AnonTet]

If it comes to safe mode time, I always backup everything (which is why I use portable software) and then reinstall clean.

I have to say that MS really did a nice thing allowing to reinstall without extra media.

Actually, it's good to reinstall every now and then on account of registry shit alone.

 

[StevOz]

use qbittorrent myself

So do I...

 

[GeorgeH]

Aren't you guys concerned about the repercussions of downloading something copyrighted? Torrents can be tracked easily. You might download something copyrighted by accident and then have legal trouble.

 

[xenonph]

About 15 to 20 years ago, I downloaded a bunch of music albums and more.
Well I had like 500 copyright infringement messages in my email.
Of course I deleted all of the music and awaited to hear something more, but never did.
I never used a torrent again for music or movies.
I wouldn't worry about the VP or FP torrents.

 

[AnonTet]

@GeorgeH
I'm more inclined to copyleft :D

@xenonph
You deleted everything after making CD backup right? :D
On a still not so serious note, either my email providers filter those warnings or I am the most well behaved person on the planet... :D

PS: I remember only one other client I've used apart from qBT. It was Transmission

 

[StevOz]

Mark Zuckerberg famously said: "The biggest risk is not taking any risk"

The laws of nature override all arbitrary laws of man.

Risk = reward