Is PartyPoker installing WinAdTools and WinRatchet trojan/spies?

[AKQJ10]

I don't want to be alarmist and blame an honest company, but I've got my suspicions about Party for a couple of circumstantial reasons:

1. After getting my machine fairly cleaned up, it's become re-infected by this trojan. At about the same time, Party Poker icons that I had previously filed in a folder have reappeared on my desktop. Poker clients in general account for most of my .exe installations in the past month, although there are others besides Party (Doylesroom and FullTiltPoker, offhand).

2. I've seen PartyPoker ads come up via trojans, so obviously they're doing business with this type of operation.

I don't want to fly off the handle, but if Party is doing stuff like this I don't care how many fish it delivers; it's not a company that deserves my business.

Does anyone have any ideas of who else might be installing this stuff?

[IggyWH]

[ QUOTE ]
2. I've seen PartyPoker ads come up via trojans, so obviously they're doing business with this type of operation.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, it's obvious their affiliates are using trojans to spam their affiliate linking.

I STRONGLY doubt a company like Party is using trojans to spam your computer. It's those porn sites that you've been on...

[AKQJ10]

Point taken.... I suppose I could click through or otherwise figure out whose affiliate links are coming via the trojan. Would Party care enough to make it worth reporting them? Given their reputation for stellar customer support, don't both answering that.

[IggyWH]

[ QUOTE ]
Point taken.... I suppose I could click through or otherwise figure out whose affiliate links are coming via the trojan. Would Party care enough to make it worth reporting them? Given their reputation for stellar customer support, don't both answering that.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know exactly how often they close affiliate accounts, but they have a ZERO TOLERANCE policy on spamming of affiliate links.

On a side note, there are programs out there that create a log when something is installed on your computer. You then can lookup what/where installed these trojans on your computer. Sorry I can't remember the name of such programs off the top of my head but a quick google search should give you results.

[MicroBob]

Would a system-restore to a previous date be helpful at all when crap you don't want is installed on your computer?

[AncientPC]

What does Party gain by installing Trojans with their software?

[IggyWH]

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Would a system-restore to a previous date be helpful at all when crap you don't want is installed on your computer?

[/ QUOTE ]

It all depends on what program you'd use for a system restore. Some just restore critical windows files while some create an image (replica) of your hard drive compressed.

The difference is if the trogan or whatever isn't floating around in your windows critical files, reverting back won't help.

I have Norton Ghost that I use to backup my files. It creates an image of my hard drive so if anything ever happens, I can revert fully back. It's a great utility if you have the disk space for it.

[MicroBob]

I kinda figured it was an 'it depends' situation.

My computer suddenly started acting funky today as well...although I'm not getting party-affiliate pop-ups.

Computer had been fine and dandy for several months but something got to it.
It also was improperly shut-down so that could have been part of the problem also.

I did a system restore to a few days ago and that helped quite a bit but I still suspect it is just barely slower than it should be so I'm trying to Norton it all out as best I can in spite of my complete and total lack of computer skills and knowledge.

[IggyWH]

[ QUOTE ]
I kinda figured it was an 'it depends' situation.

My computer suddenly started acting funky today as well...although I'm not getting party-affiliate pop-ups.

Computer had been fine and dandy for several months but something got to it.
It also was improperly shut-down so that could have been part of the problem also.

I did a system restore to a few days ago and that helped quite a bit but I still suspect it is just barely slower than it should be so I'm trying to Norton it all out as best I can in spite of my complete and total lack of computer skills and knowledge.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you don't already have them, here are a couple free (and completely safe) programs to try out :

The first program is SpywareBlaster:

It has a list of all known spyware so once you install it the program BLOCKS ALL SPYWARE from getting onto your computer.

This is great because Adaware was always deleting the same stuff over and over. Since installing this I haven't gotten any spyware on my computer.

Here's where you can download it and don't forget to check for updates every once in awhile:

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html


The next program is SpywareGuard:

This program runs on your computer and provides real time protection against spyware and browser hijacking. Its always running so if something is happening it will alert you and take care of the situation (where before you never would have realized what was going on).

Here's where you download it and IMPORTANT (when you install it the program won't pop up and tell you that it was installed. It will have a small red SG logo placed in your icon tray which if you click on it will open up the program). At first I thought I had a problem installing it so I just wanted to let everyone know.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html

The final program is CoolWebShredder:

I had Adware and the latest Norton AntiVirus and this thing still got installed on my computer and I couldn't get rid of it.

Here's where you can download it:

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/coolwebshredder.html

[Rudbaeck]

[ QUOTE ]
Point taken.... I suppose I could click through or otherwise figure out whose affiliate links are coming via the trojan. Would Party care enough to make it worth reporting them? Given their reputation for stellar customer support, don't both answering that.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, they care. (Or claim to care.) I've reported a few spammers and they've responded with a "we'll look into it and see if we should close this account" or a "we closed this affiliate account thanks to your report and other similar reports".

I don't even want to think of the spam hell that will be the result if checknraise takes off.

[MrDannimal]

"fairly cleaned up"

You're either fully clean, or you're not. If you're not, there is a lot of malware that will re-assert itself (meaning, you delete what it puts on your desktop, but not the registry key. Next time you boot, it re-creates the desktop stuff).