I downloaded this program called pc mighty max. it said i had an enormous amount of problems with registy entries and shortcuts. this seemed fishy to me, how could i have so many problems??? So i decided to run norton system works and be clean to see if i had been slacking on routine maintanence. Evereything was fine with those programs. I also noticed that the program took up a lot of processing power and was always running. I then decided to remove the program all together.

Removing it took a minute to figure out as well. I had to use a freeware program to remove the program as i couldn't remove it with add/remove. I haven't had any problems, but this program made me worry a little bit since i couldn't find any information about it save for a few small forum mentions. I think it's time to gather some info. on it. What do the geek Gods say?? I am VERY curious.

It was probably either a virus or some other malware that like to give out your passwords and information like that. I have never heard of the program but this is probably what it is.

Any way to confirm this? I have run zone alarm anti virus and norton, i have also run three differnet types of spyware/addware. nothing. i removed it and haven't had any problems. the small forum entries i read talked of people ordering the full version, but not having it repair all of the mistakes, or none at all. the two instances applied for an account credit and said the company planned to oblidge, but they didn't post refund confirmations, ect... anyone else know anything?

I just did a search on a gov browser and it came up as spyware!!!!

That program is downloadable from download.com, but it looks fishy indeed. When you go the homepage of the creators, there's no direct link I can find to that product, and it looks like it's been made in no more than 2 minutes...
I'd be careful with that one.
And if you want some anti-spyware protection, I'd say you should try Microsoft Anti-Spyware. Note that it's still in the beta testing fase, so it might be a bit buggy, but I like it thus far, and it's free now, and it seems it'll be free later

If i installed it and removed it without being on the internet, am i safe? Is there anyway i can search for bad files that might still be lingering???

Sure, download AdAware Personal (free) and Spybot Search&Destroy (also free). Run a scan with both, and see if there's anything suspicious.
And feel free to donate to the makers of Spybot

And you not being online when it was installed doesn't make you really safe. If spyware is well designed, it should be made to actually log what happens (surfing or stuff like that) and send it when possible. If it's not possible, then it'll just keep the logs till it can send. That what I would call "good" spyware.

Anyway, what is that freeware program you used to uninstall it?

Do Adaware and S&D actually do different things? Or is it just for extra security, like sticking two software firewalls on and a hardware firewall.

Couldn't they 'fight' with each other, i'm searching for the right word in my head but i can not find it. That's what Norton and Mcafee [used to?] do, they would 'fight' over scanning and then end up not scanning, or perhaps they relied on the other. Sounding too human me thinks, either way..sorry if i take this off topic.

I believe that both do the same thing, I think it was tom3 a while back that ran both scans and found they came up with the same stuff (spy-ware etc), they both seek interface interlopers or what ever you want to call spys. Both are well regarded though LavaSoft (Adaware) has been around for a bit longer and is supported by the sales of other security programs etcetera which is why they can offer it as free. As far as I know both programs will "get along' on the same PC, not like having two different anti virus programs where each thinks the other is a bug and end up battling or something and making a wee mess of your PC. Several compatibles that I use are ZAfirewall, NAV (though system heavy as others have pointed out), ad-aware, and tweek powerpack, the last two to clean up stuff like cookies, spies etc. Oh carp, off topic?
Anyhow, psYchotic is correct in his statement that you don't have to be on-line for info to be gathered and later sent, that is how the buggers work.
'Search and Destroy' sounds much more impressive than quarantine/delete.

Well, download.com generally clearly states whether a listed program has adware/spyware or not. Nothing is mentioned, so it could be a safe software , so if you don't face problems, don't bother. Run Adaware & spybot to be sure though.



Well, firewalls and antivirii haev to be running in the background to work, so 2 or more could conflict among themselves. Anti-Spyware are on demand scanners, so there shouldn't be a problem running as many of them together

Besides, scanning routines aren't the same in AdAware and Spybot. That means that Spybot might find stuff Adaware wouldn't, and vice-versa. It's just a way to double check. And I still recommend Microsoft AntiSpyware, coz I saw some reviews, and well, it's just the best (despite it's still in beta). Just check out this reviews by mister Thurrott. I can't find the review I'm talking about, but this will do for now, and I'll keep looking for that great comparison of antispyware products.
FOUND IT : here it is..

thanks for all you input. I used a freeware product called uninstallit to get the pc mighty max off. i ran spybot s&d and bps malware detecter to check for things, bps came up with two cookies in administrator that i couldn't see. i turned on search for hidden files and is still couldn't find the cookie files. any ideas? thx.

Try with both that and "search for hidden files&folders".

i am looking in the folder with show hidden files on and i still don't see anything. is there a way to hide files or cookies???a hidden process perhaps???

Meh, i dislike the Microsoft Spyware although it was good of them to make a long awaied contribution to the market. I still prefer Ad-Aware and S&D to it.

Thankyou psYchotic for pointing out the diffs in adaware and spybot, and posting the link to explain them, good site. I followed their advice and ended up adding SpybotS&D to my PC. I updated it then ran a full scan and sure enough there were 16 pests. Then I ran Adaware and it turned up 13 other tracking cookies, all, I believe, were in my browser cache. This proved the point imo. It is sad that microsoft program is only for XP and 2K.
maudin8, sounds like your pc is okay. You do know that you can dump most of the cookies through Tools/Internet options /delete cookies/delete temp. files too.

i have no cookies at all and it still says there are two cookies in there! i don't get it. there are some evil genious' out there! i am just a noob so maybe i don't know what i am talking about. The only thing i can think of that pc mighty max may of picked up if it was ligit is either A. the virtual drive settings or B. my dll back up program running in the background. don't know.

C:\Documents and Settings\psYchotic\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
That should be location of your cookies, but of course you'd have to replace psYchotic by maudin8 or whatever is your username under windows. In there you should be able to delete whatever you want. But it's possible that you can't access the local settings directory, because it's a hidden one.
If that's the case, click on the "Tools" menu, then click on folder options, and then select the "View" tab. In there, make sure that "Show hidden files and folders" is selected. Then you should be able to see every hidden file on your system

i have done this and the spyware remover is still telling me that two spy cookies are there. wtf??? this bps spyware is the only type that finds this, could it be a mistake or something worse?

It sounds like maybe the same thing that was happening with Adaware and Spybot a short time ago. It was this, adaware was recognising the recovery file set up by spybot as malware/spyware. From what I've read this was later corrected by Lavasoft. But, your spyware removal program could be looking at something that is part of one of your other programs, one of their backup files. Just a thought since it seems vague on where and what the percieved threat is.

that is brilliant thinking!!! yes, that makes sense. thanks for the input! do you know anything about BHO's?? i have a couple on my HJT log i was wondering about.

No, I am a noob, though maybe a smart one, I'm sure some one here will have an answer for you. I am embarrassed by my lack of knowlege, *goes to google*, but like to troubleshoot if I can, I'll be shocked if that is the reason but it did sortta make sense at the time.

hey, i'll take all the help i can get! btw, i found a site to analyze hijack this logs,pm me if you want the link,not sure if its legal to post the link on forum. they seem like helpful geeks too!!

maudin8..or anyone....maybe you can help me.I also downloaded pc mightymax and am unable to uninstall it. What freeware did you use to get rid of this annoying spyware. I am unable to use add/remove programs or stop it from running.
thanks.....hdsolo

i used a freeware program called zsoft uninstaller. I am sorry I can't remember where I got it, but you could probably google it.

I was able to uninstall PC Mighty Max v. 9 using Control Panel uninstall. The program did not show up under the show by "name" option (upper right hand corner drop down box) but when I switched to the frequency of use option, it was listed. The uninstall wizard took it all off, and those annoying pop ups telling me I had big trouble (regarding unimportant broken links) disappeared. I think I am finally rid of Mighty Max...and to think I actually paid for the 7 day version! The least they could do is include a "delete" link!

I have heard nothing good about this software, i am glad it is finally being brought out to light.

I just spent twenty minutes trying to get rid of this software and finally went to system restore.

It shut off nortons and wouldn't let me enable it, even after a restart, shut off spyware guard, shut off "windows installer" (kicked out an error message) so that I couldn't uninstall it and it wouldn't let me download anything to fix it with either (got dead responses when I clicked the ccleaner link). I am assuming it stopped several services so it could perform its task, but still . . .

It claimed I had at hundreds of problems in my registry--which I've just checked with other reliable programs and they were minimal at best.

I thought it would be safe because I downloaded the first program (ez-cleaner) from Windows Market Place. It advised that I had problems and that I should download PC Might Max. Still thinking, "well if the windows people are suggesting it, it must be safe" I did what it suggested.

Shame on me!

This is software that might be okay if you actually bought it, but the demo is awful and I refuse to do business with these people ever.

I had start up problems on my PC and ran the free trial of PC Mighty Max. Panic!! Over 300 problems with one being in the most severe category. I purchased PC Mighty Max at $29.99 and used it.

My PC showed problems at every Mighty Max scan until it finally crashed and died!!!

REPAIR????????????????????


I emailed PC Mighty Max and asked for my money back.

They told me I had used the key and unlocked the utility.

THAT was how I knew it didn't work.

I received no apology, but I DID GET MY REFUND!!!!!!!!!!!!

what works for me is respectfully threatening the source with a lawsuit via email. why go through all this yourself, wasting your valuable time? i've gotten a couple of monsters( mysteriously removed from pc) with this method. hey, works for me

if anyone needs help with composing one of these short emails; just contact me. i love this @$%$, and am precise and to the point. works everytime. peace, wynette

spybot rocks! yeah, i also dump all cookies and temp files (usually twice a day)

again, i'll say. go after mighty max and send them a "respectful" email saying you are in process of having your attorney, (personally i don't have one on call, but they don't know that ha ha) handle them. i'll just bet it will suddenly mysteriously disappear from your pcl

Lol wynette, yes the direct approach will sometimes work well, and hey, if you thought that MM was fun, I spent several days a short while back with issues dealing with Panda Titanium, after reading many scathing articles (literally hours of googling various forums) and about 2 good reviews (that I think were written by P staff) I woulldn't bother with such drek. Some where on the Invisiongraphics.com site I wrote a small article on what my research found. Small word of advice about these pop-up-fix-everything progs, most are junk, ignore them. Check out some of the decent review sites like C-Net etc and check out what peeps have to say first. Some of these system analising programs are designed to show errors that do not exist (or they read your valid ones as 'spys'), so that you will go "Oh sht, 129problems, oh me, oh my, *download the cause of 128 of 'em*, gee my PC crashed" It is a real shame when ther is so much good freeware that does as it says it does. People who design these utilities to spy, add them to parts of semi-usable progs, should be held directly accountable imho, make em pay, and pay and pay. Bunch of thieves in the night. So when you're looking for someting good, read up, do your research, check out people's comments on support etc.. Chances are if you have trouble getting a hold of one of the co.s they are flakey, run away.
Just my 0.02$worth.

yeah, serge, mm popped up all the time telling me i had 3,000 (ok exaggerating here) critical alerts alarm, alarm, omg i'm doomed now, i have 3,000 problems on my pc!!!!! what do i do????

tell mm i call my "non-existent attorney" he fixes it all the time for me lol

First thing needed to be mentioned is that PCMightyMax is useless software and i could say even annoying... After the program has been downloaded it starts to scan the computer and shows report in the end, which cannot be trusted as it can contain non existent viruses, just to scare user and make him to pay for full PCMightyMax version.

Yup, seems to me I did a fair bit of research on this POS prog. and if I am not mistaken it was a crap program that was re-badged and then remarketed as MM. Pure junk imho and a real nightmare for unsuspecting folks who download even the trial version, the trial being trying to get rid of it without totally messing up your PC. Run away! Run away!
And Kent, welcome too, but notice the age of this thread eh

Cheers All

Serge