Product Updater ???

[BuckSkin]

I have no idea just how or where it came from; I am very careful and vigilant when installing anything; however, a few months ago, one of our machines acquired an unwanted guest --- Product Updater.

I did a bit of Google-searching and read up on the situation and any guide that I found for removing the program seemed to be worse than the program itself.

If I knew how to manually track down it's pieces and parts and just delete them, I would be all for that.

Were it not for this warning notification that appears at every start or restart, I would have never known the problem even existed:




Hence my question: I always click "Close the Program"
I occasionally check "Task Manager" > "Processes" and I have not yet seen any of the associated processes running.
Seeing as the program has "Stopped Working" before it has even had a chance to start, and that I "Close the Program", and that I never see any evidence of it in the Task Manager, other that the slight annoyance of having to address the issue at every start, and just knowing that something is there that shouldn't be, is this process doing anything undesirable without my knowledge ?

Thanks for reading and all help is appreciated.

 

[Brink]

Hello BuckSkin,

I found this below about it. It appears to be a PUP.

:ar: ProductUpdater.exe Windows process - What is it?

You might check in Programs and Features to see if "ProductUpdater" may be listed to uninstall.

:ar: Programs and Features - Uninstall or Change a Program - Windows 7 Help Forums

I would also recommend to do a full scan of your system with an AV program to help make sure it's clean.

 

[BuckSkin]

You might check in Programs and Features to see if "ProductUpdater" may be listed to uninstall.

Thanks for the info.

I just checked again and I am not seeing anything in Programs and Features related to this Product Updater.

I would also recommend to do a full scan of your system with an AV program to help make sure it's clean.

Scans of both Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes say "No Threats Detected"

I just now see that you said "full scan"; maybe I better take another peek at the scan dialogues and see if I did in fact do full scans.

 

[mrjimphelps]

Run MSCONFIG and go to the Services tab. If you see this product listed among the services, disable it. Also, if you see it listed on the Startup tab, disable it there as well.

Now open your browser and go to the extensions / addons area. See if this product is listed there. If it is, remove it.

 

[file3456]

Run SuperAntiSpyware. SUPERAntiSpyware - Downloads

If that doesn't help run Herdprotect portable which uses 68 anti-malware engines. It may need to run twice.

Download Portable herdProtect 1.0.3.9 Beta

Be aware that the risk of false positives is high since it uses so many anti-virus engines. So research what it finds.

 

[BuckSkin]

Run MSCONFIG and go to the Services tab. If you see this product listed among the services, disable it. Also, if you see it listed on the Startup tab, disable it there as well.

Now open your browser and go to the extensions / addons area. See if this product is listed there. If it is, remove it.

I didn't see it in Services, but it is listed in Startup twice; it shows exactly the same location and path for both listings, one unchecked, the other checked.
It is pictured as I found it; I then unchecked it.
Why would it be there twice ?

Thanks.

 

[BuckSkin]

I found this:



What would be the outcome if I just deleted that folder ?

 

[mrjimphelps]

If it was me, I would delete the folder. Deleting it will mean that the program won't be able to run, because it won't exist any more on your computer.

Hopefully that is the only place that this program resides on your computer.

As for why there were two entries in Startup, probably a bug in the program. It didn't check to see if there was already an entry in Startup. Either that, or as a way to keep the program running -- if you remove one entry in Startup, the other one will still be there.

Excellent detective work. You saw the location and path of the program, and you then found it on the hard drive at that location and path.

 

[Brink]

BuckSkin,

Do you have any "Freemake" or "FreeFixer" type program in Programs and Features to uninstall?

 

[BuckSkin]

If it was me, I would delete the folder.

Thanks; I will delete.

BuckSkin,

Do you have any "Freemake" or "FreeFixer" type program in Programs and Features to uninstall?

I have had Freemake Video Converter for several years.

I am now fairly certain that the ProductUpdater mess sneaked in when I recently installed Freemake Video Downloader --- which works wonderfully, by the way.