Checking those obsure files security program find ...

[Mara]

I used the below last night when double-checking than an online security scan really had found a nasty and not a 'false positive' ... wondering if anyone else has used this site and what they think of it.

 

About ProgramChecker

[Guest Wolfeymole]

It's superfluous crap Mara, uninstall it immediately.

 

What Security do you run?

[Mara]

Oh drat, I thought I was 'onto something' there - gentle grin! Out is goes!

 

I run:

Site Hound

Sygate Personal Firewall

Avast - On Access Scanner

 

WinPatrol

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

ThreatFire

 

And always, always download to my desktop, scan with everything and then (and only then) install or add something to my computer.

 

But last night, I was running an online scan that showed something called "Dialer_RAS" sitting in my computer ... perhaps this 'Dialer' is neither a virus nor malware and is classified as something else, which allows it to get through my security programs?

[Tootech]

Feeling rather helpful I decided to install this program and have a look at it.

 

I asked it to scan my computer and look what it said - unknown files all the way down the list.

[ATTACH]299[/ATTACH]

Most of them are pretty standard Windows files.

 

My PC is up to date and secure - this software doesn't know about it!

 

So, just as a check I asked it to have a look at my explorer.exe file, and it couldn't find the version so didn't know what to do with it.

 

My advice....get rid of it. It serves no useful purpose and just confuses things.

Edited September 27, 2009 by Tootech

[Mara]

Poof, it's gone!!! And thank you so much for downloading and giving it a try, Tootech - how very kind you are!

[Goku]

But last night, I was running an online scan that showed something called "Dialer_RAS" sitting in my computer ... perhaps this 'Dialer' is neither a virus nor malware and is classified as something else, which allows it to get through my security programs?

Basically a Dialer is a variant of an infection that creates many hoax connections or bars you from connecting through a legitimate connection. It might also compromise your bandwidth so they should be avoided as much as they can.

 

As another precaution, you can upload files from suspicious sites to this site and see if it finds anything. If the site classifies it as safe, then it probably is. If it doesn't, then dispose of the file immediately.

 

Hope that helps. :)

 

-- Goku

[Mara]

I've got the site bookmarked and thanks so much, Goku, for both the link and the information.

 

Perhaps the pesky 'Dialer' is the reason that often a page either wouldn't connect or load and equally as frustrating, the pages would freeze when half-loaded ... but I'm wondering something.

 

Since none of my programs, including Malware and Anti-Virus, didn't catch it coming in - nor during during normal scans - is there some setting I should adjust to watch for this type of variation?

 

Thanks so much everyone once again - gracious, what would I do without our wonderful site - huge happy smile and my sincere thanks!

[RandyL]

Mara I suspect this is nothing more then a false positive from the crap scanner. In addition Housecalls online scanner sometimes produces this false positive.

 

It could also be a legitimate service if you have or ever have had certain programs installed. Have you ever had AOL, internet phone call services, a dialup connection etc. installed?

 

The fact that you have good security installed and they detected nothing tells me you should not fret over this one.

 

As far as your browser problems are concerned it is most likely due to your ISP or third party programs and add-ons to your browser. To isolate any programs that might interfere with your browser you will need to start uninstalling programs until you find the culprit. I would start with any extra toolbars you might or might not have.

[Goku]

Well as Randy says, Dialers are legitimate too. In fact, a major part of them are legitimate, only a small ratio is malicious. Now, if the dialer was packed into another installer then it is most likely to be malicious. The symptoms you state are also known to be caused by malicious dialers so it may well be that it was not a false positive.

 

'Dialers' are not the worst of the infections but they are difficult to detect as they belong to the Trojan family. And remember, no one scanner will find and detect all threats. Avira itself betrayed me once last week. Therefore, screen the suspicious ones through the site in my previous post as it will run the file through a series of scanners. If they all come clean, then the file is probably clean too.

 

You don't need to screen every file through the procedure; just the suspicious ones.

 

Hope that helps. :)

 

-- Goku

[Mara]

It does, and thanks again!

 

And now I'm off to find what's happening with this poor computer by uninstalling programs one by one.

Never had AOL, internet phone call services, a dialup connection etc. installed ... do have that additional toolbar running across the screen that came with Firefox (that shows all the tabs) plus the one that came with SiteHound (no actual tabs, just the 'site info'/report this site areas).

 

(My problems don't seem severe - just a tad annoying. For instance, when I tried to 'edit' here, the silly computer froze and refused to finish loading, then refused to close, then after using 'end program' got the half white page frozen on the screen).

Edited January 4, 2009 by Mara

[DSTM]

Hi Mara,My Computer was acting up exactly the same as yours.

In my case I found the culprit to be PC Tools Threatfire.

I uninstalled,rebooted and all was OK again.Installed again and same problem again.Given that Program the heave **.

Maybe worth a try,Mara,as I found it conflicted with programs, I had running.

[Mara]

This is reassuring to know, DSTM - and I thank you!

 

Have uninstalled and reinstalled several programs (non of the security programs, though) yet nothing had changed - so heading off to dump ThreatFire - thanks again!

[Jack Hackett]

Program Checker - Dont you just love good ol' Snake Oil :D