John R Bartow
jbartow at winhaven.net
Mon Oct 20 20:23:36 CDT 2014
I just installed a Java update 71.71 on a remote user machine and it had two ride along check boxes for Ask items. I don't usually do this but my RMS patch management software is undergoing some upgrades and I have it turned off right now.
You dug deep to find that, good detective work! I'm going to search for the ' sponsorsoffered' registry entry in the future just to see what I find.
" There are many cumbersome ways around it:
Manually download the right version of the silent offline installer, then run it.
Download the offline installer, get java.msi from it, then make a GPO-deployment.
Disable the auto-update check and script your own install.
Silently Uninstall Java. Then don’t install it (a few friends were so fed up that they did this).
Internet Explorer only: Disable third party browser extensions. But then you loose all other extensions as well."
Yes, I choose the first option. But now I will also add this registry hack to my install and RMS scripts.
Thank you.
John
-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Salakhetdinov Shamil
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2014 2:55 PM
To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] "Search App by Ask" Add-On - how to remove it from IE 11?
Hi John and Gustav --
I have got really confused by what software/my actions, when and why I have got 'Search App by Ask' installed - if I haven't missed something 'Search App by Ask' could have been brought to my system by Java (TM) update - here is an excerpt from my system app log:
...
15-oct-2014 7:44:02
Beginning a Windows Installer transaction: C:\Users\{myUserName}\AppData\LocalLow\Sun\Java\AU\au.msi. Client Process Id: 7348.
15-oct-2014 7:44:02
Product: Java Auto Updater -- Installation operation completed successfully.
15-oct-2014 7:44:02
Windows Installer installed the product. Product Name: Java Auto Updater. Product Version: 2.1.71.14. Product Language: 1033. Manufacturer: Oracle, Inc.. Installation success or error status: 0.
15-oct-2014 7:44:02
Ending a Windows Installer transaction: C:\Users\{myUserName}\AppData\LocalLow\Sun\Java\AU\au.msi. Client Process Id: 7348.
...
15-oct-2014 7:46:13
Beginning a Windows Installer transaction: C:\ProgramData\APN\APN-Stub\ORJ-SPE\AskToolbarInstaller-12.18.0_ORJ-SPE.msi. Client Process Id: 3860.
15-oct-2014 7:46:14
Product: Search App by Ask -- Installation completed successfully.
15-oct-2014 7:46:14
Windows Installer installed the product. Product Name: Search App by Ask. Product Version: 12.18.0.82. Product Language: 1033. Manufacturer: APN, LLC. Installation success or error status: 0.
15-oct-2014 7:46:14
Ending a Windows Installer transaction: C:\ProgramData\APN\APN-Stub\ORJ-SPE\AskToolbarInstaller-12.18.0_ORJ-SPE.msi. Client Process Id: 3860. As you can see 'Search App by Ask' setup is activated a couple of minutes after au.msi (Java Auto-Updater) was installed.
---
I have just Googled and it looks like "crapware/annoyware" did come from Java/Oracle:
I have the following registry key:
Key Name: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\JavaSoft
Class Name: <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time: 10/15/2014 - 7:44 AM
Value 1
Name: sponsorsoffered
Type: REG_SZ
Data: SP18;
Here is how to fix the issue effectively:
"Registry keys to prevent Java installs from adding sponsors (Ask/Google/Yahoo Toolbar, McAfee virus, etc) via: Super User"
http://wiert.me/2014/06/02/registry-keys-to-prevent-java-installs-from-adding-sponsors-askgoogleyahoo-toolbar-mcafee-virus-etc-via-super-user/
Thank you.
-- Shamil
P.S. I was in a hurry that morning 15-oct-2014, I can't remember if Java Auto-Updater setup has had a check-box option to setup "sponsors' crapware" or not...
Mon, 20 Oct 2014 10:31:32 -0500 from "John R Bartow" <jbartow at winhaven.net>:
>Shamil,
>I see it a lot. It comes prepackaged with many apps from a wide array of vendors. Two that I use that have included it In the past are Piriform's Ccleaner and Auslogic's Disk Defragmenter - both had it as an option during install. If the silent install option is used Ask Toolbar would get installed by default. I had used a script with silent install for both. Ccleaner now has updating built in and offer a 'slim' download which doesn't include any optional software. I turned the silent off for Auslogic's DD in order to avoid having to uninstall Ask Toolbar.
>John B
<<< skipped >>>
>
_______________________________________________
dba-Tech mailing list
dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com
http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech
Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com