Web Cake 3.0

[Xenophon PCDGS]

My computer engineer found this on both my HP tower system and on my wife's Toshiba laptop, during an in-depth investigation and installation on both our computers yesterday evening. He has successfully removed this from both computers. It is most certainly not what was installed by either my wife or myself.

I am wondering if any other forum members have had this appear upon their computer systems also and have any idea where this may have come from ?

 

[Clip]

Sounds to be something that has inadvertently been downloaded whilst something else has been downloaded as an add on.

What security progs do you have on your PC Paul?

 

[starrymarkb]

Apparently it's dubious but legit software (aka a Potentially Unwanted Program) so Antiviruses will leave it alone. Adaware or Spybot will detect them.

As to how it got on your PC. Do you have any browser toolbars/smileys/addons, these are the usual sources

It is important to reiterate that WebCake is not installed on your computer through exploits or infections, but rather it is installed along with free software that you may find online. Therefore, it is important that you pay attention to the license agreements and installation screens when installing anything off of the Internet. If an installation screen offers you Custom or Advanced installation options, it is a good idea to select these as they will typically disclose what other 3rd party software will also be installed. Furthermore, If the license agreement or installation screens state that they are going to install a toolbar or other unwanted adware, it is advised that you cancel the install and not use the free software.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

My thanks to Clip and to starrymarkb for your comments. With both my wife's and my computers being similarly afflicted prior to the visit of the computer engineer, severe words will shortly be addressed over the telephone to one of my sons who visited us from the Suffolk region two weeks ago and has a habit of downloading "so-called helpful programs" on both our computers just because we have a joint age of 141...

The computer engineer says what he has now installed should preclude similar matters, providing that the necessary precautions are taken, but advised us NOT to install anything that we are not sure about.

 

[yorkie]

The problem is a lot of genuinely useful software comes with junkware (e.g. "toolbars") on an "opt-out" basis, so you have to untick boxes or you end up with rubbish on your computer. It's easy to miss them if you aren't on the lookout for them.

 

[Yew]

has a habit of downloading "so-called helpful programs" on both our computers

I must admit, when I visit my grandparents and they have their computer on, I usually set the computer running a defragment, CCleaner, and a spyware/malware check.

I would imagine it would be an 'opt out' installation on something they have installed. That has happened a few times to me (damn you, Conduit toolbar) And a few times the software has been surprisingly tricky to remove. However I do admire the programmers for creating such a resilient program..

To people reading this post, how about running a spyware or virus check, I bet its been a while since you last did...

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

To people reading this post, how about running a spyware or virus check, I bet its been a while since you last did...

What do forum members think of Norton 360 as an anti-virus programme with a back-up facility ? We both run the full scan on a monthly basis and the quick scan on a weekly basis.

Also, has anyone installed Malwarebytes anti-malware ?

 

[G0ORC]

What do forum members think of Norton 360 as an anti-virus programme with a back-up facility ?

Also, has anyone installed Malwarebytes anti-malware ?

Well Paul, I was a confirmed Kaspersky user for many, many years but I had a lot of problems trying to upgrade to the 2014 version.

I eventually did it but there were issues with it taking nearly 100% CPU so I have ditched it in favour of Norton Internet Security (not 360) and have not had any problems at all with that.

I used Norton many years ago when it too caused me problems but it functions very well now.

The free Comodo full suite is good too, but that insists on installing Comodo Dragon which is a modified version of Google Chrome. It can be uninstalled afterwards but its a bit of a nuisance.

There are some free ones which are OK but I find them less well supported, or not supported at all.

 

[hassaanhc]

I used Bitdefender for over a year before I discovered it hit the performance of my computer. I uninstalled it and for a while used the built in one that comes with Windows 8, before installing AVG which I used for years. No problems with that so far.
Same happened to my dad's Windows 7 machine (well it was mine until I got a laptop for uni ), the OS has been on there for 3 years now (the second longest for our computers :P) and my dad thought that was why it was slow, but I installed AVG instead and it was much better. In fact, come to think of it, I only started finding it a bit slow once Bitdefender was installed. It has a quad-core i5 processor so that's probably why it is still fine, the other computer has a Core2Duo and that did get noticeably slow after 3 years and unbearable after 4, so I reinstalled Windows 7 and it is fine (better than the old Pentium processors and Windows XP where it would get unbearable after barely a year).

 

[ainsworth74]

Happy user of Kaspersky for my anti-virus and whatnot and use Malwarebytes or spybot for other bits and pieces.

 

[Johnuk123]

Bit Defender is superb, if it's slowing your computer down appreciably then that's the computer not the software.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and C Cleaner are the No'1 in their field, saying that being sensible and wary is probably the most important thing of all because no software is or ever has been 100% accurate.

 

[Butts]

I must admit, when I visit my grandparents and they have their computer on, I usually set the computer running a defragment, CCleaner, and a spyware/malware check.
I would imagine it would be an 'opt out' installation on something they have installed. That has happened a few times to me (damn you, Conduit toolbar) And a few times the software has been surprisingly tricky to remove. However I do admire the programmers for creating such a resilient program..

To people reading this post, how about running a spyware or virus check, I bet its been a while since you last did...

Eh......

I'm with you on the last bit, but the rest is double dutch to me

 

[Johnuk123]

Eh......

I'm with you on the last bit, but the rest is double dutch to me

What can't you understand ?

 

[Butts]

What can't you understand ?

defragment and cc cleaner

 

[Johnuk123]

defragment and cc cleaner

Blimey I thought everybody knew what defragmentation was.

When you delete software/files it leaves lots of small spaces on your hard disc. When you then install something it just puts itself in small parcels into the gaps thereby making the disc defragmented.

It's like going in the supermarket and the shelf stackers have placed all the peas anywhere in the shop where there was a space.

When you defragment your hard disc windows simply rearranges all the files that should be together and leaves all the space at the end. Saying all that it hardly makes a lot of difference anyway, your machine would have to be quite old and never been touched for it to make much difference.

I actually can't defrag my computer as it has solid state hard discs which don't have any moving parts.

C Cleaner short for Crap Cleaner is an excellent cleaner that will rid your machine of loads of unwanted rubbish, it will also uninstall stuff and clean the registry. It's been the No.1 for many years.

 

[High Dyke]

I had Norton on a previous machine...but removed it when it started to take up too much capacity and actually slowed the computer down. I've been using AVG for a number of years without any problems. I also use C Cleaner, Spybot and Registry Mechanic - also without any problems.

 

[Clip]

What do forum members think of Norton 360 as an anti-virus programme with a back-up facility ? We both run the full scan on a monthly basis and the quick scan on a weekly basis.

Also, has anyone installed Malwarebytes anti-malware ?

I think I mentioned Malwarebytes to you previously and its an essential tool for me really. No need for anything other than the free version.

In fact I only use that and Avast(free) as my AV tools and am quite happy with them. Never seen the use of paid for AV when the above along with CCleaner does the job just fine.

If you ever start having issues with your PC slowing and such like you can always use Hi-Jack this and post the results on a dedicated forum for it and the folks there will tell you to get rid of stuff that you do need on there and its a good fix too.