Full
Name: |
PowerStrip |
| Type: |
Adware |
| Also Known As: |
power strip
psocx |
| Created By: |
Integrated Ventures |
| Danger Level: |
1 |
| Category Description: |
Program that delivers advertisements on your PC.
Note that many websites have their own advertising, unrelated to adware.
Adware is any software application in which advertising is displayed while the program is running. The authors of these applications include additional code that delivers the ads, which can be viewed through pop-up windows or through a bar that appears on a computer screen and sometimes through text links or in integrated search results. Adware may or may not track personal information. It may also gather information anonymously or in aggregate only. Users should check the EULA and Privacy policy to ensure if the adware on their machines conforms to their standards. |
| Official Description: |
PowerStrip is an IE toolbar with a search field and link buttons. When you use a targeted merchant site, PowerStrip silently sets the afffiliate ID, so as to steal commission fees from your web shopping.
Note: this is unconnected to the video output tweaking utility also called PowerStrip.
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| Comment: |
PowerStrip/PSSetup and PowerStrip/PSOCX are two different versions of the ActiveX installer control used to install the toolbar and commission hijacker. Installed by ActiveX drive-by downloads in pop-up advertisements. Can download and install arbitrary unsigned code, as an update mechanism.
Connects to its controlling server at verschk.com to ask for software and target list updates.
Interesting:
http://www.tenebril.com/kb/showitem.php?faq_id=242
Says:
"Slingshot uses to intercept downloads from Internet Explorer is derived from the same demo code as these spyware titles were derived from. Any program that interfaces with Internet Explorer has a special signature (a CLSID) that it uses to identify itself to IE. Since the spyware titles and Slingshot share a CLSID, some anti-spyware software will think that Slingshot is spyware."
Guys.... please! CLSID are supposed to be UNIQUE Indentifiers. That means that you should not copy&paste them from Microsoft demo code (as the adware writing retards do) but instead generate your own. Not only is this a Microsoft requirement, but it will also save you (and your users) a lot of headaches. |
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| Information URL: |
http://www.thepowerstrip.com/ |
| Properties: |
|
| Manual Removal: |
There is a 'PowerStrip' entry in Add/Remove Programs, but it requires an Internet conection and ActiveX to work, and only removes the toolbar itself, not the updates checker, commission hijacker or the installer control (which can be used on any web page to reinstall PowerString). |
