Microsoft's New AntiSpyware Tool Deletes Favorites

  • Thread starter Thread starter Shannon
  • Start date Start date
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Shannon

All,

I ran the new AntiSpyware Tool (old Giant AntiSpy program)
from Microsoft on my PC last night and it told me that I
had some spyware installed (I can't remember the name, but
it was one of the toolbar spywares).

Upon further observation, it detected a whole list of my
Internet favorites as the offending spyware. I backed up
my Favorites using the 'Export' feature of IE and
proceeded to run the 'Remove' function of the AntiSpyware
Tool.

Sure enough, it removed my whole section of Favorites that
I had stored in a folder called "Cool Sites".

Has anyone else had this same issue? Microsoft, please
fix this as there is no way we could ever run this tool in
a Corporate environment with the risk of deleting users'
bookmarked favorites in IE.

Thanks,

Shannon
 
Very interesting...the exact same thing happened here.
It detected every item in a favorites folder : "cool sites", and deleted
them.
 
I just did a test: I recreated the "cool sites" in favorites, and populated it with such malware sites as www.microsoft.com, www.msn.com, www.irs.gov and www.fbi.gov.

When I ran the Spyware scan it identified every item as spyware:

EZCyberSearch

Type: Adware

Threat Level: Elevated

Author: EzCyberSearch.com Inc

Description: EZCyberSearch is an IE toolbar that displays pop ads as well as hijacks Internet Explorer's search features.

I did not accept/delete this.
 
Jack R said:
I just did a test: I recreated the "cool sites" in favorites, and
populated it with such malware sites as www.microsoft.com,
www.msn.com, www.irs.gov and www.fbi.gov.

When I ran the Spyware scan it identified every item as spyware:

EZCyberSearch

Type: Adware

Threat Level: Elevated

Author: EzCyberSearch.com Inc

Description: EZCyberSearch is an IE toolbar that displays pop ads as
well as hijacks Internet Explorer's search features.

I did not accept/delete this.
Click to expand...

Sounds like what it is detecting is the entry "Cool Sites" as an identifier
for a spyware.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, IE/OE
Please respond in Newsgroup only. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com./athome/security/protect/default.aspx
 
Hi

I also had a favorites folder called "Cool Sites" on several PCs (its a
standard designation of mine). AntiSpyWare gave them all the same treatment
you describe - I just changed the name of the restored folder to "Chilled
Sites" before I ran ASW again!

Peter
 
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