Uniblue Spyeraser – Rogue Antispyware software?
Posted by neolithic on December 26, 2006
I downloaded a new spyware remover yesterday to try it out. The software carries the name of “Spyeraser” and is distributed by a company named Uniblue. The download is easy enough and installation went without a hitch.
After checking for available updates I proceeded to perform a full scan of my system. I was horrified to see that my computer was infected with nearly 200 items of spyware! Spyeraser had identified components of certain software as spyware or potentially dangerous.
On trying to remove the “infected” items, I was not surprised to find that this is only a trial version which allows scanning only. To actually remove any “infected” items you have to pay for the software. Not a chance!
Many of the items appear to be false positives aimed at encouraging unsuspecting internet users to part with cash and card details. I performed full scans with Adaware and Spybot
Both programs found no infections on my system. I have removed Spyeraser and will stick with the applications I know and trust. Obviously the choice is yours but I would not recommend using the product Spyeraser until it has been fully tested and confirmed as ok by the guys at spywarewarrior
cxn926 said
Thank you, I was about to buy this program. Right before I did I read your post, it no doubt helped me. Instead I am going to try out AVG Anti-Spyware. Thanks for your help.
-cxn
Tony Sanz said
If you always use free anti-spyware products, it is very probable that you have the 200 infections on your PC. Including Spyware, adware, tracking cookies, registry entries, rootkits and many other suspicious items, that free antispyware products are not designed to discover and clean.
We perform detail evaluations for antispyware programs and the new Uniblue Spyeraser is next in our review schedule.
By now I can tell you that in our initial test, performed on an XP production test system with more than 300k files and protected with Spy Sweeper and NOD32. Spyeraser discover 9 spyware infections. All nine infections really exits and were remains of old adware and spyware programs that was install some time ago to test other antispyware products.
SpyEraser is a new product from a recognized company; Uniblue (old liutilities) founded in1999 (I am not related with Uniblue in any way)
Don’t kill a product just because don’t like it. SpyEraser has the faster disk scanner that we have tested and have potential to become one of the best antispyware product on the market. – SpyEraser is not a free antispyware products
Dave Brooks said
You have absolutely no clue what your talking about. I’ve been in the PC/IT business for almost 20 years, free apps like spybot, malwarebytes, and A-Squared are far superior to many paid apps, including uniblue. uniblue will never be anywhere close to one of the best anti spyware products available.
neolithic said
I forwarded the details of spyeraser to the guys at spywarewarrior who extensively test and review anti-spyware products. I received a reply stating that they are currently investigating spyeraser due to the number of complaints they had received about the software.
I actually only asked the question of spyeraser being rogue anti-spyware and until proven by qualified experts I reserve judgement.
However why would applications such as adaware and spybot which are both well known and highly recommended “free” products find nothing.
neolithic said
It would seem I am not the only person who has concerns about this product.
http://tinyurl.com/tbtye
Paul Meints said
Have difficulty getting software to run. Comes up with 7 problems. Clean the 7 problems and run again thirty seconds later. Same 7 problems appear. Am not happy with the program or the support from the company.
Davin Ogden aka The Davinator said
Hi just finished reading the threads here. Nice information to know. I’ve recently myself come across a product through the same supplier that gave me my own Kaspersky storefront. This product is called Counterspy, and having ran it quite a few times I must say that i am quite impressed with it. As far as free programs I did use Spybot and Adaware for a long time. And sure they are ok for free, but as with all things I think you get what you pay for. Davin
Beth Richards said
I downloaded Spyeraser and decided not to buy it. I now cannot seem to get rid of it. It has installed itself in a way that I am denied access to it to remove it. It comes up in my taskbar every time I reboot. I would definitely recommend people not download it unless the company gives the person a way to get it off their computer.
Steve Lucas said
Today I have received over 20 “updates” from SpyEraser. I download one and in seconds the download pops up again! And again. And again! I have the same problems as described above but in addition once the program runs, if I wait a few minutes to check the results due to something I’m working on, the program refuses to remove anything! I’ve complained three times now to Uniblue. They just ask what system I’m using, what programs I have, and other standard questions. They NEVER offer any assistance! If MicroSoft truly approved this thing it is due to become another of MicroSoft’s junk programs! I’m very displeased and am ready to instruct my credit card company to reverse the charge!
Tunay Durul said
I cleaned my system with 9 well trusted anti-spyware product then tried spyeraser and guess what 75 different threats with over 200+ fingerprints. Spyeraser even identifies gifs as a trojan downloader. So it’s rogue but somehow it has a good reputation, I guess they buy some reviewers and sites to boast their product.
Jim Smothers said
I seriously doubt that Microsoft approves of this app. If you look at the web page for downloading this software, the *ONLY* thing you can click is the download! You can’t click on the Microsoft logo, nor can you click on the Tucows link, or any of the other “Five star awards” links.
This is yet another app that installs malware, then charges you to remove it. With a name like “Li Utilities”, or “Lie Utilities”, it *HAS* to be bad!
Jim
Jimmy Blake said
I’ve tried the software and it didn’t come up with any false positives on a ghosted machine that we know has no infections. Uninstall was also not a problem.
I can’t confirm the product’s ability to remove SpyWare as that wasn’t tested (we’re not a testing lab), but I report that at least some of the fears are unfounded.
They seem to sell via somewhat the same route as Evidence Elminator, they pay a small commission to Websites that recommend them. Because of this if you Google the product name you end up with hundreds of ‘positive reviews’ from small Websites that link to them for a download.
Also if you take their recommendation and follow the link to the page where they are pitching their proactive protection (registry, etc) for $80 they seem to present one of the well known “we’ve scanned your machine and you have problems” banners, despite the fact if you use a protocol analyser you see no exchange of traffice between your PC and their site.
For this reason I wouldn’t want to use them as my sole anti-spyware vendor, but I can’t say for positive that the product doesn’t work.
Neolithic said
Thanks Jimmy. What free software do you recommend for spyware and malware protection? Recommendations are always good to have. Liked the post about Gordon Brown eating bogeys!
Danny said
Well.. I tried all 3 Uniblue (SpyEraser, Registry Booster, & SpeedUpMyPC3). Where do I start. At first glance it seems to be the one that everyone needs. All 3 found several hundred threats, said my system preformance was low, registry errors, missing files, etc… So I let the software cleanet it up. Big mistake. It caused pnkbstrA.exe and pnkbstrB.exe not to connect to server. If you don’t know what that is it has to do with Call Of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. It would not let me play games on line.
2nd and more critical was it deleted important files to auto cad 2008. That really ticked me off. I also noticed that I had important backup files that it deleated as well. I give it a 3 thumbs down for all three products. Don’t use it. I recommend sticking with the known good products (Norton Internet Security 2008 and Adaware).
Stephen B. Strum, MD said
I am a physician who has owned many PCs over the last 24 years. I have gotten into a fair share of computer problems due to my curious nature. I have had horrible experience with Norton products & would never consider using them. And BTW, I have no affiliation in any way whatsoever with any software companies. The programs that have really helped me a lot in my work & productivity include SpeedUpMyPC. There is no subtlety in its ability to speed up computer performance. I always advise that a system restore point be created before any kind of new application installation or use of a registry editor or cleanup utility–just in case. I have also used Registry Mechanic and give it a good report card; the same with Diskeeper, a wonderful program. I have used TrendMicro antivirus programs for almost 12 years & would recommend staying with the Trend Internet Security 2007 until some issues with the 2008 version are worked out. I have read all the reviews about SpyEraser & right now am using AdAware 2007. I can’t believe that someone has not created software to identify the source of the tracking cookies so you know which ones to keep & which to remove. I hope this input helps.
Barry said
Your a doctor and I’m the president of the United States.
The problem is that Uniblue is obviously trying to load the internet with false positives for the product just like this one.
The key signatue you can find of a bogus positive review for this product is: “And BTW, I have no affiliation in any way whatsoever with any software companies.” Really? Why would a medical doctor need to make such a claim? A medical doctor is in the business of fixing people, not PC’s.
Another suspicious element of this post is that this “doctor” starts a list of programs that have “helped” him a lot in his work and only mentions SpeedUpMyPC. So let me get this straight. You are not affiliated with Uniblue, yet you only list one product as having ever helped you in productivity? I can think of several that might be helpful for a true doctor. On the top of the list would not be PC maintence software. I would expect scheduling software such as MS Office or OpenOffice. Document production such as MS Word or Correl Word Perfect. Maybe imaging software for radiology or MRI’s. Maybe even medical billing software. Yet none of these things made it onto your list. Hmmmm…
And furthermore, your post follows on the footsteps of a previous post that speaks of the damage that was caused by the use of 3 different software packages provided by Uniblue, including SpeedUpMyPC.
My own personal experience with Uniblue is that it finds things that are not dangerous and causes system damage. But that was a number of years ago. Maybe it has gotten better.
Nick said
After downloading Uniblue’s Powersuite last month I scoured the torrent sites, “crack” sites, and serial sites until I found a valid serial number to register it for free (as if I’m going to pay a cent for software, mp3’s, or movies!). I really like speedupmypc and registrybooster, but the spyeraser found 87 threats on my machine when norton, avg, ad-aware, and spybot found nothing. After reading the threads here I will not use spyeraser now at all. I’m sure some of the positive comments on here about spyeraser are made by the uniblue guys.
Chris said
What a scam. I purchased Uniblue’s Registry Booster 2 and System Tweaker and after downloading the software and installing it and trying to use it, I get to a page which says “Register” and when I do it takes me to a page which attempts to get me to buy the software again! What a scam!
Hilary Rogers said
Dear Nick,
It’s Hilary here from Uniblue.
Comments posted by Uniblue in the public domain are open and honest, and we say who we are when we post. We never pretend to be other people, as you claim in your post.
Regards
Hilary Rogers
Uniblue Systems Ltd
Hilary Rogers said
Dear Chris,
Can you please get in touch with me: hilaryr@uniblue.net
I can assure you that there is no scam, and I would like you to contact me then we can give you some support on the registration issue.
If anyone has any questions or other support queries, please either use my email address, or create a support ticket here: http://www.liutilities.com/support/ticket/
Regards
Hilary Rogers
Uniblue Systems Ltd
Doug said
I have not yet used Uniblue’s SpyEraser, but have used both SpeedUpMyPC and RegistryBooster 2 with great satisfaction. I hate to waste money on software of any kind, however; both products have helped my older system run much smoother and faster. I can not say the same about other crap software I have purchased over the years.
Janet said
So how does one get rid of this awful program? I see the question was asked, but not answered.
It’s driving me crazy.
Janet said
Just new here. I am desparately trying to rid my computer of Uniblue Spyware. I removed it from the add/remove section, but it doesn’t go away. When i try to remove . . . my ocmputer states “not installed”
Is there anyone on here that can give me step by step instuctions on how to rid or tell me where to go to get the informatiom. Uniblue was recommended by Komando. I bought the registor booster and speedupmyPC, but decided not to buy the Spyeraser —- help
j
Brandon said
All you really have to do to rid your system of this is manually remove all files and registry keys associated with the program, as that is what an uninstaller does. If you hate SpyEraser that much, then i don’t see why you wouldn’t do this.
Brandon said
Oh and another thing, different programs use different engines of course for their detection. Some applications show a similarity to spyware etc and that causes SpyEraser to flag it and detect it as a threat. All you have to do is actually READ the results before you let the program delete everything. Having said this, don’t get angry because it “decided to delete stuff that wasn’t even spyware” because for all it knew, you did now know about it, and by telling it to delete the “threats” you told the program that it was.
Jack said
Lots of threads, but didn’t answer my question about how to remove Uniblue Spyeraser without a foray through the registry. I used a registry search tool and found no references to “Uniblue” nor “Spyeraser” Haven’t any of you who complained above solved this problem?
James said
It should be a rule that you can’t leave a reply unless you have a proven solution to remove the program. Or one page for how to remove this program ONLY and another for all the complaining about it.
James said
I JUST UNINSTALEED UNIBLUE
1. open windows explorer. (start/programs/accesories/windows explorer)
2. Click “search” and enter “uniblue” in “files and folders” area
3. I found two folders came up. the second folder for uniblue was in C:\Program Files
4. on the left side column in the file tree ,so to speak, i clicked to expand
“My Computer” than click to expand
“Local Disk (C)” than click to expand
“Program Files” that click on
“Uniblue”
5. On the right larger area of the screen you should find an icon or file called “unistall”
6. CLICK THAT BABY LIKE THERES NOT TOMORROW!!
6. its going to ask you if you “really want to unistall uniblue”
7. say out loud “DUH” and right click the YES as hard as you can
8. Rejoice
if this doesn’t work than pray that someone else comes in and leaves another post that works for you soon.
devi iriawan mulyono said
I get a lot of valuable information from your article. thanks
kp said
I Bought Uniblue Speed Up My PC on 6/4/2009. It did nothing useful at all. I Requested a refund the day I bought it. There is allegedly a 30 money-back guarantee. I RECEIVED NO RESPONSE TO MANY REQUESTS FOR A REFUND over the next few months. This company is obviously not actually certified by Microsoft, as they claim to be. My order number for the purchase is: 6101760.
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