Andrew Leniart
asked on
Seeking opinions on Tweakbit "FixMyPC" and "File Recovery" software and their website..
Had a call from a client complaining his Windows 7 Pro PC had started doing weird things so I logged in remotely with Logmein Rescue to take a look.
My first port of call was to check what AV he was using. Turned out to be Microsoft Security Essentials.
Not having the greatest faith in MSE, I downloaded and installed Malwarebytes Premium v3.x, let it update and do a scan. It turned out that a week or so ago he'd purchased and installed TweakBit FixMyPC and File Recovery software. Malwarebytes went crazy and identified just about every component of Tweakbit Software as either Malware or a PUP.
Using my own PC, I tried to check out their website tweakbit.com and Malwarebytes immediately blocked it..
Clicking the "Learn More" link, Malwarebytes stated (in part) ;
Your Malwarebytes malicious website blocking technology has blocked outgoing or incoming communication between your computer and a malicious Internet Protocol (IP) address. That's a good thing. This communication could be:
An attempt to download malware onto your computerAn attempt to redirect you to a malicious webpageAn attempt to deliver malicious advertising
If you are receiving these notifications without a browser being open, we recommend you run a scan with your Malwarebytes Anti-Malware pronto to check for malware on your computer.
Curious, but not wanting to risk running or checking out the software on my clients machine, I decided to purchase a copy of both for myself so I could take a better look at it. Using Avast's Safezone Browser, I went to their site and downloaded the products, installing them into a spare Vanilla Win 7 Pro Virtual Machine I have here for such testing purposes.
Here's where it gets a little interesting and a tad confusing..
TweakBit "FixMyPC" claims to be a MICROSOFT PARTNER Gold Application Development
TweakBit "File Recovery" also claims to be a MICROSOFT PARTNER Gold Application Development
The final thing I found interesting is that Tweakbit's website claims to be Norton Secured
Now, given all that information;
1. Why is Malwarebytes being so paranoid about tweakbit.com being a Malicous Website
and
2. Why does Malwarebytes consider Tweakbit Software to be chocka block full of PUPS and Malicious content?
Anyone with experience about Tweakbit Software care to offer an opinion?
Have become curious about it, so for the time being, I've disabled Tweakbit Software on the clients machine until I can learn more about it.
Interested in hearing about your experiences (if any) with this particular website and software.
Cheers..
Andrew
My first port of call was to check what AV he was using. Turned out to be Microsoft Security Essentials.
Not having the greatest faith in MSE, I downloaded and installed Malwarebytes Premium v3.x, let it update and do a scan. It turned out that a week or so ago he'd purchased and installed TweakBit FixMyPC and File Recovery software. Malwarebytes went crazy and identified just about every component of Tweakbit Software as either Malware or a PUP.
Using my own PC, I tried to check out their website tweakbit.com and Malwarebytes immediately blocked it..
Clicking the "Learn More" link, Malwarebytes stated (in part) ;
Your Malwarebytes malicious website blocking technology has blocked outgoing or incoming communication between your computer and a malicious Internet Protocol (IP) address. That's a good thing. This communication could be:
An attempt to download malware onto your computerAn attempt to redirect you to a malicious webpageAn attempt to deliver malicious advertising
If you are receiving these notifications without a browser being open, we recommend you run a scan with your Malwarebytes Anti-Malware pronto to check for malware on your computer.
Curious, but not wanting to risk running or checking out the software on my clients machine, I decided to purchase a copy of both for myself so I could take a better look at it. Using Avast's Safezone Browser, I went to their site and downloaded the products, installing them into a spare Vanilla Win 7 Pro Virtual Machine I have here for such testing purposes.
Here's where it gets a little interesting and a tad confusing..
TweakBit "FixMyPC" claims to be a MICROSOFT PARTNER Gold Application Development
TweakBit "File Recovery" also claims to be a MICROSOFT PARTNER Gold Application Development
The final thing I found interesting is that Tweakbit's website claims to be Norton Secured
Now, given all that information;
1. Why is Malwarebytes being so paranoid about tweakbit.com being a Malicous Website
and
2. Why does Malwarebytes consider Tweakbit Software to be chocka block full of PUPS and Malicious content?
Anyone with experience about Tweakbit Software care to offer an opinion?
Have become curious about it, so for the time being, I've disabled Tweakbit Software on the clients machine until I can learn more about it.
Interested in hearing about your experiences (if any) with this particular website and software.
Cheers..
Andrew
I NEVER use "Let me fix your PC sites" Death to computers in my experience
TweakBit is one of several similar useless programs that make outrageous claims to entice unsophisticated users into purchasing it.
It is not malware in any other sense. remove this useless program!
It is not malware in any other sense. remove this useless program!
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ASKER
Thank you all for your comments and advice, they seem to mirror the information I got from another forum (Windows Secrets Forum) I'm a member of that I have a lot of respect for.
I uninstalled the software from the clients computer (as well as my own VM), cleaned up his machine with MalwareBytes Premium 3.x, removed all other traces of it using Ccleaner and lo and behold, things returned to normal on his machine.
I've applied for a full refund of the software I purchased for testing as per TweakBit Sales Guarantee and am now waiting to see if they honor that guarantee of a full refund if requested with 30 days. The entire process had to be done with Avast's SafeZone Browser however so I've also suggested to my client to switch over to Avast (or an AV with similar Safe Browsing Sandbox features) and do the same thing, though I'm not (nor he) is sure when he purchased it so he may be over the 30 day money back guarantee limit.
Once again, my thanks for your confirmation of my original suspicion of this "TweakBit" product.
Best..
Andrew
I uninstalled the software from the clients computer (as well as my own VM), cleaned up his machine with MalwareBytes Premium 3.x, removed all other traces of it using Ccleaner and lo and behold, things returned to normal on his machine.
I've applied for a full refund of the software I purchased for testing as per TweakBit Sales Guarantee and am now waiting to see if they honor that guarantee of a full refund if requested with 30 days. The entire process had to be done with Avast's SafeZone Browser however so I've also suggested to my client to switch over to Avast (or an AV with similar Safe Browsing Sandbox features) and do the same thing, though I'm not (nor he) is sure when he purchased it so he may be over the 30 day money back guarantee limit.
Once again, my thanks for your confirmation of my original suspicion of this "TweakBit" product.
Best..
Andrew
ASKER
Many thanks for the links MASQ.. Most helpful and saved me doing a lot of research myself. Incidentally, I found no reference of TweakBit being a Microsoft Partner on the search site you provided with. Not sure if I did the search correctly but I tried a variety of variations. Cheers..