Sweet Packs Malware

1492 wrote:
I don't think the "Aniv Rescue Disk" is appropriate in this case. Rescue disks are designed more for difficult embedded malware. Those that resist removal while the existing OS is running. Also, browser and search hijacks are not always detected or removed by traditional AV software. Nor are they necessarily removed by using System Restore. See if this YouTube video helps Remove Uninstall sweetIM completely from all browsers.

In any case, I know about SweetPacks personally. Just recently downloaded a freeware utility from a well known tech site. Despite indicating that I did not want any add-ons during the install, quite common with freeware, it installed SweetPacks anyway. But in my case, it just took a few clicks to remove.

You may want to try using the freeware Comodo Programs Manager(CPM) in the future. One of it's features is an Active Monitor which tracks all setup installs, updates, and changes to your system from a particular program. Uninstalling from CPM removes the core program and all linked programs, removing both files and registry changes. It can run automatically to detect setups, or you can right-click on a program you want to install, and it will monitor its installation. Designed for Windows, but does not support WIN 8.

I nearly got bit by this myself because a utility that I use came bundled in a wrapper that downloaded this stuff. However, what did save my bacon was running the program under sandboxie. It proceeded to install whatever crapware, but I was able to access the core program executable, copy it off somewhere safe, then purge the sandbox, flushing all the crapware down the drain (with sandboxIE, any programs sandboxed have all writes and modifications saved in a different directory, so no real files get touched.)