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WinTasks Pro ... Windows Explorer is a trojan - yeah right!

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Carol Haynes:
I used to use WinTasks Pro a lot but haven't had it installed for a while now. I though I would check for updates and install it again.

Surprisingly Uniblue have not updated the app since August 2005 (at least that is when I downloaded the last update)!

They now seem to be marketing it as a security tool and have updated the 'Process Library' which provides information relating to common running processes on your system.

This one amused me:



I wonder what Microsoft would think about their Gold Partner Status in light of this ....

tomos:
 ;D ;D they could be right you know :D

PhilB66:
All it says that besides a legit explorer.exe there's also a trojan that goes by that name. See http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/explorer/

Carol Haynes:
Actually what you will see on that webpage is that it is a marketing scam - and personally I would expect better from Uniblue/LIUtilities.

I am not disputing that explorer.exe could be spoofed/hacked as a trojan (though I would expect Windows SFC to notice that such a core module of the operating system has been modified illegally - that is what SFC is for after all) but the purpose of the warning is to get you to download two Uniblue products, install them and then buy them.

WinTasks is not and never has been a security tool - if it was it would have had some updates in the last 18 months to keep up with current issues. It is really a TaskManager replacement/extension with a few nice features (like the use of profiles to disable/enable groups of processes by a one click method). Selling it on the current basis that it offers some security advantages is pure marketing of paranoia (like most of the bogus security software out there).

As a security tool the only advantage it has ove Windows built in TaskManager is access to a library of information relating to common processes. This is lamentably poor (IMHO) as for most tasks it just reads the info in the EXE file as supplied by the programmer - and so doesn't add any value added info. For those items in its database it mostly seeks to worry you into download completely unnecessary extra software for a 'free scan' - which basically means download trial versions of their own software - so it less security related than marketing - and that marketing is based on fear - shoddy IMHO.

f0dder:
I am not disputing that explorer.exe could be spoofed/hacked as a trojan (though I would expect Windows SFC to notice that such a core module of the operating system has been modified illegally - that is what SFC is for after all) but the purpose of the warning is to get you to download two Uniblue products, install them and then buy them.-Carol Haynes (December 18, 2007, 06:00 AM)
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I don't think SFC would react on an explorer.exe that doesn't overwrite the original... you could drop it in system32\drivers to make it appear legit.

For those items in its database it mostly seeks to worry you into download completely unnecessary extra software for a 'free scan' - which basically means download trial versions of their own software - so it less security related than marketing - and that marketing is based on fear - shoddy IMHO.-Carol Haynes (December 18, 2007, 06:00 AM)
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I read that as free scam :-\

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