Beware of Chip Genius and Fast Browser!

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burger2227
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Beware of Chip Genius and Fast Browser!

Post by burger2227 »

I happened to see a YouTube video about some manufacturers creating SD memory cards that have less than the marked amount. Chip Genius and Fake Flash Test are offered on sites as card checkers. Chip Genius was the only one that could just read the card information without a long, destructive write procedure so I tried to download it even though the site looked terrible with very small links. Downloaded an ACE zip file.

Immediately other programs started popping up on the desktop and my Chrome browse went away. For a while I could not do anything except watch as some programs just started running! After a while I could finally get Chrome up, but only to a strange search site that asked to download upgrades. DON'T LET IT!

So I finally got Malware Bytes to run and it found OVER 600 items! Removing them and rebooting still left most of the new programs on the desktop. Tried Malware Bytes and it found more! Thankfully the programs did not totally take over! I tried to uninstall those programs, but removing one blocks removing anything else as Windows says it is STILL removing the previous one. Later I finally found the Chip Genius program in uninstall list...

Settings in Windows 10 shows nothing about RESTORE or restore points that are obvious and Control Panel is not much better! Here's what I had to do in Control panel(which had restore points for 7 more obvious):
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Cortana suggested little too for "restore" except the Windows Store...DUH!

The only Restore Point listed was for 11-27 and the others I found checking the box to show it here.
However Windows 10 is the FIRST Windows machine where it actually restored for me EVER!
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The restoration took about 15 minutes and appeared to work flawlessly so far!
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Malware Bytes found 34 more after the restoration.

Naturally Reliability took a BIG HIT with programs crashing before and after the invasion:
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Chrome came up with that odd search page only and I had to sign in to Sync my settings and extensions.
Glad I could do that so easily. IE and Edge browsers should take note! Got all my passwords back too!

Still not done! A Windows Defender FULL SCAN found this later on!
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After it was done, I STILL had to remove it completely manually in the History tab! WHY?

The download file and unzipped folders were still in Downloads so I had to delete them myself.

Malware Bytes just found 3 more PUP's...the saga continues.

Found a Microsoft Safety Scanner that manually scans for viruses for 10 days and expires:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scann ... fault.aspx
Choose your version 32 or 64 bit if you are downloading for a different PC.
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The scanner ran a full scan for over 3 hours with nothing found. :roll:
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burger2227
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Re: Beware of Chip Genius SD card checking software!

Post by burger2227 »

Fast Browser creates havoc and takes over my 64 bit desktop machine!

I was WARNED and for a day or so all was quiet! NO MORE! Had to use IE to get a JAVA Update! More on that later! After I got the update, IE was closed and a DOZEN links started popping up on my Desktop and Chrome was CLOSED!

Even Cortana ran and hid as it was completely missing from the taskbar Right click it to UNHIDE Search box.
After removing most of the AD shortcuts, I restarted Chrome and it notified me that it was no longer the DEFAULT BROWSER. I had also installed Silverlight from the list of destroyed programs in a page on the desktop for the Edge Browser which I appreciated as it had links to many of my gone programs.

On all my computers I keep a folder on the desktop of frequently used and utility programs:
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When something happens I at least know which ones need fixed. In this case bad icons. Amazon and Netfix were IE's idea...I thought. I also never delete install files in the Downloads folder so I can at least reinstall quickly. Most update themselves.

NEVER DID find the CRITICAL JAVA UPDATE! Just TONS of documentation TELLING ME ABOUT IT!
Java also WARNED ME about an OLD VERSION and tried to remove it immediately! Later install never said a word!
Oracle Java SE Critical Patch Update for Java 7.0.790.15 64-bit

Chrome got even by changing that lost programs page to its round Chrome label HE HE!
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These are just SOME of the programs destroyed by the Reset shown in Chrome now. Some links actually work!

No more asking after selecting DELETE! Just tosses it into Recycle bin...
Shift + Delete removes stuff permanently WITHOUT ASKING!

Chrome was once AGAIN knocked off of the Default Browser and a box came up asking to use which to open on a RESTART! A Fast Browser was installed supposedly by Chrome, but I FEAR IT CAME FROM JAVA! The Java window was kinda UGLY!
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The Java Update FAILED anyhow! I can't even FIND the Java Update I supposedly needed from what Belarc Advisor reported.
Lost all my Apps on taskbar except IE, which I promptly UNPINNED

I did a Google search for Fast Browser and found the following article on my laptop. My desktop was pretty much useless! http://www.pccaretips.com/blog/step-by- ... tml#Chrome

In Chrome I was advised to get rid any odd extensions, but when I went into settings, it said
Boo there are no extensions!

I blocked the Firewall to all incoming stuff:
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Found Fast Browser listed in the Firewall accesses too. I took the picture after I removed it, but it had full access:
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Warning! Export a copy of the Registry BEFORE editing anything!

Then I decided to search for it in the Registry using Find Fast Browser in the RegEdit Edit Menu with Find Next(F3):
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I deleted the entire ChromiumHTM folder as I intended to re-install Chrome anyhow.

In this case I looked through the Fast_Browser key and decided to remove it all!
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They even had the Authors listed in one of 2 keys found next to each other
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Sometimes I just deleted the entire Key when all it had was Fast Browser stuff:
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I found DOZENS of entries in the Registry right near Chrome at times.

Found several Shortcuts in a folder search with all having an invalid path!
The path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Application... never existed and bad shortcuts would say so!

After running the new Microsoft Security scan and Malicious software scan tools, i tried IE and
everything worked Ok. I opened the firewall and downloaded AVG anti-virus to scan again.
Finally I downloaded Chrome again, signed in tto sync and only had to add the Chromecast extension.
So far so good!
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burger2227
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Beware of the new 3 amp USB-C cables

Post by burger2227 »

Beware USB-C cables that could seriously fry your device

Notably on Amazon or Ebay!

C cables with the old USB type on one end have current resistors so hey won't damage older devices.
Also older devices and PC's were never meant to charge at 3 amps!

Watch Out: How to Buy a USB Type-C Cable That Won’t Damage Your Devices
Please acknowledge and thank members who answer your questions!
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