@anonsubmitter, yes you are right. But, most free software downloaded on the Web come bundled up with useless crapware anyway. The YTD downloader box, if you don't want the app, can easily be unchecked while installing your main program. Unckeck all boxes for programs unrelated to the main program. If you need YTD or Hotspot Shield, they have a website where you can get them. No need to be bundled up to anything. They are already very popular. They both can be uninstalled very easily from Programs & Features, so they should not be removed by AdwCleaner. Removing Hotspot Shield this way messes up the Internet connection.
For those who don't usually pay attention while installing software, a program like Unchecky could be very useful. That way, you won't be flooding the malware removal forums all over the Web.
http://unchecky.com/
OK! Issue solved! I had knowingly installed the iSafe Key-logger on that computer. This is supposedly invisible to cleaners and registry. AdwCleaner removed the invisible iSafe folder but not its registry entries. That caused instability in the system, probably related to the specificity of the key-loggers. Restoring the iSafe folder from within the AdwCleaner Quarantine Manager solved the issue. No need to do anything in the registry. I hope this helps!
@Me1: I have read that YTD YouTube Downloader's installer is nowadays bundled with adware, so that might be the reason. If that's the case that detection would be weird since JDownloader has the same features + a lot of other features, its installer is bundled with adware as well (at least three different kinds) and it isn't falsely detected.
If I remember correctly Hotspot Shield was bundled with adware as well back when I used it years ago.
I find many legitimate items flagged by AdwCleaner. Blindly clicking on Clean (now Cleaning???) is asking for trouble.
Hola, Hotspot Shield, YTD YouTube Downloader, AVG LinkScanner, etc. are not adware. They should not be deleted by AdwCleaner.
@cocochepeau Hi, As, after AdwCleaner requested to restart the computer after scan and clean, I was not able to log in anymore into the standard account from where I ran AdwCleaner, Therefore I didn't get the report, but I guess it should still be somewhere on my computer. I ran again AdwCleaner but with starting the scan, just to see if it sees the report, but the Report button is grayed out. I downloaded several versions of AdwCleaner, so I may not ran the same version. I don't know if that matters. On the other hand, if I press uninstall (without actually starting the uninstall) I see the files from the quarantine, but not the changes made to the registry. For the files you may take a look at: http://1drv.ms/16uCsum
Actually, I get the same behavior on a newly created standard account: welcome, black screen and then logging off. I have Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. Thanks!
@cocochepeau
Here are most of the entries I could find. I believe the Hotspot Shield drivers might be the culprit. One user had a driver inside Device Manager. Replacing that driver with one from another working computer seems to have corrected the connection issue.
Folder Deleted : C:\ProgramData\hotspot shield
Folder Deleted : C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\hotspot shield
Folder Deleted : C:\Program Files (x86)\hotspot shield
Folder Deleted : C:\Windows\SysWOW64\hotspot shield
File Deleted : C:\Windows\System32\drivers\taphss6.sys
File Deleted : C:\Windows\System32\drivers\hssdrv6.sys
Key Deleted : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\hotspotshield
Key Deleted : HKLM\SOFTWARE\hotspotshield
Key Deleted : HKCU\Software\anchorfree
Folder Found : C:\Users\Sid\AppData\Roaming\hotspot shield
Folder Found : C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\AppData\Roaming\hotspot shield
@Me1 We're working on this issue. Can you send us a report showing what has been deleted exactly?
After running you program the only things I could see listed were the files under the files tab. I selected them and selected the clean button. Your program cleaned them, closed my computer and rebooted. All seemed well until I went into my task manager. To my surprise under the processes tab, 82 Background Processes were listed in addition to 5 Apps. Many seemed to be duplicates (25) (Google Chrome (32 bit). Is this normal? Was it a mistake to delete those files? If so can it be reversed? If not why wasn't there a strong warning stating the consequences?
Good Morning!
I'm trying to uninstall your program. I'm assuming it's a single use program, that is download it when you need it, then, delete it. I'm afraid I don't understand your above term "using the 'mode uninstall.'
I see Adware in my downloads file, but there's no uninstaller. It's not listed in "Programs & Features," so I can't uninstall from there.
I'm trying to get numerous SearchScopes entries OUT of my registry. While I successfully downloaded & ran Adware from Bleeping Computer this morning, when I tried to download from your site, Sonar blocked it. I don't know what Sonar is, so I figure I'd better uninstall, clean out Adware, and do some reading before I try again.
Is the "mode uninstall" a new term/function? Can someone help me understand,please? Appreciativley...
