stubinst_signed.exe unsafe?

[Richard]

Hi All,

I run PrevX1 for general security. Today, PrevX1 popped up a warning
that %HOMEDRIVE%\Program Files\...
\GoogleUpdater-2.1.850.19570\stubinst_signed.exe "could not be
verified as safe" and recommended that I not run it.

When this warning occurred on previous occasions, I ignored it.
Today I decided to investigate. Google turned up only two hits for
"stubinst_signed.exe", which were merely lists generated by some
scanning utilities.

I then followed PrevX1's advice and rejected stubinst_signed.exe's
execution, with no apparent ill effect.

The program's properties are:
Size: 822,008 bytes
Created: Tuesday, May 22, 2007, 1:54:43 PM
Modified: Tuesday, May 22, 2007, 1:54:43 PM

Any ideas?

TIA,
Richard

Software: WinXP-Pro/SP2, Ruby 1.8.2-15, Rails 1.1.6, Gem 0.9, MySQL
5.0.27-nt, SciTE 1.72,
FireFox 2.0.0.1, IE 7.0, OE 6.0, Java 1.5.0_10, MS Office 2003 SP2,
AVG-Free 7.5.430, Prevx1 2.0.2.23, Startup Cop Pro 2.03

 

[Wesley Vogel]

If you have a Google toolbar of any kind, I would uninstall it.

SpywareInfo :· New Google Toolbar Includes Auto Updater
http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/googleupdater/

GoogleUpdater.exe seems to be that one.

What kind of path is this?

%HOMEDRIVE%\Program
Files\...\GoogleUpdater-2.1.850.19570\stubinst_signed.exe

Is this the real path?
%HOMEDRIVE%\Program Files\Google\Google
Updater\2.1.810.31257\stubinst_signed.exe

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Richard]

Hi Wes,

You've come to the rescue again. How can you afford to offer the
programming community so much excellent support without getting
compensated by us?

Is this the real path?

%HOMEDRIVE%\Program Files\Google\Google
Updater\2.1.810.31257\stubinst_signed.exe

I think the path was %HOMEDRIVE%\Program Files\Google\Google Updater
\2.1.810.31257\GoogleUpdater-2.1.850.19570\stubinst_signed.exe

I thought that was too much data to post. (Also, of course, the
actual path displayed by PrevX1 had the explicit "<drive_letter>:"
rather than the Windows environment variable.)

I deleted all the tools on the Google taskbar and the uninstalled the
taskbar ...after answering Google question about my reason, which is
my discovery or a "virus" in it. I added that I lamented loosing its
features.

Best wishes,
Richard

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Hi Richard,

You've come to the rescue again. How can you afford to offer the
programming community so much excellent support without getting
compensated by us?

I get a little compensation from Microsoft, but even if I didn't I'm still
having fun and learning lots. ;-)

...after answering Google question about my reason, which is
my discovery or a "virus" in it. I added that I lamented loosing its
features.

"answering Google question about my reason" What's up with that?

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Richard]

Hi Wes,

I get a little compensation from Microsoft, but even if I didn't I'm still

having fun

I'm glad about that.

and learning lots. ;-)

Yeah, right! Maybe you're learning how many ill-informed programmers/
users there are "out there".

"answering Google question about my reason" What's up with that?

I uninstalled the Google toolbar by right-clicking the toolbar's
Google icon, which offered me an "uninstall" option on the context
menu.

When I selected "uninstall" a dialog opened asking to provide my
reason for uninstalling it because, they alleged, hardly any of
their toolbar users have ever uninstalled it.

BTW, even though I had deleted all the tools on the toolbar and
uninstalled the toolbar, the toolbar sans tools persisted. After I
hibernated XP and restored it,
the toolbar reappeared with all (?) the tools I originally had.
However, a dialog popped up allowing me to determine whether the
toolbar could report my usage. I declined that service this time. I
think that means stubinst_signed.exe will no longer be invoked.
PrevX1 will let me know if that proves to be untrue.

Consequently, I recommend to others who are displeased to find
stubinst_signed.exe running occasionally on their systems, that they:

1. open Google's Options dialog by clicking the "Options" button
toward the right end of the Google toolbar
2. deselect the "PageRank Display" checkbox, presently displayed at
the top of the dialog
3. click the "OK" button

That way they can enjoy the other features without fearing that they
may fall prey to the virus that attacks that Google toolbar feature.

Whatdayathink?

Best wishes,
Richard

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Hi Richard,

When I selected "uninstall" a dialog opened asking to provide my
reason for uninstalling it because, they alleged, hardly any of
their toolbar users have ever uninstalled it.

Still reporting back to the mother ship, huh? That, is really scary.

However, a dialog popped up allowing me to determine whether the
toolbar could report my usage.

I wonder if it would uninstall if you were off-line. It acts like some
spyware does when you try to uninstall it.

Whatdayathink?

I use Google Search all of the time. It beats the hell out of any Windows
Live crap that Microsoft has (MSDN & TechNet), but I wouldn't touch any
Google toolbars with a ten foot pole.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Richard]

OK, Wes,
Thx,
Richard

Hi Richard,



Still reporting back to the mother ship, huh? That, is really scary.


I wonder if it would uninstall if you were off-line. It acts like some
spyware does when you try to uninstall it.



I use Google Search all of the time. It beats the hell out of any Windows
Live crap that Microsoft has (MSDN & TechNet), but I wouldn't touch any
Google toolbars with a ten foot pole.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In