Annoying Market Research reminder

[aitch]

I have recently started to receive annoying little popups when I am loading
my laptop. This is Windows Installer telling me that it wants me to install
something called 'Market Research.' When I try to cancel it the message
changes to an installation package it seems to think I ought to have on a CD
Rom - namely Market research.mai.

I don't know what it is and I don't want it and it won't go away.

If it's any help Hewlett Packard two days ago did a thorough job for me in
correcting a propblem with my printer and it failure to link with Word. This
very detailed set of instructions included a wholesale removal of temp files.
This is beyond me but there may be a connection that one of you out there can
see.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Aitch

 

[PvdG42]

I have recently started to receive annoying little popups when I am
loading
my laptop. This is Windows Installer telling me that it wants me to
install
something called 'Market Research.' When I try to cancel it the message
changes to an installation package it seems to think I ought to have on a
CD
Rom - namely Market research.mai.

I don't know what it is and I don't want it and it won't go away.

If it's any help Hewlett Packard two days ago did a thorough job for me in
correcting a propblem with my printer and it failure to link with Word.
This
very detailed set of instructions included a wholesale removal of temp
files.
This is beyond me but there may be a connection that one of you out there
can
see.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Aitch

Does the install request provide any details on the origin of the software
to be installed?
This sounds suspiciously like some kind of malware of spyware. When HP
corrected your printer problem, did they do it online after gaining remote
access to your computer? If so, the first place I'd be asking questions is
HP tech support.

You should also do complete scans with your anti-malware tool and with your
AV program, after making sure both are up to date.

 

[aitch]

Does the install request provide any details on the origin of the software
to be installed?
This sounds suspiciously like some kind of malware of spyware. When HP
corrected your printer problem, did they do it online after gaining remote
access to your computer? If so, the first place I'd be asking questions is
HP tech support.

You should also do complete scans with your anti-malware tool and with your
AV program, after making sure both are up to date.

Thanks for the input.

No, the origin is not clear from the info there.

The HP help was not a download but a series of detailed line by line
instructions by eMail.

I use Malwarebyte antimalware and AVG. Both up to date and they show nothing.

I'll post if I solve it.

Thanks anyway.

H

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Here's what aitch wrote on 8/20/09:

:

Thanks for the input.

No, the origin is not clear from the info there.

The HP help was not a download but a series of detailed line by line
instructions by eMail.

I use Malwarebyte antimalware and AVG. Both up to date and they show nothing.

I'll post if I solve it.

Thanks anyway.

H

There's a program called Autoruns which is a free download from
Microsoft's web site. It will give you an exhaustive (and exhausting)
list of all your start-up programs and let you selectively disable them
from starting up. It can even delete them from the startup list (but
not from the computer).

If you can identify the problem program in that list, maybe you can
turn it off...

Note that since Autoruns searches *everywhere* for startup items, it
takes a bit of time to load its list, so be patient.

Also, it has a search function, which might help you in this instance -
if the startup name of the program that's bugging you is obvious.