"Potentially Unwanted Programs" What Are They

[ohso]

Under Settings -> Advanced are:
Intelligard to detect Potentially Unwanted Products
Scan to detect Potentially Unwanted Products

Q: What, exactly, are "Potentially Unwanted Products"?
Examples, please.

In the online help webpages, Index tab, Advanced, it just says "When checked, Intelligard will detect Potentially Unwanted Products" without defining what they actually are.

I guess they're in the Federal Witness Protection Program, like "Ignored Infections".

Here's a question about the online help pages.

As I stated above, the Index tab -> Advanced has two (virtually useless) references to "Potentially Unwanted Products". When I then select the _Search_ tab and enter: 1) Potentially Unwanted Products, 2) Potentially, 3) potentially, 4) Unwanted, 5) unwanted, 6) Products, or 7) products, it _always_ returns: "0 page(s) found" even though I found two entries previously. I wanted to see if there were more entries than the two that I found.

Why is that happening?

[mjq424]

Hi
As far as I know Potentially Unwanted Products are low-moderate risk programs that aren't specifically spyware or adware, but they have a dubious nature or are advertised by malware.
Hope that helps

[ohso]

> Potentially Unwanted Products are low-moderate risk programs that aren't specifically spyware or adware, but they have a dubious nature

Thank you for your reply. I request that achen/pct provide specific information. Example, please.

And what is it that SDwAV does, exactly, when it finds one of these PUPs?
Block, quarantine, all of the above, none of the above, ... ?

> low-moderate risk programs that aren't specifically spyware or adware

Sounds like the elusive Ignored Infections.

[mjq424]

Hi

Thank you for your reply. I request that achen/pct provide specific information. Example, please.No worries.


And what is it that SDwAV does, exactly, when it finds one of these PUPs?
Block, quarantine, all of the above, none of the above, ... ?When IntelliGuard is set to detect these threats it will block access to them as it would with any other malicious program. Depending on your settings a scan would either quarantine or remove them.
Hope that helps

[ohso]

> When IntelliGuard is set to detect these threats it will block access to them as it would with any other malicious program.

When a file has been added to the Global Exclusion List using Manage Exclusions, is that file only ignored during scans of the file system or is it also ignored by _all other_ SDwAV "Guards"?

I use the utility SnagIt (www.techsmith.com) to do screen captures. It's particularly useful for capturing images that are longer than one screen in height, what SnagIt calls a scrolling window. And you can save the resulting image in various formats, including text.

SnagIt is running glacially slowly. Using Windows Process Explorer while SnagIt is running, I see the various SDwAV components running occasionally (pctsAuxs.exe, pctsSvc.exe, TFService.exe). I am trying to figure out if SDwAV is checking out the SnagIt process (which is in the GAL), or if it is just doing its normal thing.

[AChen]

Under Settings -> Advanced are:
Intelligard to detect Potentially Unwanted Products
Scan to detect Potentially Unwanted Products

Q: What, exactly, are "Potentially Unwanted Products"?
Examples, please.

In the online help webpages, Index tab, Advanced, it just says "When checked, Intelligard will detect Potentially Unwanted Products" without defining what they actually are.

I guess they're in the Federal Witness Protection Program, like "Ignored Infections".

Here's a question about the online help pages.

As I stated above, the Index tab -> Advanced has two (virtually useless) references to "Potentially Unwanted Products". When I then select the _Search_ tab and enter: 1) Potentially Unwanted Products, 2) Potentially, 3) potentially, 4) Unwanted, 5) unwanted, 6) Products, or 7) products, it _always_ returns: "0 page(s) found" even though I found two entries previously. I wanted to see if there were more entries than the two that I found.

Why is that happening?

Hi Ohso,

Info & PUAs: these Potentially Unwanted Applications (PUAs) have some characteristics of malware, but possess no known risks. Typical characteristics could include:

Displaying low-impact advertisements
Partially uninstalling


Will check out the online help page and have this fixed :)

[ohso]

Thank you, achen.

When a file has been added to the Global Exclusion List using Manage Exclusions, is that file only ignored during scans of the file system or is it also ignored by _all other_ SDwAV "Guards"?

[ohso]

There was no response to this, so I contacted tech support. They said:

"Once you add a file/website to the Global Action List the file will be ignored by _all IntelliGuard Tools_ and Spyware Doctor scans."

I was concerned that maybe it would be ignored for file system scans, but when it launched/ran that SD might continue to monitor it (or do what any of the other *Guards do).

I'm trying to figure out why one utility, which I have in the GAL, runs so slowly. I don't have a problem with anything else.

[haapy]

What is that utility?

[ohso]

SnagIt. It is so useful that I have purchased it for all of our computers. I know that there are lots of screen capture utilities, but this one is so full featured that it's worth it.

It slows to a crawl. That's the way it worked when I _first_ got it (maybe for the first 9 months, or whatever). Then later it just zipped right through the source file and created its image file in no time (maybe for another 6-9 months). Now it's back to a crawl. I never really understood why it sped up.

I've been trying to sleuth out what's happening: SnagIt version changes, monthly Windows updates, SDwAV version changes. I just can't figure it out.

I guess I've eliminated SDwAV checking up on it every time it reads the source file and writes its output file, assuming tech support is correct. Win Process Explorer shows SD processes taking CPU time occasionally (not constantly) while SnagIt is running, so I guess that's just S.O.P.

[haapy]

You can try putting the snagit exe in the GAL and see if that helps.

[AChen]

Thanks for the info. We'll check this out and see if we notice any problems with SnagIt.

[ohso]

> You can try putting the snagit exe in the GAL and see if that helps.

It is, since I first got it.

The reason that I started this thread is that I was not absolutely certain that SDwAV _completely_ leaves alone (that is, for all *Guards) a file that is in the GAL.