Yahoo! Assistant
Encyclopedia
Yahoo! Assistant, formerly named 3721 Internet Assistant, is a Browser Helper Object
for Internet Explorer
developed by Beijing 3721 Technology Co. Ltd, and was renamed to Yahoo! Assistant after Beijing 3721 Technology was acquired by Yahoo!
.
3721 Internet Assistant, together with 3721 Chinese Keywords, are known as Spyware
by Microsoft AntiSpyware, and malware
or browser hijacker
by some others, such as Panda Antivirus. However, Yahoo! China filed a lawsuit against Beijing Sanjiwuxian Internet Technology Co. Ltd, the developer of the 360Safe antispyware for identifying Yahoo! Assistant as malware
in 360Safe.
technology to install itself on a client system later and was also shipped with many sharewares as default install options. 3721 Internet Assistant was also blamed for its use of a flaw in Microsoft Internet Explorer to install itself automatically when a user is browsing an array of 3721 sponsored personal and commercial websites with Microsoft Internet Explorer. Yahoo! Assistant is also included in 3721 Chinese Keywords and Yahoo! Mail Express, but sometimes the whole package of Internet Assistant, Chinese Keywords and Mail Express is named "Yahoo! Assistant" in some sharewares. The company says the automatic installation ended in September 2005 and now asks user's permission before installing, however, CA Inc.
reported that during Yahoo! Assistant installation, extra components are installed without obtaining user's consent.
This software is also bundled with the Chinese client of the CGA Gaming platform.
appeared when using Internet Assistant.
, it will immediately be restarted by others, thereby resisting efforts by a user to terminate the application.
A driver named CnsMinKP.sys is installed with 3721 Internet Assistant, along with several hidden Windows service
s.
After uninstallation, several files are left on the system, but they are not visible in Windows Explorer
. They can be found by using tools such as Total Commander
or in the DOS box.
.
at 2005.
Browser Helper Object
A Browser Helper Object is a DLL module designed as a plugin for Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser to provide added functionality. BHOs were introduced in October 1997 with the release of version 4 of Internet Explorer. Most BHOs are loaded once by each new instance of Internet Explorer...
for Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
developed by Beijing 3721 Technology Co. Ltd, and was renamed to Yahoo! Assistant after Beijing 3721 Technology was acquired by Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
.
3721 Internet Assistant, together with 3721 Chinese Keywords, are known as Spyware
Spyware
Spyware is a type of malware that can be installed on computers, and which collects small pieces of information about users without their knowledge. The presence of spyware is typically hidden from the user, and can be difficult to detect. Typically, spyware is secretly installed on the user's...
by Microsoft AntiSpyware, and malware
Malware
Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming that is designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or exploitation, or gain unauthorized access to system resources, or that otherwise exhibits abusive behavior...
or browser hijacker
Browser hijacker
A browser hijacker is a form of malware or spyware that replaces the existing internet browser home page, error page, or search page with its own. These are generally used to force hits to a particular website.- Morwill Search :...
by some others, such as Panda Antivirus. However, Yahoo! China filed a lawsuit against Beijing Sanjiwuxian Internet Technology Co. Ltd, the developer of the 360Safe antispyware for identifying Yahoo! Assistant as malware
Malware
Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming that is designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or exploitation, or gain unauthorized access to system resources, or that otherwise exhibits abusive behavior...
in 360Safe.
Distribution
3721 Internet Assistant was originally released as a normal client-server application. However, it turned to use ActiveXActiveX
ActiveX is a framework for defining reusable software components in a programming language-independent way. Software applications can then be composed from one or more of these components in order to provide their functionality....
technology to install itself on a client system later and was also shipped with many sharewares as default install options. 3721 Internet Assistant was also blamed for its use of a flaw in Microsoft Internet Explorer to install itself automatically when a user is browsing an array of 3721 sponsored personal and commercial websites with Microsoft Internet Explorer. Yahoo! Assistant is also included in 3721 Chinese Keywords and Yahoo! Mail Express, but sometimes the whole package of Internet Assistant, Chinese Keywords and Mail Express is named "Yahoo! Assistant" in some sharewares. The company says the automatic installation ended in September 2005 and now asks user's permission before installing, however, CA Inc.
CA Inc.
CA Technologies , formerly CA, Inc. and Computer Associates, Inc., is a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest independent software corporations in the world...
reported that during Yahoo! Assistant installation, extra components are installed without obtaining user's consent.
This software is also bundled with the Chinese client of the CGA Gaming platform.
Features
3721 claims 3721 Internet Assistant includes many useful features, such as IE setting repair, security shield, removal of internet history information and blocking ads. However, it installs various windows hooks that will slow down the system, and tries to install the hooks repeatedly. Some users also reported that Internet Assistant buttons reappeared immediately after their manual removal using Internet Explorer customization features, and Blue Screen of DeathBlue Screen of Death
To forse a BSOD Open regedit.exe,Then search: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\i8042prt\ParametersThen make a new DWORD called "CrashOnCtrlScroll" And set the value to 1....
appeared when using Internet Assistant.
Blocking popup ads
A test using http://www.kephyr.com/popupkillertest shows 3721 Internet Assistant can block roughly half of popup methods itself when the built-in popup blocker in Windows XP SP2 is turned off.Internet Explorer extension hijacking
3721 Internet Assistant will enable/disable other Internet Explorer extensions, except the advertisement links and extensions installed by Yahoo! products.Concealment and resistance to user termination
3721 Internet Assistant runs under multiple "Rundll32.exe"http://www.ppedia.com/p34_RunDLL32-rundll32.exe.htm processes. If one of them is killed in Windows Task managerTask manager
A task manager is a program used to provide information about the processes and programs running on a computer, as well as the general status of the computer. It can also be used to terminate processes and programs, as well as change the processes priority...
, it will immediately be restarted by others, thereby resisting efforts by a user to terminate the application.
A driver named CnsMinKP.sys is installed with 3721 Internet Assistant, along with several hidden Windows service
Windows Service
On Microsoft Windows operating systems, a Windows service is a long-running executable that performs specific functions and which is designed not to require user intervention. Windows services can be configured to start when the operating system is booted and run in the background as long as...
s.
After uninstallation, several files are left on the system, but they are not visible in Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer
This article is about the Windows file system browser. For the similarly named web browser, see Internet ExplorerWindows Explorer is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface...
. They can be found by using tools such as Total Commander
Total Commander
Total Commander is an Orthodox File Manager software for Windows, Windows CE, and Windows Mobile. Some features include a built-in FTP client, file compare, archive file navigation, and a versatile multi-rename tool with regular expression support....
or in the DOS box.
Removal of antispyware program
Yahoo! Assistant also removes 360Safe, an antispyware program of a competitor, without notifying the user. On August 15, 2007, a Beijing court ruled this behavior as unfair competitionUnfair competition
Unfair competition in a sense means that the competitors compete on unequal terms, because favourable or disadvantageous conditions are applied to some competitors but not to others; or that the actions of some competitors actively harm the position of others with respect to their ability to...
.
Uninstall
3721 Internet Assistant, together with 3721 Chinese Keywords, according to Interfax, are regarded by Chinese internet users as "Hooligan" or "Zombie" applications. The uninstall program of the pair provided by 3721 simply redirects users to the 3721 website (in Simplified Chinese thus not recognizable except by Chinese speakers), and the default option of the web page is to keep 3721 Internet Assistant after the uninstallation. After following the web uninstallation wizard and a reboot, many 3721 files will still remain on the client system. The pair were ranked #1 by Beijing Association of Online Media in its list of Chinese MalwareMalware
Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming that is designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or exploitation, or gain unauthorized access to system resources, or that otherwise exhibits abusive behavior...
at 2005.