Startup Mechanic flagging all Anti Virus as Harmful

jorel · 03-01-2008, 03:18 AM

I would appreciate any feedback regards the reliability of Opensofts Startup Mechanic.
On installation and doing a scan for the first time it flagged ZoneAlarm as 'Harmful', marking Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe as an "unknown worm or Trojan infection" when it is actually a process that blocks internet viruses.
It also flagged Windows Defender as 'Harmful', marking Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe as the AIMWIN VIRUS. Once again this process is not a virus but is actually an internet virus blocker.
In addition it flagged SuperAntispyware as 'Harmful', saying "This program uses "borrowed" old Spybot definitions for its database" and states "Do not trust these guys". Now to me that seems a very amateurish thing for a software developer to say about another development team.
The interesting point in all of this is that Startup Mechanic appears to flagging all real time anti virus protection as harmful. Coincidence or sinister I don't know.
As far as viruses are concerned, I have scanned with SuperAntivirus, Avast, Sophos, Trend Micro Rootkit Buster, Pavark Anti rootkit, and even ran ComboFix. All say that my computer is clean and no malware was detected.

I would appreciate any feedback as to whether this software is reliable and trustworthy. It seems very strange that it is attempting to convince me to delete all anti virus protection from start up.
Many thanks.

ejames82 · 03-01-2008, 09:09 AM

welcome to TSF,

Quote:

I have scanned with SuperAntivirus, Avast, Sophos, Trend Micro Rootkit Buster, Pavark Anti rootkit, and even ran ComboFix.

are SuperAntivirus and Pavark Anti rootkit legitimate programmes? also, using combofix without supervision could be harmful.

Quote:

Startup Mechanic appears to flagging all real time anti virus protection as harmful. Coincidence or sinister

this happens often, at least you did your homework and researched it's findings before taking action. that's a good lesson.

Quote:

whether this software is reliable and trustworthy

i think you always have to be skeptical of it's findings. if it gives you an opportunity to delete anything, don't do it. research like you have been. i always refer people to www.spywarewarrior.com to make sure that their software is legitimate.

jorel · 03-01-2008, 11:49 AM

ejames82, many thanks for the welcome, and also help and the link to Spyware Warrior, which proved to be very useful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ejames82

welcome to TSF,

are SuperAntivirus and Pavark Anti rootkit legitimate programmes? also, using combofix without supervision could be harmful.

Ooops, my mistake. I should have typed SuperAntispyware, which is recommended by Spyware warrior. So at least I know I am ok with that. As for Pavark, it is from Panda so I assume it to be ok.

Once again, thank you for the help and advice, much appreciated.

tetonbob · 03-01-2008, 02:01 PM

Quote:

I would appreciate any feedback as to whether this software is reliable and trustworthy. It seems very strange that it is attempting to convince me to delete all anti virus protection from start up.

With all you're reporting about it's behavior, I think you've answered your own question.

I would not trust it. All those applications it's flagging are well known and trustworthy. No easily found contact info, either.

Seems this has been noted in the past also:

http://forum.grisoft.cz/freeforum/re...?8,23366,23842

jorel · 03-01-2008, 04:10 PM

tetonbob. Thank you for your response and link. I'm afraid Startup Mechanic is going to be deleted from my system forthwith.

03-01-2008, 03:18 AM	#1 (permalink)
jorel Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Cornwall and Hungary Posts: 7 OS: Win XP SP2	Startup Mechanic flagging all Anti Virus as Harmful I would appreciate any feedback regards the reliability of Opensofts Startup Mechanic. On installation and doing a scan for the first time it flagged ZoneAlarm as 'Harmful', marking Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe as an "unknown worm or Trojan infection" when it is actually a process that blocks internet viruses. It also flagged Windows Defender as 'Harmful', marking Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe as the AIMWIN VIRUS. Once again this process is not a virus but is actually an internet virus blocker. In addition it flagged SuperAntispyware as 'Harmful', saying "This program uses "borrowed" old Spybot definitions for its database" and states "Do not trust these guys". Now to me that seems a very amateurish thing for a software developer to say about another development team. The interesting point in all of this is that Startup Mechanic appears to flagging all real time anti virus protection as harmful. Coincidence or sinister I don't know. As far as viruses are concerned, I have scanned with SuperAntivirus, Avast, Sophos, Trend Micro Rootkit Buster, Pavark Anti rootkit, and even ran ComboFix. All say that my computer is clean and no malware was detected. I would appreciate any feedback as to whether this software is reliable and trustworthy. It seems very strange that it is attempting to convince me to delete all anti virus protection from start up. Many thanks. Last edited by jorel; 03-01-2008 at 03:20 AM.

03-01-2008, 04:10 PM	#5 (permalink)
jorel Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Cornwall and Hungary Posts: 7 OS: Win XP SP2	Re: Startup Mechanic flagging all Anti Virus as Harmful tetonbob. Thank you for your response and link. I'm afraid Startup Mechanic is going to be deleted from my system forthwith. __________________ Never take life seriously Nobody gets out alive anyway.