Name: AdvSearch Category: Adware Alias: ActualNames, SearchPike Advice: Remove Risk: Elevated Risk Elevated threats are usually threats that fall into the range of adware in which data about a user's habits are tracked and sent back to a server for analysis without your consent or knowledge. Description: AdvSearch installs silently on your computer without your awareness. AdvSearch, also known as ActualNames and SearchPike, is a address bar search hijacker for Internet Explorer, Netscape and AOL. AdvSearch can silently download and execute arbitrary unsigned code from its controlling server actualnames.com, as a self-updating feature. It is likely to slow performance of Internet Explorer. ActualNames/BrowseProxy is also a severe security hole as it allows any web site to execute arbitrary programs. AdvSearch is bundled with KazaaMate. It can be installed when you install KaZaa and also directly from the ActualNames site itself. Since there are no visual clues that it is present, it is also suspected to be installed via ActiveX to unsuspecting users. During Installation a new window opens with the following details: "Attention: This browser upgrader will overwrite any other plug-in of its nature found on this computer. If you wish, you may stop this installation now. " This is your last chance and final warning before the program is installed and hidden away. There are no end user agreements to view before downloading this plugin so it remains to be seen exactly what is installed and what it does. Although clear information on which components are installed remains vague on the ActualNames site it has been known to contain components that interfere with sending mail from both applications and websites. As of yet, what these files are supposed to be doing remains unclear. Signatures: process: cliner.exe: MD5 Hash: ca1adc28e1578c7292c... process: findservice.exe: MD5 Hash: 90d8435c1d7ca65b00f... process: mailbook.exe: MD5 Hash: d82ae1faa763099d351... process: update.exe: MD5 Hash: 6c893d1ae2a87d65a64... process: updater.exe: MD5 Hash: add984ac02e9c223036... process: setup.exe: MD5 Hash: fa7cc2a62eff627792f.. Type: Adware - Adware is generally software that displays advertisements. Some advertisers may covertly install adware on your system and generate a stream of unsolicited advertisements that can clutter your desktop and affect your productivity. The advertisements may also contain pornographic or other material that you might find inappropriate. The extra processing required to track you or to display advertisements can tax your computer and hurt your system performance.