why doesnt webroot protect from pup ware

  • 7 June 2015
  • 1 reply
  • 18 views

why doesnt webroot protect from pup ware

1 reply

Userlevel 7
Hi foxtl
 
Welcome to the Community Forums.
 
WSA does detect and remove many PUA's, and more are being added, but WSA does not detect all of them. A simple browser add-on with PUA behaviour that is easy to identify and easy to remove is not likely to be detected and removed by WSA. Those that are intentionally difficult to locate and remove are. Please see THIS LINK for more information regarding Webroot's stance on these annoying programs.
 
For those that are not detected by WSA, please see this KB Article. It has some easy to follow directions on locating and removing PUA's. 
 
For those that ARE detected by WSA, but cannot be removed automatically, you can submit a Support Ticket.  Webroot Support will help you get these annoying 'crapware' off your computer at no extra charge, and the additional examples may help to better automatic removal of that particular PUA for all users in the future.
 
I should point out that to make sure that your WSA is checking for PUA's with the best proficiently, it sometimes helps to reset the PUA detection within WSA's settings. For PUA's that had previously been scanned and determined to be OK, but have since been added to detection/removal, you may want to complete the following steps:
 
  • Open Webroot SecureAnywhere
  • Click on ‘Advanced Settings’ from the top right
  • Select ‘Scan Settings’ from the left side
  • Unselect the option “Detect Potentially Unwanted Applications”
  • Click on the Save button (you may have to enter in a CAPTCHA)
  • Reselect the option to “Detect Potentially Unwanted Applications”
  • Click on the Save button
  • Run another scan with Webroot and remove any items that get detected.
Also, we have had a lot of discussion regarding PUAs in the past, and one of our gurus @ has posted an Idea for Webroot to consider asking them to increase PUA detection.  The more users that need help removing a particular PUA the more likely and faster that PUA will be added to detection.
 
Hope that this assists in providing you with some information in response to your questions?
 
Regards, Baldrick

Reply