WHAT IS APPINTEGRATOR

  • 15 November 2014
  • 2 replies
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GETTING ERROR MESSAGE WHEN ACCESSING IE

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Userlevel 7
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@ wrote:
GETTING ERROR MESSAGE WHEN ACCESSING IE
Hello DALGER,
 
Welcome to the Communnity,
 
Is this what you have?
AppIntegrator64.exe is a process file that is associated with My Web Search browser plugin. If you have this process file running in your Task Manager, then it is very likely that you have installed and downloaded freeware applications that are bundled with My Web Search. This potentially unwanted program changes your home page address and default search engine to mywebsearch.com. In general, there is nothing malicious about AppIntegrator64.exe or My Web Search, but it could pose certain security risks and in order to avoid them, you need to remove this application. Naturally, once you remove My Web Search, AppIntegrator64.exe will be removed from your system automatically as well
 
What you are seeing and describing sounds like it may be what we on the Community refer to as a PUA. (Potentially Unwanted Application) These are very annoying at best in that they cause pop-us, redirect your browser home page, and other behavior that may slow down the computer and direct ads your way, but they are not actually doing anything bad like damaging files or stealing information. Often they are installed intentionally by you the user as browser add-ons for various tasks such as quick search tools.. but they also come with the result of added annoying pop-ups and ads. Other times they 'piggy back' with other software that you installed, or try to 'sneak' onto your system entirely.
 
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 behavior 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. You may also want to submit a Trouble Ticket, especially if you cannot remove it easily from the directions in the KB Article.
 
For those that ARE detected by WSA, but cannot be removed automatically, you can submit a Trouble 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.
 
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.
To help avoid PUA's in the future, remember to read all of the information when installing or updating software (Adobe downloads often have those "extra special offers"attached... PUA'S!: often the PUA included will be mentioned, and you can opt out of installing it.  Those check boxes you see? Usually only one of them is for the User Agreement of the software you want, the others are for the junk you don't.
 
 I hope this helps you both understand, and resolve the problem and if not please let us know!
 
 
 
NOTE: As noted above, PUA's that:
 
  • Come in with other downloads
  • Have a clear opt out ability prior to install
 
are often NOT detected and removed.  This is partly for legal reasons: the source of the download can complain about it's extra software being blocked automatically by Webroot.  There may be to allow WSA to recognize and block a LOT more PUA's than it currently can.  Please see THIS IDEA for more information, and give a KUDO if you agree.  User Idea requests are noted by the Webroot Team, and the more Kudo's on an Idea the more likely we may see dev time devoted to it.
 
 
 
Thanks!
 
 
Userlevel 7
Hi DALGER
 
Welcome to the Community Forums.
 
Well, this is a first on me so after a little bit of research what I have found is that Appintegrator.exe is a type of EXE file associated with Third-Party Application developed by Windows Software Developer for the Windows Operating System.
 
Apparently, the latest known version of Appintegrator.exe is 1.0.7.91, which was produced for Windows XP.
 
According to the reserach, and a bit worryingly this EXE file carries a popularity rating of 1 stars and a security rating of "UNKNOWN".  Additionally, it has been detected as a potentially unwanted program by some other anti-malware scanners. But interestingly enough, it woul appear that the file is typically installed by a number of programs including FromDocToPDF Internet Explorer Toolbar, TotalRecipeSearch Internet Explorer Toolbar, etc.
 
There are numerous version of this around and whilst not a virus it looks like it is what we commonly refer to here as a PUA
 (Potentially Unwanted Application).
 
As you may have noticed these are very annoying at best in that they cause pop-us, redirect your browser home page, and other behaviour that may slow down the computer and direct ads your way, but they are not actually doing anything bad like damaging files or stealing information. Often they are installed intentionally by you the user as browser add-ons for various tasks such as quick search tools. But they also come with the result of added annoying pop-ups and ads. Other times they 'piggy back' with other software that you installed, or try to 'sneak' onto your system entirely.
 
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.
 
The best thing to do is to Open a Support Ticket and ask Webroot Support to take a look and remove these for you.  There is NO CHARGE for this for valid WSA license holder.
 
Also, we have had a lot of discussion regarding these recently, and one of oiur 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.
 
I hope this helps, but please post back with an update on what yo decide to do or if you have any further questions.
 
Regards, Baldrick

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