There was some discussion of Wondershare, Aimersoft etc. software using helper apps... AFAIK this is conceptually similar to what Ashampoo & others have tried to advertise their other products -- a separate app to deliver offers & such. Does it do any spying or record any info to send back? I've no idea -- if that thought bothers you deny it on-line access in your firewall settings. If you search on a file name using Google you'll get something -- I just made up a dozen .dll file names and got results from each one. Often a lot of sites will automatically insert that file name into whatever boilerplate text to get you to click & visit their site. Sometimes it's useful info -- often it's not, & may include scary warnings, the better to ensure you visit their page. Unless somebody's caught whatever file or app doing something, & documented it, calling it mal-ware or spy-ware etc. is more than likely unfair.
That said, if you want to try avoiding or disabling something like that...
You can keep an app from running by moving the files in question, or renaming the folder they're in, or deleting them. A rather important BUT, you need to make sure they're not running when you do -- in that case Windows will just record the new location if you move a file(s), & likely won't let you rename or delete anything. Going by memory, AsHelper I think installed to Common Files, and there was a file or three in the main program's folder too. In that case you could easily rename the folder in Common Files, then rename those files with similar names in the program's folder. If everything still works, you can get rid of them, though you may want to wait awhile just in case the main software goes to update them once a month or something & won't run if/when it discovers them missing. Note that while Task Mgr. will show you which executable files are running, the free Sysinternals Process Explorer will show you what files they use -- some of those files will be common to lots of apps, but for example any files in the Aimersoft folder that AsHelper used would be good candidates to try renaming.
Getting rid of the files won't of course get rid of any associated registry entries, but unless you recorded the registry entries added or changed when you installed the software, you're more than likely better off leaving those be. Registry entries without the files they once pointed to are inert, with the Wondershare & Aimersoft helper apps we're not talking all that many [if I remember correctly], & most people I think blindly add much more to Windows registry on a daily basis anyway. If you want to check &/or back up &/or remove registry entries that start apps with Windows, the way I do it is open Regedit, find the 2 Run keys in Windows 32 bit -- 3 in Windows 64 -- then add those keys to Regedit's Favorites menu. It takes a few minutes to set up, but from then on seconds to use.
It's also possible to approach this sort of thing from a different angle... Use a VM or virtualization [e.g. Time Freeze] to install an app, save the app's folder(s), restore everything, & see what happens when you run the app from that saved folder or folders. This usually lets you avoid anything but the core app you're after, & often avoids growing context menus, & often avoids having an app take over all sorts of file name associations. In most cases software will add those registry entries it absolutely needs, & if you want to track those, record the changes with Regshot or Regshot2. Try running an app that way in a VM or using virtualization, & if it doesn't work you're just out your time trying.
