I've just downloaded a game from JenKat (as I've done many times before) and their new installer has caused me problems. It offered me one piece of optional software, which I declined, but has hijacked my homepage from Google to be replaced by trovi.com. I've changed back to Google and that seems to have worked, but I notice that there is also a box at the top of the screen (I use Firefox) which is labelled "Trovi search". Has anyone else experienced this problem and how do I get rid of this Trovi search box? I'm on Windows 7 64-bit btw. I've never before had a problem with JenKat hijacking anything without asking first.
JenKat installer changed - hijacked my home page
(10 posts) (4 voices)-
Littlemaggit
MemberPosted 9 years ago # -
Jenkat has changed it's installer. However, I've used it with no hijacking. The way it's done is a bit confusing. You have to do a couple of "accepts" to even get TO the game and it may not be clear that you're into the "declines".
Not all their games have yet been switched to the new installer and there was a stage where you had to carefully select an "advanced" button for the install of the game and UNCHECK some software. The new setup seems to have stopped that at lest.
If you do feel you were forced to a hijack, use their contact us point. Unlike most of the freebie circuit, they are pretty fast to respond. Tell Jenny just what happened. She will try to help.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Littlemaggit
MemberThanks, Dragonlair. I'll have a go at downloading another game and be very careful now that I'm aware what's happening. It seemed so odd as I'd never had problems with them before.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Littlemaggit
MemberRight - I've just carefully downloaded another game (with the new installer) and all was well this time. I see what you mean about a couple of "accepts" even to get as far as the game, and it doesn't seem as straightforward to use as the previous installer, but at least it's worked OK. I guess I must have missed something the first time, although it looked the same this time so far as I could remember.
At least I was able easily to reset my homepage, but I'm still left with this annoying "Trovi search" box - so if anyone can give a clue as to how to get rid of this from my Firefox I'd be grateful. I can't find it in Add-Ons, Plugins, Extensions and I don't know where else to look.
Posted 9 years ago # -
ChrisS
AdministratorClick on the the search engine icon on the left side of the search engine box and you'll open a new menu. Select your desired search engine from the list. You can also click "Manage Search Engines" at the bottom of the menu and delete the undesired engine.
You might also want to download and run the free version of Malwarebytes to confirm that the search engine didn't bring along any friends.
Posted 9 years ago # -
ChrisS -- Malwarebytes has a long history of not liking Jenkat install programs, or any registry entries they include. Even in the recycle bin, it squawks!
Posted 9 years ago # -
Littlemaggit
MemberChrisS - thank you so much for this as when I clicked on "Manage Search Engines" as you indicated, I found that there was a list of about ten of the things that I didn't want! The things that go on behind the scenes on a computer never fail to amaze me!!
Posted 9 years ago # -
Delilah
MemberI recently installed Big Kahuna Reef 3 from Jenkat. It had the older installer with the 4 boxes to uncheck (after you selected Advanced install). I use Malwarebytes Pro (the paid version, on XP SP3), and I had to tell Malwarebytes to ignore the install stub file (about 316 KB), and 2 IP addresses that it didn't like. I went ahead and installed the game, then deleted the install file, AND removed the exclusions for that file and the 2 IP addresses from Malwarebytes, and then Malwarebytes scanned clean.
Malwarebytes was objecting to something called PUP.Optional.OptimumInstaller.A. From the name, it sounds like it was the part of the install program that did the non-game stuff, none of which I installed. FWIW.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Delilah,
Malwarebytes is well known for not liking Jenkat's installers. It's simply the installer itself that is the problem, not the games or other items you might install through it. Even if you put the install procedure in the recycle bin afterwards, Malwarebytes complains.
I only have the free version so I don't have it running while I'm installing. That can conflict with anti-virus programs so is not generally recommended by many.
A "PUP" is a "Potentially Unwanted Program". Malwarebytes is not saying that it's bad but that it may not be what you want or it may be there unexpectedly. You have to take PUP reports with a grain of salt. You have to decide if it really IS "unwanted".
The latest Malwarebytes drove me nuts for a few weeks before I figured out what it was doing with it's consistent "PUM" (Potentially Unwanted Modification) report. My husband and I were trying to figure out why "Computer" kept returning to the right column of our start menu when we normally only have "Downloads" set there for opening Windows Explorer. Because that menu is only set at boot time, it took a bit to realize that the PUM that Malwarebytes kept finding was that setting to turn OFF Computer. I told Malwarebytes to set it as an exclusion (keep your bloody hands OFF it, so to speak) and the problem went away.
As with any report of any kind of malware, especially PUPs and PUMs, it pays to do a little research to figure out just what the complaint is. it may not be "unwanted" and you may have to tell the program to keeps it's hands off that setting.
Posted 9 years ago # -
One other note that I remembered later -- away from my computer: Most of the odd reports from Malwarebytes seems to be from it's heuristic analysis. It seems to be overly aggressive. In my case, it's already checked everything it KNOWS that is a problem and now is trying to guess what MIGHT be a problem and that's where it seems to get into trouble.
Posted 9 years ago #
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