Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   piscote49
   Member

   Just wanted to let you know that:

   This software “Smart to Do” by Virtuoza Software Inc. showed up as a KeyLogger in a recent scan I ran with “SpyBot Search & Destroy” program.

   Please look into it.

   Thanks for all you do.

   Posted 17 years ago #
2. 

   Theleecher
   Member

   Because Virtuoza do produce a keylogger, some antispyware programs tag the Virtuoza registry keys as "spyware". If they bundled a logger in programs openly sold, I think they would have been pulled up with more than the odd hairtrigger software alert by now.

   Posted 17 years ago #
3. 

   BuBBy
   Teh adnim

   http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/955?replies=3#post-5557

   It's a false positive (or more accurately a "trace") - it's not detecting a keylogger - it is detecting the top of the branch of registry keys used by all Virtuoza products.

   Posted 17 years ago #
4. 

   piscote49
   Member

   Thanks for the posts from "Theleecher" & "BuBBy".

   I am still concerned about the KeyLogger situation that I referred to yesterday, as it has appeared again after uninstalling “Smart to Do” by Virtuoza Software Inc. and having removed it from my registry.

   I have downloaded quite a few of the GAOTD offerings and never run across this problem before.

   I always run virus scans & read the EULA texts before installing.

   I can guarantee that I will never go near a Virtuoza product again and encourage others to be very wary before doing so.

   The following is from "TechRepublics" description of Virtuoza Softwares "Free Key Logger" (this is only for reference as the program that installed the KeyLogger, “Smart to Do”, is from Virtuoza):

   Overview: Free Key Logger records everything that has been typed on a computer's keyboard. It works in two modes: normal and stealth. In stealth mode it is virtually undetectable. Not shown even in Windows Task Manager.

   If anyone has any ideas on how to get this damn thing out of my computer I'd sure appreciate it.

   Thanks in advance.

   Posted 17 years ago #
5. 

   BuBBy
   Teh adnim

   Have you installed the "Free Key Logger"?

   Posted 17 years ago #
6. 

   cdundee007
   Member

   I also got a similar alert. One of my programs alerted me that Smart To Do was trying to gain low level access to the keyboard. I dont know if it means that it is a keylogger.

   Posted 17 years ago #
7. 

   BuBBy
   Teh adnim

   No that is because it is mapping a hot-key (Ctrl-Alt-Q by default) to bring up the application.

   You can disable this via File -> Options.

   An application that works with hotkeys can "appear" similar to a keylogger because both require to set low level hooks to intercept keypresses in other processes. Except one is helpful the other is potentially nasty. If you don't trust a program that wants to set hotkeys - don't install it - or disable the hotkey functionality - or even better do some research, contact the vendor talk to other knowledgeable users.

   Posted 17 years ago #
8. 

   cdundee007
   Member

   Bubby or Lee or GAOTD,
   My antispyware keeps detecting smart to-do as a keylogger. I know in the previous posts it was said that it may be a false positive. I installed Incontrol, fusiondesk and smart to-do from virtuoza but i uninstalled incontrol and fusiondesk but kept smart to-do. But, I wanted a confirmation one more time from you all that smart to-do is a safe program before making a final decision on whether to uninstall it. Is it a safe program? Does it have a keylogger?

   Posted 17 years ago #
9. 

   BuBBy
   Teh adnim

   1. What is your antispyware program giving you the warning
   2. What is the EXACT message you are seeing

   Read my previous post about the hotkey (Ctrl-Alt-Q) which some programs will see as a keylogger - as it is some code that will intercept that keypress, regardless of what other program currently running. This isn't actually a keylogger in itself - but the code to perform this "hotkey magic" probably looks very similar to a typical keylogger - to most antispyware programs.

   Posted 17 years ago #
10. 

    Swan
    Member

    Wait a minute guys! ;)

    Didn't Virtuozo also offer a program that logs keys in order to create system wide personal macros? I seem to remember this conversation before and one of the mods explaining that this was the case.
    ~ Swan

    Posted 17 years ago #
11. 

    cdundee007
    Member

    I use spybot. Oddly there are a couple of programs that also use hotkeys and they are not detected as keylogger (if that is what is being considered by spybot as being a keylogger). When I have time I will disable the hotkey and run a scan and see if it still detects it as a keylogger. Thanks.

    Posted 17 years ago #
12. 

    BuBBy
    Teh adnim

    @cdundee007 - In this case Spybot is only detecting a registry location used by all Virtuoza products.

    See here

    If you deleted or renamed that one registry location your "free keylogger" would magically disappear (according to Spybot).

    If you didn't have any Virtuoza software on your PC at all, but created that single registry location HKCU\Software\Virtuoza - spybot would tell you that there is a keylogger on your PC.

    A comparison of this behavior would be if Spybot detected if Microsoft Word was installed by the presence of HKLM\Software\Microsoft instead of HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Word

    By detecting the "company" instead of the product, would mean that if you installed Powerpoint - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Powerpoint would also be detected as a Word installation.

    (re-read the third post in this thread)

    Posted 17 years ago #
13. 

    cdundee007
    Member

    Thanks Bubby. I did the tests you did and you are right. A little relief for me now.

    Posted 17 years ago #
14. 

    slgraycols
    Member

    Thanks for the link from the comments to here but I have already read this thread previously and it did not answer my question (sorry if it's obvious to you but I am no tech expert and the security issues on Windows often confound me somewhat.) This is my question: If I erase the registry key that is appearing as a key logger, will it disable the Smart ‘to do’ software? That is what I would like to know.

    Posted 16 years ago #
15. 

    slgraycols
    Member

    Any moderators care to answer my question?

    Thanks for the link from the comments to here but I have already read this thread previously and it did not answer my question (sorry if it's obvious to you but I am no tech expert and the security issues on Windows often confound me somewhat.)

    This is my question: If I erase the registry key that is appearing as a key logger, will it disable the Smart ‘to do’ software? That is what I would like to know.

    Posted 16 years ago #

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