SDSpybotLab.exe Update News Popup

A few words of praise: I've been using Spybot for years to fix unloved computers for friends. It's a marvelous program and I'm VERY grateful for it. Thank you!

A few words of criticism: What is the below monstrosity, and how does one get rid of it?

Started seeing this after updating my Spybot Search and Destroy. Clicking the given "Spybot Anti-Beacon 3.5" hyperlink doesn't do anything, nor does clicking much of anything else. After exiting it pops up again after a minute or so.

Side Note: My laptop monitor is 1366x768. The expletive pop up is taller than my screen!

Thanks in Advance!

https://i.imgur.com/Qblf64q.png

As nixagan735 asked above, how can we get rid of the aggravating pop-up shown in the screen shot above? It appears every time any user account is opened and takes up most of the screen.

Apart from the news aspect, it seems to be trying to pressure the user into buying Spybot Anti-Beacon 3.5. I don't wish to buy Spybot Anti-Beacon 3.5 so I'd be very pleased to know how to disable this pop-up permanently. I can read the news here anyway:

https://www.safer-networking.org/category/news/

Other than the grumbles above, I like Spybot very much and have been using it for many years now, so thank you very much for a very useful program.

oh cool, I have signed up into this forum just to create a thread with exactly the same question!

How to disable this annoying popup window without disabling the auto-updates?

Hello everyone,

If you haven't done so already please open a support ticket here

Best regards,

tashi

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tashi

Hello everyone,

If you haven't done so already please open a support ticket here

Best regards,

tashi

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Thanks but I've already removed it because it spam the popup window even with auto-updates disabled (!). Not so far from a malware behavior...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tashi

Hello everyone,

If you haven't done so already please open a support ticket here

Best regards,

tashi

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Thank you for your reply. However, I'm not sure why users would need technical support for for what seems to me to be deviant behaviour from the latest version of SSD. How many of us would have to open support tickets before it becomes clear that this annoyance, already described as being "not far from malware behaviour", is due to some fault in the program and is not down to any action or lack of it by the user?

We have 3 PCs here, 1x32-bit and 2x64-bit. On all 3 PCs on every user account (7 altogether), this tiresome pop-up appears whenever any account is accessed. Perhaps there should be some sort of update or patch to this version (2.8) of SSD to resolve the issue.

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Originally Posted by norlin

Thanks but I've already removed it because it spam the popup window even with auto-updates disabled (!). Not so far from a malware behavior...

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I also chose to uninstall and I experienced the exact same thing. I'm VERY saddened by what S&D has become.

Although I find the pop-up extremely irritating, I won't be uninstalling SSD because of it. SSD is a good program which works well; I have no trouble with updates, immunisation or scanning so I see no point in getting rid of it ~ I'll just grit my teeth and close the pop-up until a way is found to dump this intrusion permanently.

At the time of writing this, there have been 1,551 views of this thread, so it seems that a lot of people are interested in this subject. About time you did something to resolve the issue isn't it Spybot?

Temporary fix : find the file SDSpybotLab.exe in your install folder and rename to .exe2 for instance


also very disappointed, after years of using Spybot and recommending it to friends I finally decided to purchase a professional licence. Not a Month later and I get bombarded by this abomination of an advert for a product which is already paid for, installed and functioning?

By ways of voting with my feet I shall temporarily remove all current installs of Spybot and Antibeacon on the several private computers I manage until this is resolved.

And the suggestion of opening a 'Tech Support Ticket' when this is clearly a moral failure and not a Software error is unacceptable.

Please make it stop,

Kind regards

Smurf

PS: could you include SDSpybotLab.exe in your telemtetry blocklist for Antibeacon?

I have had same problem on three computers (2 desktop and 1 laptop) since my last update of Spybot. I tried everything, but this morning I saw the advise to change the name of SDSpybotLab.exe. To do so, I performed an File Explorer search for SDSpybotLab.exe. It took a while, but it finally came up with one result. I changed the name to SDSpybotLab.exe.REMOVEtoRESTORE and I expect the problem to be resolved.

I'd prefer a cleaner solution and I am disappointed that Spybot did not thoroughly test how frequently this comes up and that there is no known way to quickly disable it. I bet a lot of people are looking for this thread.

Spybot, please fix this ASAP!

--DATJ

Has anyone else noticed the irony of Spybot now acting in a way that we use the product to help prevent?
Safer-Networking replied to my inquiry that they had no intention of ending this practice. I am waiting for a response to my service ticket, but in the meantime, I will seek out an alternative and demand a refund of my unused subscription.

Just received this in response to my complaint:

We apologise for the inconvenience.

We are currently updating this file so that the Spybot Lab will only appear when new news articles are available so that this will no longer constantly appear when updating or opening Spybot.

We hope to include this file with this weeks updates.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by phbair

Just received this in response to my complaint:

We apologise for the inconvenience.

We are currently updating this file so that the Spybot Lab will only appear when new news articles are available so that this will no longer constantly appear when updating or opening Spybot.

We hope to include this file with this weeks updates.

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Thanks. This seems to have happened and resolved the problem ~ fingers crossed! The pop-up appeared when I first opened a user account while I was still running v2.8.67.0, but after updating to v2.8.68.0 late yesterday (Wednesday) the pop-up hasn't been seen on any user account so far. I'll wait until later today to see if it's definitely gone ~ I'll let you all know!

We released a new installer that should be able to address the problem discussed in this thread. We would like to thank everyone giving us their opinion and sharing their thoughts about this matter with us. We are sorry for the inconvenience and hope with the changes applied you can enjoy our program again as much as we do. Thank you.

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Originally Posted by (m/f)

We released a new installer that should be able to address the problem discussed in this thread. We would like to thank everyone giving us their opinion and sharing their thoughts about this matter with us. We are sorry for the inconvenience and hope with the changes applied you can enjoy our program again as much as we do. Thank you.

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Thank you very much for sorting this out so quickly. I'm pleased to say that we haven't seen the pop-up on either of our laptops or the desktop PC since I updated yesterday. I downloaded v2.8.68 here and allowed the installer to uninstall the previous version, restarted as indicated and finished the installation. It all seems back to normal now and I'm very grateful, as no doubt are others, to all at Team Spybot for their prompt attention in dealing with this issue. I have no doubt that I'll be using this excellent program for a long time to come!

Do I have to download the new version, or will this be fixed automatically when I update the Spybot signatures?

I've downloaded the new version and the installer locks up, freezes and won't let me install at all.

spybotsd-2.8.68.0

So I can't proceed to try getting rid of this nasty pop up I've been experiencing since the last update install.

Really disappointed that all of this is happening.

Btw, I had to register in order to post this comment and been a long time user that I never had the need to make a post on this forum all this time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by phbair

Just received this in response to my complaint:

We are currently updating this file so that the Spybot Lab will only appear when new news articles are available so that this will no longer constantly appear when updating or opening Spybot.

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I got a new news article pop-up yesterday (Monday) and I found it very interesting and informative. I think this is an excellent idea and it keeps Spybot users aware of what's going on with Spybot ~ much better than the previous pop-ups too!

The idea of SpybotLab is (and was) to keep you as users informed with the latest news of our products and what we are developing. We know that pop-ups are annoying and thus every news article will only show once now. We will add some more features to SpybotLab so that it will help you better keeping updated. We would like to thank you all for your input and support.

This thread about the SpybotLabs popup was first discussed here in over a month ago, and it sounds like it was fixed in a new install file, but this just started for me within the past week. This is highly annoying. I just renamed the Spybotlabs.exe as someone suggested. Hopefully that takes care of this, but users should not have to rename files as a way to disable an annoying popup. Like others here, I have been a Spybot user for years and never had a complaint or had a need to post on this forum. I agree with others that this is akin to malware that is allowing a program to take control of my PC and display an image that I have not asked to see, and there are no config settings to turn it off. Very disappointed and would like to see this remedied.

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Originally Posted by DAThomasJr

I have had same problem on three computers (2 desktop and 1 laptop) since my last update of Spybot. I tried everything, but this morning I saw the advise to change the name of SDSpybotLab.exe. To do so, I performed an File Explorer search for SDSpybotLab.exe. It took a while, but it finally came up with one result. I changed the name to SDSpybotLab.exe.REMOVEtoRESTORE and I expect the problem to be resolved.

I'd prefer a cleaner solution and I am disappointed that Spybot did not thoroughly test how frequently this comes up and that there is no known way to quickly disable it. I bet a lot of people are looking for this thread.

Spybot, please fix this ASAP!

--DATJ

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I went in and just deleted that file, hopefully it has done the trick. I have opened a support ticket and waiting to hear what they advise.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by (m/f)

The idea of SpybotLab is (and was) to keep you as users informed with the latest news of our products and what we are developing. We know that pop-ups are annoying and thus every news article will only show once now. We will add some more features to SpybotLab so that it will help you better keeping updated. We would like to thank you all for your input and support.

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Why not just add UPDATE NEWS to the start center so we can decide if we want to read it or not instead of having an annoying pop-up thrown on screen during presentations or other things when trying to conduct business or working. ALL POP-UPS SUCK!!!! that is why we use SSD!

Followed the thread here to remove SDSpybotlab.exe so I could lose the annoying Popup, but it now breaks the functionality of Start Centre! It reloaded the file during the 'update' process, so it seems that you can't get rid of it anymore. I understand the need to promote the company and monetize it's products, but to do it in the very way that it's users are trying to remove from their computer as it is malware? I have used Spybot for many years and I don't recall it ever letting me down. I am not so narrow minded to remove it based on one annoying behaviour, but I feel that the pressure to make more money is finally starting to show through. I will, however, close the Popup without reading it on principle now. I feel that it should have been added to Start Center, so that users can open and read it if they have time. I quite often do the updates, start a scan and then wander off to do something else while it is running, because although I have quite a reasonable computer with SSD's, it still takes time to perform a scan.
Anyway, that's my 2p on the subject...

I've just made an account to say this: the popup crashes most of my fullscreen applications. I've lost weeks of work thanks to it. Just yesterday 5 hours of work were cut in half because a popup had to come out for no reason (no reason because there was no new information on it). This still isn't working like it was stated in this thread, the popup appears seemingly at random intervals. So after years if not decades of using SpyBot it's time to remove it like any malware. I won't yell that I want back the money I've donated to you over the years, I consider it well spent, but I will say this: I am disappointed in you, in your lack of understanding that instead of informing me of new products and services your popup makes it near impossible for me to work from home when I have no alternative, I can't go back to the office and work there, at least not yet. I wish I could just ignore the popup and move on, but I can't waste any more time.

Another dissatisfied customer here. Like the person above I made an account just to complain about this.

I've used Spybot for years and it's been great, but this popup is driving me up the wall and I am very close to uninstalling it for good.

I don't care if there's new news, popups are terrible and universally hated. What's more, this one throws me out of any fullscreen application I happen to be using, back to the desktop just to tell me something I don't care about.
If there's new news, show it in the Start Centre instead.

POPUPS ARE TERRIBLE AND ARE EXACTLY THE THING PEOPLE INSTALL ANTI-MALWARE TO STOP, NOT MAKE MORE OF THEM.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by (m/f)

The idea of SpybotLab is (and was) to keep you as users informed with the latest news of our products and what we are developing. We know that pop-ups are annoying and thus every news article will only show once now. We will add some more features to SpybotLab so that it will help you better keeping updated. We would like to thank you all for your input and support.

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If I wanted to be updated about what changes you make (like removing black/whitelist) I CAN CLICK ON SOMETHING FOR UPDATES.

I DO NOT NEED a popup EVERY TIME I start my computer. It has interrupted work, closed other processes, and just generally been a NUISANCE.

I now leave the window open and minimized while I am working so as to prevent a stupid mistake.

Why did I pay for SpyBot if I'm going to get the same garbage popups THAT CANNOT BE DISABLED as any other garbage program?

It is not a valuable feature. We should be able to opt-in. It shouldn't be default and unavoidable.

This is now the second time that this pop up issue has happened. At least the first time it was fixed in a (relatively) timely manner. This time around, it's been over a month. Given that this isn't the first time this mistake has been made, I would expect a QUICK FIX for a KNOWN PROBLEM. It's been reported by many people...

I'm just adding my own voice to this thread. I've used SB for 20 years at least and have never been this pissed off.

Secondly, I NEVER give my actual BD to any website. The ONLY people who need to know this are the Government (in which ever location you are) and your own friends and family. I'm frankly amazed that you have this as a requirement. Think of something else.:mad:

Another long-time user here and just needed to register in order to voice irritation with this pop-up.
It's November and this is still happening at least twice a day! I'm not sure what triggers it!

S&D says its software is up to date. (2.8.67.0)

I would rather not uninstall S&D.
How can I stop this annoying pop-up that has been happening for far too long?

Thom

Quote:

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Originally Posted by roarin

Another long-time user here and just needed to register in order to voice irritation with this pop-up.
It's November and this is still happening at least twice a day! I'm not sure what triggers it!

S&D says its software is up to date. (2.8.67.0)

I would rather not uninstall S&D.
How can I stop this annoying pop-up that has been happening for far too long?

Thom

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I have written to them twice about this. I get the robot generated response that says they will get back to me but they have not.
This is an upsurd situation. I have used this program for years. I have contributed because I like the program. Recently I purchased the Pro version and this is when this problem started. I have not found a way to update to a newer version, (if it exhists.)
I hate this pop up. When my paid subscription is ended, so is this program. I will delete every trace of it and will allert my friends.
Very unhappy long time user.

Okay, I get it, you changed the blacklist / whitelist thing, well done, good for you. But I don't need to have a popup telling me how virtuous and pc you are several times a day! I created an account here so I could have a grumble about it, but now I see people have been complaining about it for a year at least and nothing has been done about it, so I've uninstalled both apps because you don't seem to have any intention of removing it.
I may reinstall them again in the future if and when when this nuisance is removed, both apps are very good but this pop up is malware, exactly the kind of thing security software is supposed to prevent.

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Originally Posted by infinitepatience

Okay, I get it, you changed the blacklist / whitelist thing, well done, good for you. But I don't need to have a popup telling me how virtuous and pc you are several times a day! I created an account here so I could have a grumble about it, but now I see people have been complaining about it for a year at least and nothing has been done about it, so I've uninstalled both apps because you don't seem to have any intention of removing it.
I may reinstall them again in the future if and when when this nuisance is removed, both apps are very good but this pop up is malware, exactly the kind of thing security software is supposed to prevent.

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+1 well said. I'd add did ANYONE think "black list" was a race thing, a reference to or disparaging of people with African heritage? No.

People (authoritarian) insist on telling us what to say (on threat of persecution, being canceled). People that draw attention to race are dividing us for power not righteousness. Tell them no. People who cave to their threats I pray find courage to standup for common sense and sanity and true freedom of thought and speech.

“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” MLK

I just uninstalled mine...I couldn't do it anymore. I was getting this pop up every so many hours..

I am also a new forum member who joined just because of these nuisance news popups. Not sure what everyone else is seeing but I get pop ups almost every hour from the SSD application.

Is this really not going to be fixed? Or is un-installation the only solution?

Which version of Spybot do you have? If you open Spybot start center, then click File, then About start center...., it will show the version of spybot also. Can you post the version listed here, please? :)

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Originally Posted by Zenobia

Which version of Spybot do you have? If you open Spybot start center, then click File, then About start center...., it will show the version of spybot also. Can you post the version listed here, please? :)

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On point, thanks Zenobia!

I was informed that Users who have version 2.8.69.138 still installed will see the Spybot lab pop up continuously and so need to reinstall Spybot and upgrade to 2.8.69.139

Where did you find that version? I went to the site and it direct me to places that only have 2.8.68.0

Hello rokit88,

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Originally Posted by rokit88

Where did you find that version? I went to the site and it direct me to places that only have 2.8.68.0

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Apologies. I will let them know.