Spy Bot Changed itself

[AmericanPoet]

Hello,
I'm a first time member, but I have been using SpyBot S&D for some time love it, I have a problem, I just did a fresh windows install, I formated my harddrive and put WinXP Pro on, the very first thing I installed was S&D which I downloaded the install directly from your official web site. On the launch of the program a box popped up that says
"The application has changed since it was created. Since SpyBot does not change itself, we recomend you check your system for malware and viruses instantly!"

I don't see how i could have any malware or viruses since i just installed winxp on my pc!!! HELP!!!!! I had this problem before, I thought that redoing windows would fix it. I GUESS NOT.

[JeanInMontana]

Hey samething has been happening to me for a while now. I know I'm not infected but get that popup every time I open the program. Let's hope someone gives us a clue.

[spybotsandra]

Hello,

This is a little bug in the current version.
We have already been able to locate and fix it.
The fix will be downloadable with our next program upgrade.
We hope that it will be available soon.
If you do not want to wait please try this link:
http://www.safer-networking.org/file...sd141pefix.zip
This is a beta version of Spybot-S&D where this bug should be fixed.
This zip file contains the exe file. Just copy it to your Spybot-S&D folder over the old spybot file.

Best regards
Sandra
Team Spybot

[tetonbob]

I have a user at my home forum with this same issue.....

Thanks, Sandra!

[AmericanPoet]

thank you very much for the reply, I will try the fix and let you know if it works

[Jamespb]

Hello Sandra fromTeam Spybot
your Beta EXE worked perfectly
Thanks

[spybotsandra]

Hello,

Thanks. Glad to hear.

Best regards
Sandra
Team Spybot

[spirit_in_exile]

lemme just say, hi all, new to the forums, but not to spybot...

i encountered this prob shortly after upgrading the RAM on my machine, and thus the winxp activation as is required by winxp when making significant hardware changes. from what i've read in other posts, hardware changes seem to have triggered this error. but i'm just not sure.

i read in another post/thread(/forum?) regarding this issue that spybot performs a few types of self-checks to identify unauthorized attempts to change the spybot program, presumably a nasty tactic employed by some types of malware. for the purposes of doin a truly "clean" reinstall, (barring a complete windows reinstall), in the hopes of solving this issue, i'd like a list of ALL registry entries concerning spybot that are created during install, particularly ones that are related to this integrity check. that way i can yank `em and make like spybot was truly never there.

i've prowled my registry and deleted all entries related to "spybot," "pepimk," "safer networking," and the like, killed them (cept for the file/folderalyze and regalyze ones), rebooted, and reinstalled, still a no-go, applied beta exe, and STILL a no-go.

i'm running winxp w/sp2, fully patched and updated, clean as a whistle otherwise, verified by source after source. system restore is off. various other tweaks applied, but none that have ever conflicted with spybot before the RAM upgrade.

i look forward to hearing from someone on this.

[md usa spybot fan]

spirit_in_exile:

I suggest that you try the beta program that spybotsandra published in post #3 above:

• http://www.safer-networking.org/file...sd141pefix.zip

… in the hopes of solving this issue, i'd like a list of ALL registry entries concerning spybot that are created during install …

If you want to make sure that all the registry entries that Spybot-S&D added during installation are removed, there is a .reg file available on the safer-networking.org WEB site that can do that. See the following article:

• FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
  How to uninstall?
  http://www.safer-networking.org/en/faq/27.html
• The direct download link is:
  this very small fix
• Download the file.
• Double click on it
• Answer Yes then OK

… i'd like a list of ALL registry entries concerning spybot that are created during install, particularly ones that are related to this integrity check.

If there were such a registry entry, publishing it could defeat the purpose and allow manipulation of SpybotSD.exe.

[spirit_in_exile]

I suggest that you try the beta program that spybotsandra published in post #3 above:

• http://www.safer-networking.org/file...sd141pefix.zip

as stated in the title block just above the body of my initial post, the "beta exe didnt do the trick for me"

i shall try the registry entry provided, with a complete uninstall/reboot, then reinstall, and (if need be) the beta exe again, and report back.

If there were such a registry entry, publishing it could defeat the purpose and allow manipulation of SpybotSD.exe.

and while i understand the need for a degree of discretion regarding publishing the specifics of spybot's integrity check scheme, it seems to me that i ought to be able to utterly remove every aspect of any software that i choose to install on my system. the inability to remove such items constitutes either (a) a sloppy uninstaller, or (b) behavior not unlike to the products spybot is here to protect us against, in that many leave little unadvertised traces of themselves for whatever reason.

hopefully, though, this will help. i'll let y'all know.

EDIT: tried uninstall, followed by registry entries removal, then restart, then manual deletion of program files>spybot and docs&settings>all users>app data>spybot folders (curiously left untouched by uninstall). then ran ccleaner temp folder cleanup and registry fixes, then registry mechanic scan and all fixes, then rebooted AGAIN. then fresh-installed spybot, ran it, and BAM! the lovely error. applied beta spybot exe file, cleared prefetch and all temp files, rebooted, re-ran spybot, and BAM! error.

this error is only gonna go away when i can either remove whatever clandestine integrity checking regkey(s) are stashed in my registry, or when a new spybot release handles hardware upgrades better. of course there's always a clean winxp install to consider... but i'd just as soon not.