Hi. I’m running XP SP2.
I recently had the misfortune of having Adobe Download Manager installed on my computer. I don’t know how it happened – I’m the only user on this computer, and I don’t recall knowingly installing it.
Getting rid of it has not been easy. I went into the control panel Add or Remove Programs application, and found it there, but it would not allow itself to be removed. I deleted the NOL folder from my Program Files folder, but the Download Manager still showed up in Add or Remove Programs. It also showed up as an add-on in Firefox, where I could disable, but not remove it.
I had to edit the registry to clear this stupid program from the Add or Remove Programs window, and I had to remove the associated DLL from the Firefox plugins folder to remove it from Firefox completely.
My problem is this: I still show the service “getPlus(R) Helper”, which is associated with the Adobe Download Manager. I of course stopped and disabled this service, but I would like to remove it completely from my system (there are other services that I would also like to remove – they are associated with programs that I no longer have installed on my computer). How can I completely remove these unnecessary and unwanted service. They weren’t installed with the system, but I can’t figure out where they reside.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
I HATE Adobe!!!
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How to remove services
Home » Forums » AskWoody support » Windows » Windows Vista, XP and earlier » Questions: Vista, XP back to 3.1 » How to remove services
- This topic has 5 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 9 months ago.
AuthorTopicAnonymous
InactiveAugust 11, 2010 at 12:12 am #470940Viewing 4 reply threadsAuthorReplies-
WSCLiNT
AskWoody LoungerAugust 11, 2010 at 2:47 am #1238575Have a look through this site.
The use of Trend Micro’s ”HijackThis 2.0.4″ may be of assistance, or not.
You could try this from the command prompt: sc delete servicename
A decent and powerful registry cleaner like jv16 PowerTools 2009 may also be useful in tracking this down and deleting it’s associated registry entries.A download link with detailed instructions for use are included in the above links.
O23 Section
This section corresponds to XP,NT, 2003, and 2003 services.
Services are programs that are loaded automatically by Windows on startup. These services are loaded regardless of whether or not a user logs on to the the computer and tend to be used to handle system wide tasks such as Windows operating system features, antivirus software, or application servers. Lately there has been an increased trend for malware to use services to infect a computer. It is therefore important to examine each of the services listed for ones that do not look correct. Common malware services you may find are Home Search Assistant and the new Bargain Buddy variant. Examples of lines associated with those infections can be found below.
The majority of the Microsoft services have been added to the white list so they will not be listed. If you would like to see these services you can start HijackThis with the /ihatewhitelists flag.
Legitimate Service Example:
Example Listing O23 – Service: AVG7 Alert Manager Server (Avg7Alrt) – GRISOFT, s.r.o. – C:PROGRA~1GrisoftAVGFRE~1avgamsvr.exeHome Search Assistant Example:
Example Listing O23 – Service: Workstation NetLogon Service – Unknown – C:WINDOWSsystem32crxu.exeBargain Buddy Examples:
Example Listing O23 – Service: ZESOFT – Unknown – C:WINDOWSzeta.exe
O23 – Service: ISEXEng – Unknown – C:WINDOWSSystem32angelex.exeWhen you fix a O23 entry Hijackthis will change the startup for this service to disabled, stop the service, and then ask the user to reboot. It will not delete the actual service from the registry or the file it points to. In order to delete the service you will need to know the service name. This name is the text between the parenthesis. If the display name is the same as the service name, then it will not list the service name.
There are three methods you can use to delete the service key:
1.Delete it using XP’s SC command you would type the following from a command prompt:
sc delete servicename
To delete the service using a registry file you can use the following example:
2.Use a registry file to delete a service. The below registry file is an example of how to remove Angelex.exe Bargain buddy variant:
REGEDIT4
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetEnumRootLEGACY_ISEXENG]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesISEXEng]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMControlSet001EnumRootLEGACY_ISEXENG]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMControlSet001ServicesISEXEng]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMControlSet003EnumRootLEGACY_ISEXENG]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMControlSet003ServicesISEXEng]3.Use HijackThis to delete the service. You can click on Config, then Misc Tools, and then press the Delete an NT service.. button. When it opens you should then enter the service name and press OK.
The above quoted is only an example.
I agree wholeheartedly, Adobe is nasty.
-
WSR-C
AskWoody LoungerAugust 11, 2010 at 12:18 pm #1238627the Adobe download manager is now being installed with the latest versions of Flash my guess is if you did your flash update that is when it was installed, there are ways to install the flash with out the ADM, google for info.
Adobe Download Manager FAQfrom the Adobe Flash download site
“Adobe may use the Adobe Download Manager to seamlessly install your software. By clicking the “Agree and install now” button, you agree to the Software …”to uninstall Adobe Download Manager if necessary, please follow the directions below:
Windows:1. Browse to the following location:
:Program FilesCommon FilesAdobeESD
2. Locate the file named AdobeDownloadManager.exe. If the directory or file do not exist, no further action is required.
3. Right-click on the AdobeDownloadManager.exe file and select Properties.
4. Click on the Version tab of the Properties dialog box.
5. If the version is 2.1.x or lower, uninstall using the uninstaller provided here.
http://ardownload.adobe.com/pub/adobe/acrobat/win/all/DLMUninst_001.exe (this is the uninstall tool)the above directions can be found here
Adobe – Security Advisories : Update available for buffer overflow in Adobe Download Manager -
WSCLiNT
AskWoody LoungerAugust 11, 2010 at 4:41 pm #1238666From The Elder Geek:
Create or Delete A Service in Windows XP
Services are added from the Command Prompt. You need to know the actual service name as opposed to what Microsoft calls the Display Name. For example, if you wanted to create or delete the Help and Support service, the name used at the Command Prompt would be “helpsvc” rather than the Display Name of “Help and Support”. The actual service name can be obtained by typing services.msc in Run on the Start Menu and then double clicking the Display Name of the service. Once you know the name;To Create A Service
Start | Run and type cmd in the Open: line. Click OK.
Type: sc create
Reboot the systemFig. 01
To Delete A Service
Start | Run and type cmd in the Open: line. Click OK.
Type: sc delete
Reboot the systemFig. 02
——————————————————————————–
If you prefer to work in the registry rather than through the command prompt to delete services;
Click Start | Run and type regedit in the Open: line. Click OK.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServices
Scroll down the left pane, locate the service name, right click it and select Delete.
Reboot the system
This should be a bit clearer.
C -
Anonymous
InactiveAugust 11, 2010 at 4:48 pm #1238667Clint and R-C.
Thank you for your replies. Sorry I was so late answering – I had checked the box requesting email notification of responses to my posting, but for some reason, it didn’t work.
R-C, let me address your reply first. The directory ESD, and the file AdobeDownloadManager.exe do not currently exist on my system (apparently, I zapped them with my registry edits). But the service was still showing when I run services.msc. I had disabled the getPlusHelper service yesterday, when I started my crusade to get rid of Adobe Download Manager. Just for kicks, I attempted to start the service today, and got the message “Could not start the getPlus(R) Helper service on Local Computer. Error 126: The specified module could not be found.” Yet the service still shows in the list. Go figure!
Thanks for the info you provided.
Clint, I tried your suggestion to use the command “sc delete servicename”, and it worked, so I did not pursue your other suggestions. I should note that the only way I could find the actual service name was to select Properties for the service from the right-click menu. The actual service name is shown there; it is not shown in the NAME column of the services list, either as the display name or in parentheses, as stated in the quoted instructions you attached. But at least now that you’ve made me aware of the sc command, won’t have this problem in the future.
I’m guessing that if I searched the registry for the actual service name, I would have been able to delete it that way also.Again, thanks to you both for your replies.
-
WSDrWho
AskWoody LoungerAugust 12, 2010 at 5:37 pm #1239003For someone wanting to nix a service or two, or maybe three, can go through all the manual manipulation, but
if you’re going to do a whole bunch of PC’s you need a batch file. The following is just a Sample of how you’d
write such a batch file to disable or to put into manual mode a whole bunch of services.
This one, I wrote for Win-7, but the one for XP would be very similar. The Black Viper web site gives a list of
all the services for any OS and which ones can be safely shut down. Take a load off of your CPU and shut down
the services that you don’t need running all the time.@echo off
cls
rem This batch file will Stop selected Services and set them to Disabled or Manual.
rem The following are a few examples of task name vs actual program name.
rem Schedule = Task Scheduler
rem Themes = Themes
rem W32Time = Windows Time
rem SysMain = Superfetch
rem WinDefend = Windows Defender
rem
sc config Appinfo start= demand
sc stop Appinfosc config ALG start= demand
sc stop ALGsc config AppMgmt start= demand
sc stop AppMgmtsc config wbengine start= demand
sc stop wbenginesc config CertPropSvc start= disabled
sc stop CertPropSvcsc config Keylso start= demand
sc stop Keylso
Cheers Mates!
The Doctor
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