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Text-Enhance: Unwanted Program

Jun 21, 2012 1:33 AM

Is Shockwave Flash Player reponsible for the "Text Enhance" link:hover adverts that I'm now seeing coming up on various keywords on wbpages viewed with Internet Explorer?

 

I'm working on local HTML files so I can see that the "enhanced" content is being generated in my browser, not coming from the website.

 

I was searching forums because I thought this was some sort of virus, and then someone said that Flash player was responsible.   I disabled Flash and it stopped - although that's not conclusive because flash might just be needed for it's operation.

 

Other forums talk about disabling the "I want this" toolbar extension, but I don't have that.

 

What's the story?

2973 Views   10 Replies   Latest reply: Pat Willener, Jun 22, 2012 7:11 PM
 
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  • PGWilliams
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    1. PGWilliams,
    Jun 21, 2012 1:42 AM   in reply to PGWilliams
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    I think it is just that Text-Enhance is dependent on Flash, rather than Flash being the root cause of the problem.   Sorry!

     

    I found this forum discussion that was helpful:

     

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie8-windows_xp/how-can-i-r emove-the-malware-text-enhance-that/654cedb8-9b9d-402e-aa30-bd82992664 29

     

     

    And this webpage:  http://botcrawl.com/how-to-remove-text-enhance/

     
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  • PGWilliams
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    2. PGWilliams,
    Jun 21, 2012 5:21 AM   in reply to PGWilliams
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    Having said that, I've now been through my machine with a fine toothed comb and the ONLY thing that stops this annoying Text-Enhance from doing it's thing is disabling Shockwave Flash.   I've uninstalled Shockwave and downloaded a fresh copy direct from Adobe, no improvement.

     

    IE9 on Win7 64bit Home Premium.

     
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  • PGWilliams
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    3. PGWilliams,
    Jun 21, 2012 9:00 AM   in reply to PGWilliams
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    Disabling Shockwave Flash in IE is not really acceptable because Flash is a required component for some of the websites I visit.

     

    The fact that Flash is facilitating Text Enhance’s operation put me onto a workaround which was to look at the Flash Global Storage Settings which you get to via this webpage:  http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/se ttings_manager03.html

     

    And then uncheck the box which says “Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer”

     

    That seems to have prevented Text Enhance from operating on two machines I’ve looked at, without having to disable Flash entirely. I don’t know if there’s still something installed on my machine – neither AVG or AdAware picked it up at any point in a full scan.

     

    There's certainly nothing showing up in msconfig.exe / startup or in my recently installed programs which doesn't have a good pedigree.

     
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  • Sean_Wilson
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    4. Sean_Wilson,
    Jun 21, 2012 2:37 PM   in reply to PGWilliams
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    You should ask your question (and answer yourself!) in a forum for the Flash Player

     
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  • Pat Willener
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    5. Pat Willener,
    Jun 21, 2012 10:42 PM   in reply to PGWilliams
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    From what I have read in the link you posted (http://botcrawl.com/how-to-remove-text-enhance/) this is a browser add-on that makes use of Flash Player (not Shockwave Player).

     

    Have you tried to find and remove that malicious browser add-on?

     

     

    [topic moved to Flash Player forum]

     
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  • PGWilliams
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    6. PGWilliams,
    Jun 22, 2012 12:28 AM   in reply to Pat Willener
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    The add-on that was facilitating Text Enhance is called "Shockwave Flash Object"  version 11.3.300.257 which I uninstalled and re-downloaded direct from adobe in the course of my efforts yesterday.     So if you're telling me that this is "Flash Player" rather than "Shockwave Player" then I'll believe you, but you can see how an end user might be confused!

     

    This malware seems to come in many different flavours and this particular version did not appear to be a separate browser add-on - it just made use of one.   I have no other browser add-ons enabled at this time.

     

    I'll head off and google the difference between Flash Player and Shockwave Player now.

     

    Thanks!

    Peter

     
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  • Pat Willener
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    7. Pat Willener,
    Jun 22, 2012 1:11 AM   in reply to PGWilliams
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    The two players come originally from Macromedia; who developed Shockwave.

     

    Shockwave Flash is Flash Player.

     

    Shockwave Player is Shockwave Player.

     

     

    Back to your malicious thing: if you start Internet Explorer in safe mode [Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Internet Explorer (No Add-ons)], does it still appear?

     
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  • PGWilliams
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    8. PGWilliams,
    Jun 22, 2012 1:20 AM   in reply to Pat Willener
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    The Text Enhance issue vanished when I unchecked the Flash Player's “Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer” box, and it didn't re-appear when I re-checked the box.   Which makes me think that I picked up some third-party shennanigans at some point, and checking this box deleted it?

     

    I had a 2nd computer with the same symptoms and the ONLY thing I did for it was to uncheck that box, and again Text Enhance seemed to leave.   Or went dormant.

     

    So unfortunately there's now no way to do further diagnostics on it - like finding the file that was causing the problem!

     

    Thanks for your help though - I've got Flash vs Shockwave straight now   

     

    Peter

     
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  • Jeromie Clark
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    9. Jeromie Clark,
    Jun 22, 2012 6:22 PM   in reply to PGWilliams
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    Yeah, disabling third-party storage definitely didn't remove the text enhance stuff from your computer.  You may have stunned it though. 

     

    There's a good thread on removing Text Enhance / StartNow toolbar over on the Mozilla forums, here:

    http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/887190#answer-325171

     
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  • Pat Willener
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    10. Pat Willener,
    Jun 22, 2012 7:11 PM   in reply to PGWilliams
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    See also http://forums.adobe.com/message/4514314#4514314

     
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