Parasite: 7FaSSt

This record last updated Tue Sep 20 2005 00:34:14

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Description

7FaSSt is an IE toolbar providing a search field which queries the engine 7search.com.

Distribution

Through ActiveX installation, likely forwarded from one of 7Search’s affiliate sites.

What it does

Advertising

No.

Privacy violation

Yes. The addresses of all Explorer windows are passed to the server fstrack.7search.com. This includes the URLs of all web pages visited, pseudo-URLs like ‘about:’, and the names of folders, images and other objects in local file system.

A unique user ID is used to track you across addresses visited. Cookies are also issued if you use the search toolbar.

Security issues

None known.

Stability problems

None known, other than inconvenience if you use an internet gateway with an autodial feature (7FaSSt will attempt to make an internet connection every time you view a local folder).

Removal

There is an entry for 7FaSSt Search in Add/Remove Programs, which removes the main part of the software. To clean up, go to ‘Downloaded Program Files’ in the Windows folder and remove the entries for ‘{669695BC-A811-4A9D-8CDF-BA8C795F261E}’ and ‘FSInstall_1 Control’. (The latter is not actually an installer; it’s just used by the installing web page to set an affiliate and unique user number before installing the software.)

You can also run ‘regedit’ and remove the key ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\7Search’ from the registry if you like.

Ad-Aware can also remove 7FaSSt, with reflist 038-16-08-2002 and later.