usigetskin error need help with registry

[rosso_acido]

I didn't find anything indicating that this is malware but, I did find this:

 ATTENTION - anyone also using Avast! Antivirus DON'T fix those entries in Spybot, as fixing them may corrupt the application that controls Avast's skins and Avast will be unable to load at all.

I was the one who said that at the Net Integration forums.

It looks like Spybot's detection of Brainbot is a F/P. One of the devs team replied to the relevant thread the other day and said that the new definition set for Spybot (not yet released) has been fixed, and that the F/P won't appear among the future detections.

The issue apparently had something to do with Softshape being related to (some of?) the Avast skins, although I'm in no position to offer a more elucidating explanation.

R.

[S.Z.Craftec]

The issue apparently had something to do with Softshape being related to (some of?) the Avast skins...

Correction - Related to Active Skin engine made by Softshape, not to any of those particular skins.  

[S.Z.Craftec]

*

The link ozarklady gave for brainbot took me to a page of a long list of such stuff. After much searching of that page, the brainbot link took me to an log-in error page for the site with the brainbot info.

But, with a google search, I was able to come up with these links. It will give you more insight to brainbot.

http://www.ilusion-free.com/forum/index.php

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WARNING !  The forum at the link below uses very bad language. Do not go there if you are easily offended!

http://www.zone-h.org/en/forum/thread/forum=3/thread=417155/

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CharleyO - it looks like we found same source... see what I wrote yesterday... similar thing with exactly same contents.

Search for my reply number 6:

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=7802&start=0

Quote by me:

I sent similar PM like this one to Bob...

Brainbuster Brainbot - There is some guy calling himself Brainbuster. He made Brainbot. I'm not sure is it in any way related to his work (if we can even call it that name  , but anyway )... See here (please do some minor searching on that web site) :

http://brainbot.de.vu/

I wonder why some people have problems with SPYBOT recognizing Active Skin parts as spyware, and I never had any problems with spybot. It never found anything like that on my system. Of course I always have Spybot up to date, except I don't like to download beta definitions. I'm starting to think, that their systems are maybe infected with Brainbot... maybe it's attacking Active skin keys, who knows... someone who is infected will most likely have problems with Spybot detecting those keys as spyware...

Cheers !

So now, after all it looks like beta definitions were the problem. Some false positives, that are not just confusing users, but screw up their avast! installation as well... it looks like they will fix it in next definition update

Cheers !

[rosso_acido]

Correction - Related to Active Skin engine made by Softshape, not to any of those particular skins.  

Yes, you're right of course. Sorry for the incorrect phrasing.

BS  

[S.Z.Craftec]

No problem at all... I'm just wondering how come Ad-Aware never made any mistake like Spybot did... what is that what's causing Spybot to recocgnize some Active skin entries as spyware ? I know it's related to Spybot's beta definitions, but what is inside those definitions ?

Cheers !

[techie101]

Sasha,

I am still a bit confused as to why all this ended up crippling Avast.

As I understand it, the beta definitions resulted in a false posivtive being generated by Spybot, which in turn caused Avast users to delete Brainbuster bot files (Hkeys), which then messed up Avast.

Are we saying now that Avast uses the Skin engine from Softshape?

I am not clear on what the "link" is between the false postives and Avast skin engine.

I guess it comes with age.      

[bob3160]

rosso_acido
Welcome back to this Forum. I kew that using your quote would entice you to make an apperance.
Thanks for straigtening out the false accusations against avast! in the other forum.

[rosso_acido]

Hi again Bob, and thanks

Well, I never left this forum - I'm here almost every day and follow the new threads religiously. I just don't talk much - yet.

I've been beta-testing Spybot (and a couple other programmes) for quite a while now. Like pretty much any other prog's, Spybot's beta updates or definitions are sometimes prone to F/Ps, and I believe that what beta testers are supposed to do is verify and report these F/Ps. I don't know about the others - can only speak for myself - but I'm pretty confident my PC is well-secured, so I can be more or less certain about a new detection being a F/P.

I'm always amazed that there are people consciously downloading and running beta definitions and deleting any detection without a second thought or double-checking with others - and then complaining that it caused this or that problem. No offense to anyone, of course; it's just a matter of plain old common sense, IMHO.

As for defending Avast, it's both my pleasure and obligation. I'm an ardent supporter of this wonderful programme and planning to upgrade to Pro as soon as finances allow.

Best wishes to all,
BS aka R.

[ozarklady]

Hi Bob, That's the reason I exist. To amaze people! What defines common sense?
Albert Einstein said, " Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."
It’s rather ironic that the very definition of common sense may be a bit challenging. Now, this may seem comical to those who already possess common sense, but this attempt is not for them anyway. After all, if you have common sense, you probably know what common sense is.
       The Merriam-Webster OnLine Dictionary lists two definitions that compliment each other:

1: the unreflective opinions of ordinary people
2: sound and prudent but often unsophisticated judgment

This helps, but I don’t think it actually gets right down to what common sense really is. Don’t look at me for a more accurate definition, because I don’t have one. You either know what common sense is, or you think you know what common sense is. I'm just glad there are help forums for those of us who need help regardless of whether it derives from a lack of common sense or not.
I would like to add that Avast is a wonderful product and I'm grateful for all the help found here in the forums.


 

[rosso_acido]

It's not Bob who said what seemed to offend you. It was me and if I hurt anyone's feelings, I sincerely apologise. I was just stating a personal opinion about something I've noticed happening in general, and it wasn't my intention to refer to anyone in particular. What I actually had in mind was the attitude of some self-proclaimed beta testers who, although having been explicitly warned about the possible complications of using a programme or an update which is still in beta stage, complain about them when they happen as if such a thing were totally unconceivable.

As for my definition of common sense, as I used the term in my post, I think it should be closer to 2 (sound and prudent but often unsophisticated judgment) than 1 (the unreflective opinions of ordinary people). I assure you I don't mean anything derogatory by that. I respect prudence and lack of sophistication as much as I admire their opposites.

Personally, though, I couldn't be further removed from unreflective, ordinary or unsophisticated. I sincerely don't know if that's an asset or a drawback. It seems to help in some cases and complicate matters in others, although I have to admit the latter occurs quite more often.

I repeat that I never intended to cause any problems, and again apologise.

Best,
R.

[bob3160]

Thanks rosso_acido:
I wasn't sure if ozarklady's reply to me was in the wrong thread or, if I had said something without knowing anything about it. At least I know that i've not quite reached senility.

 

[S.Z.Craftec]

Yeah, and people should watch better who they reply to... just to avoid any further confusion. That's why we have QUOTE tags, and everybody should use them, so it's very easy to see who is replying to whom...

Cheers !

[ozarklady]

Sorry Bob & sorry to rosso_acido also. I did feel hurt concerning the lack of common sense remarks. If I was using anything that was beta, I sure didn't mean to or want to. I didn't see anything that suggested that I was. But then I'm not really computer savy. rosso_acido, I really respect your response. You evidently are going to be an excellent addition to the people who work so hard at this forum to help others who are not so computer literate as themselves. Thanks.    
 

[rosso_acido]

Ozarklady, thanks for accepting my apology and for your kind words.

I don't know in fact how computer literate I am, but I love learning and am always glad to help where I can. Forums like this are an inexhaustible source of knowledge, and frequenting them is one of the best ways to expand one's horizons.

As for avoiding to download beta definitions in Spybot, this is an easy thing to do. Switch to Advanced Mode and go to Settings. Select the Settings option from the list on the left (or the icon in the window) and you'll be taken to a list of options you can check or uncheck. Some of these are checked or left blank by default. Scroll down to the Web Update section and uncheck the "Display available beta versions" option. Then again from the list on the left go to File Sets and again uncheck the "beta.sbi" option.

In any case, it's a good idea to always double-check before deleting anything new that may be detected. News about a F/P from pretty much any kind of malware scanner usually spreads very fast, so you're likely to find info on any PC related forum by doing a simple search.

Hope that helps, and I do apologise if some of my post was OT.

Best,
R.

[rosso_acido]

Bob, you're most welcome - and of course you're NOT senile!

It was my obligation to clarify things since it was my post that (unwittingly) caused someone distress.

Best,
R.