Described on this site's Nero 7 Problems page, is a Windows shutdown problem a recently rebuilt computer developed. During the process of tracking down this problem, a program to which little attention had been paid was brought into focus. Since web searches were already in progress for other processes found on this computer it was little trouble to do a search for Viewpoint Manager.
Information on the web is not as cut and dry for Viewpoint Manager as it is with known adware or malware programs. Many of the sites visited in the search described this program as foistware. Evidently, foistware is the term used for programs that become installed on an individuals computer without the individuals knowledge or consent and do not clearly exhibit malicious behavior. From information gathered on the web, Viewpoint has filed law suites against anti-spyware venders whose programs were removing Viewpoint Manager on scanning a computer. Could this, perhaps, be the reason behind the hedging?
One thing all visited sites were clear about was the entry vehicle used to install Viewpoint Manager. All fingers were pointed at AOL and its IM program AIM. Corroborating this is the fact that AIM is installed on the computer that brought attention to this situation. The Vista machine that sits on the same desk has neither AIM nor Viewpoint Manager but does have much of the same programming installed, the difference being Vista compatibility. These sites were also clear on the purpose of Viewpoint Manager, which is to upgrade the Viewpoint Media Player. That makes two programs that have been installed without the knowledge or consent of the computer owner and one of these programs phones home.
With the thought of possible litigation in mind, we are going to do a little hedging ourselves. We will, however, show how to limit the capabilities of Viewpoint Manager. Limit rather than remove because it is reported that AOL/AIM re-installs Viewpoint whenever it has been removed. This was not the case with AIM version 5.9.3690, however, the functionality of AIM with Viewpoint Media Player and Viewpoint Manager removed has not been fully tested.
First follow the path Start Button > Control Panel to open Windows Control Panel. The screen shot of the Windows Control Panel shown here has "Switch to Classic View" circled. If you are already using the classic view then "Switch to Category View" will show up instead. Those who are using category view, which is the default for Windows XP, please click the indicated link.
Once you have the Control Panel open in Classic View, it is just a matter of scrolling to the bottom of the screen to find the Viewpoint Manager icon, which is shown circled in black. For users new to computers use one of the buttons circled in red to scroll. Then click the Viewpoint Manager icon.
With the Viewpoint Control Panel open, make sure all the check boxes circled in red are unchecked.
This will stop Viewpoint from phoning home. Clearing the check boxes requires holding the mouse
pointer on each check box then single left click. With these options cleared Viewpoint no
longer connects to the Internet looking for program updates but this doesn't guarantee that
Viewpoint can no longer phone home.
Ensuring that Viewpoint has no phone home capabilities requires checking the system for components
of Viewpoint that load on boot and run in the background. SpyBot Search & Destroy has several
tools in its advanced mode that can assist in this task. Instructions for activating "advanced mode"
and finding the various built in tools SpyBot has check out this page on our site:
Start Up Tweaks
Another tool that is used for this purpose is HiJackThis, now owned by TrendMicro. Be warned,
however, unless you have plenty of experience with Windows, HiJackThis should be considered
a "look but don't click" program. Using it to "fix" things can and does cause more problems
than it cures. The report it generates is sent to Notepad and includes a list of start up programs
and services. This report has all the information needed without the need to switch tools.
With that said we can proceed with the hunt. On this particular computer we found nothing in the regular start up programs list that belonged to Viewpoint. Due to the continuing evolution of programs and malware and the variation in systems, these files should be checked even though ours were clean. What we did find was an obscure reference to a service in the O23 section of the HiJackThis report. The partial O23 list provided below has had little formatting done to it other than placing the offending line in bold and a break tag at the end of each line. The point is, you might want to disable Word-wrap on Notepad's Format drop down menu.
O23 - Service: Ad-Aware 2007 Service (aawservice) - Lavasoft - C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware 2007\aawservice.exe
O23 - Service: AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic Scheduler (AntiVirScheduler) - Avira GmbH - C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\sched.exe
O23 - Service: AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic Guard (AntiVirService) - Avira GmbH - C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\avguard.exe
O23 - Service: Ati HotKey Poller - ATI Technologies Inc. - C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
O23 - Service: InCD Helper (InCDsrv) - Nero AG - C:\Program Files\Nero\Nero 7\InCD\InCDsrv.exe
O23 - Service: LightScribeService Direct Disc Labeling Service (LightScribeService) - Hewlett-Packard Company - C:\Program Files\Common Files\LightScribe\LSSrvc.exe
O23 - Service: lxbt_device - Lexmark International, Inc. - C:\WINDOWS\System32\lxbtcoms.exe
O23 - Service: NBService - Nero AG - C:\Program Files\Nero\Nero 7\Nero BackItUp\NBService.exe
O23 - Service: NMIndexingService - Nero AG - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ahead\Lib\NMIndexingService.exe
O23 - Service: Viewpoint Manager Service - Viewpoint Corporation - C:\Program Files\Viewpoint\Common\ViewpointService.exe
Once found we can deal with this component. Use the path Start > Run for Windows XP. For Windows Vista the path is Start > All Programs > Accessories > Run. With the "Run box" open type "services.msc" in the test box as shown at arrow 1. Next click the "OK" button shown at arrow 2. Vista users will need to click the "Continue" button on the warning dialog that opens at this point.
The Services Console lists services in alpha-numeric order and to find our culprit it was necessary to scroll to the bottom. Viewpoint Manager service is circled in red in the accompanying screen shot. When you have found this service for your system right click it to get the context menu.
This illustration was borrowed from our Windows XP Service Tweaks page, which provides a good view of the context menu just mentioned and saves a bit of server space to boot. The indicated Properties item on this menu is the next item to click.
The Properties dialog shown here was also borrowed from the other page. Click the button
indicated by arrow 1 and then select "Disabled" instead of "Manual" that arrow 2 is indicating.
The "Apply" button will become active and needs to be clicked for the changes to be made then
click "OK". Any other services found to be associated with this program should also be disabled
in this manner.
Between beginning this page and finishing it up, there was time to test the functionality of
AIM with Viewpoint manager totally removed. With the version 5.9.3690 of Aim, installed on
this particular computer the IM portion of the program continued to function. Since the Instant
Messenger portion of AIM is all that is ever used on this computer the other available features
of this and other versions of AIM may or may not function. Using the Add-Remove Programs of
Windows Control Panel to remove Viewpoint Manager entirely from your computer is a possibility
you can consider but remember there is still the possibility of reducing the function of AIM.
The reported re-installation of Viewpoint has not occurred with this version of AIM.
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