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willie_e
Known Participant
November 3, 2018
Question

Adware.IstartSurf threat in Adobe Reader program files

  • November 3, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 727 views

Malwarebytes hit on this on two of four machines this morning. See attached. It quarantined and wanted to reboot to delete. Norton did not find an issue.

After rebooting and opening Adobe a configuration notice popped up 'Preparing to install.." then a progress bar while 'Windows configures Adobe..." & Adobe opened. See attached.

The files originally quarantined by Malwarebytes were back in the Adobe folder. I don't find anything in the forums about this. Any comments or experiences? For now all seems well but it is an anomaly I am not comfortable with.

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

G
gkaiseril
Inspiring
November 3, 2018

It is possible the downloaded install program has been corrupted. I would remove Acrobat Reader and then download from Adobe.com a new copy of Adobe Reader and install it.

W
willie_eAuthor
Known Participant
November 4, 2018

As I indicated Windows detected an issue and re-installed some part(s) of the application. I suspect it detected the missing files that had been quarantined and removed. That they were corrupted may be correct, but since i do not know what caused this to happen(I have another Win10, all pro and a win 7 pro machine) that are configured similarly without these issues, I do not think it appropriate to use the shotgun method.

This issue is defined as a rootkit as well and I want to know if there is anything resident on the machines that cause it to repeat. Since Malwarebytes has demonstrated an ability to detect the problem, and I already have it set to do interim scans hourly, I am as confident as I can be for now in using it as is.

My purpose in posting is to solicit similar experiences and be a resource in case someone else is looking at the same problem, and hopefully Adobe staff monitor the forums and can make note of it as well. Thanx....

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