A

Anonymous

Question

What is file.org?

Forum|Forum|12 years ago
June 2, 2013
8 replies
60245 views

When I respond to the prompt to update Adobe reader, I am now taken to something called "File.org". What is this? Is it safe? I can't find it listed inmy installed programs, I am not sure where it came from.

Thanks

Bill

file.org

This topic has been closed for replies.

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jonb58266533

New Participant

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S

sethuve

New Participant

Ok Mate BillyBob

I think I finally could figure out how to get rid of this nasty .exe file

So here is what i did

when this message popped up I went into the task manager and looked at the processes running then

It was evident this was " File Type Assistant "

I ended this process immediately and went to the control panel and uninstalled the application from the computer

Hope this helps

Sorry ...English is my second language and hope i make sense...cheers

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Obiwan2310

New Participant

In my case, it was FreeFileViewer 2014 that installed File Type Assistant. The very first page of their installer wizard has an option to that effect. That checkbox is selected by default (of course), and is rather cleverly disguised as a simple "update check" option, such as the ones you can find in most applications nowadays. There is no direct mention that a third party software will get installed and that said software would also check for updates to other installed titles (such as Adobe Reader). If you click on the small "More" link, you do however end up on File.org's Web page:

I am usually extremely careful to uncheck all unwanted preselected options in free software I install, but this one slipped by unnoticed, due to the text "check for software updates".

Hope this helps,

Joel

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shuree1968

New Participant

Obiwan2310 wrote:
In my case, it was FreeFileViewer 2014 that installed File Type Assistant. The very first page of their installer wizard has an option to that effect. That checkbox is selected by default (of course), and is rather cleverly disguised as a simple "update check" option, such as the ones you can find in most applications nowadays. There is no direct mention that a third party software will get installed and that said software would also check for updates to other installed titles (such as Adobe Reader). If you click on the small "More" link, you do however end up on File.org's Web page:
I am usually extremely careful to uncheck all unwanted preselected options in free software I install, but this one slipped by unnoticed, due to the text "check for software updates".
Hope this helps,
Joe
I've had issues with both types sticking around. I noticed that Norton supports this File.org by Trusted. I used Revo Uninstaller to fix this because it wasn't listed in Programs and Features under Control Panel. I'm thinking about uninstalling Flash and other Adobe plugins fear of it coming from somewhere else other than Adobe and returning. Also, am going to make some changes within Firefox to NOT auto update as I believe that's been part of the issues. Good luck all!

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electric52

New Participant

I can't tell you what it is, only that it downloaded itself onto my computer when I was looking for a program that could open up a file and I downloaded that program onto my computer. The best thing I can tell you is that if you are looking for a program to open up a file that you can't open, with what you have on your PC, then you will probably get this "file.org" downloaded onto your PC when you download the "free" program that opens up a file you need to open. Once this file.org program is on your PC it hides itself. It will pretend to be other software programs and will give you a notification when some of your software programs need to be updated. What drew my attention is when I got a notice to update my Adobe software. The notification looked different than all my other Adobe notifications. That's when I knew something had taken over my PC. You can delete the file but you won't find it by sorting your programs according to date

installed because file.org puts a very old "installed" date in the system and it won't show up that way. The program is labelled "File Type Assistant". Go to "Control Panel" / "Programs" / "Uninstall a Program" . Look for "File Type Assistant". Although its "installed On" date will be very old, the date is false. Delete the file and you will be free of the problem.

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file_org

New Participant

Hello,

the software update checking is a free service of file.org. Like Microsoft keeps Windows up to date through Windows Update, we help you keep your other software up to date too. Not all software has built-in automatic updates, and this is where our update notification service can help.

There are many reasons to keep not only your operating system (Windows) up to date, but also 3rd party software. The main reason is of course that newer versions often contain security fixes and improved stability.

If you do not want our update notifications, you can click the cog icon (second icon from the right) on the update notification pop-up and de-select "Enable software update checking". This will disable all future checks for updates through our update service.

You get these update notifications because you have installed our File Type Assistant client. You can read more about it here: http://file.org/app.html. You can remove it like any other program:

1) Click the Start Menu

2) Select the Control Panel

3) Under the Programs heading, click "Uninstall a program"

4) Locate the program in the "Programs and Features" list

5) Click Uninstall

We host the official product installers like other software update notification services like e.g. filehippo.com and computerupdater.com do. The downloads are served by our download manager which uses advanced download acceleration to download the original product updates at the highest speed possible. Yes, it does display a few ads during the download, but there is nothing shady going on. The advertised products are 100% optional to install, and nothing is forced upon you as a user. This keeps our service free, as opposed to e.g. computerupdater.com who charge US $49.95/year for theirs.

I'm sorry you didn't find our service helpful, and I genuinely welcome your constructive feedback on improvements we can make to make our service useful for you too.

pwillener

Brainiac

The question is how that software gets installed; it appears as if none of the users here were aware that they had that software on their systems. Nobody seems to have installed it consciously.

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file_org

New Participant

It can be downloaded from our site of course, but we do also distribute it as an additional offer with other software downloads - same way as Google distributes their Chrome web browser with other software, like Real Networks distributes their RealPlayer with other software etc. It is always fully disclosed in the installers though.

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mmazzi

New Participant

Apparently, there is a link between these programs. I googled "file type assistant" and it appears that different companies use this generic program "helper"... one of those companies is file.org by Trusted Software Aps. And, they state on this description page that they do software update checking. They show the popup box like we've been getting in the lower right corner.

http://file.org/app.html

I'm trying to uninstall the "Adobe Reader Free Download Packages" that I listed in my last post. When I click "uninstall" I get the following box and nothing else seems to be happening... can anyone help me out here?

C_F_McBlob

Inspiring

That popup has a box to "remove this manager from Add/Ramove Programs"... Guess what? IF you check that it only takes it out of the list of programs to remove... it DOESN'T remove it.

I'm in the middle of my THIRD Windows 7 install in as many days, because of the V-9 portal browser hijack (I downloaded with other software Monday morning) that doesn't show up in Add/Remove, DOES show up in the registry, but reinstalls itself on reboot, and Antivuris neither detects nor removes it.

Filt Type assistant CAN and should be remoed using Add/Remove. That "free download packages" will have ot be manually done in the registry editor. If you're not 100% comfortable doing that, I'd suggest taking it to a PC repair business. They'll "dig it out" and get rid of it. It'll cost you a pretty penny, but the upsdie is, after this experience, you'll be aLOT more careful what you click.

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mmazzi

New Participant

Here's a screenshot of my pgms. The problem with the spoofing popup started a few weeks ago. I see "Adobe Reader Free Download Packages" was installed on 6/5/13 (about when the problem started). There is no publisher associated. On all other Adobe programs, the publisher is listed as Adobe Systems Incorporated. I, too, have the generic "File Type Assistant" listed as having been installed on October 1, 2012. I have also had the problem of trying to run something and getting the box saying "no program associated"... I don't know if it's connected, but it seems like it. I don't want to uninstall it until I get a response from C F McBlob about the batch program to run that will re-associate the files.

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Test Screen Name

Brainiac

Let's hope that removing the program will fix this, but malware has little interest in being uninstalled and could easily hang on to keep its claws into you.

Personally I'd wipe the computer and reinstall everything I wanted. Actualyl, no I'd go back to the backup just before the infection, but if I had no backup yes, I really would wipe the disk, because I could not now use this computer for anything private or personal, still less shopping.

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astroop77

New Participant

I have also been having this same pop-up and concern. If you look at the first picture MrK4Steamer (#6) posted, you will see that the publisher of file.org is Trusted Software. I, too, wasn't able to find a file.org application, but I was able to find downloaded software (I don't know how it was downloaded) from this publisher. The name of the software that I have is "File Type Assistant". I will insert a screenshot of the prompt to update Adobe reader (bottom right) along with application that I have associated with Trusted Software (highlighted blue). I will remove this software and then repost at a later time to tell whether this solved the problem.

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Anonymous

Good work hunting that down. I have that file also, created on May 4, 2013. Now I wish I knew what the dates were for the AVG and ASK tool bar that I unisnstalled. I also see that I have a program called "Free File Viewer 2012" by Bitberry software, that coincidentally was also installed on May 4, 2013. I do remember installing this, I think I was led to it by Microsoft when I was searching for a program to read a file that I could not read. Whatever, that is suspicious that this file/software that you have found is associated with the update message is also on my computer and was created on the same date that “Free File Viewer” was created/imstalled.

I have not seen any of these File.org. Windows since I got rid of AVG and ASK toolbar. I may uninstall or remove "File Type Assistant". And "Free File Viewer 2012", especially if I have any problem. Also interested to see if you have any more trouble after removing "File Type Assistant".

C_F_McBlob

Inspiring

I can recall removing that File Type Assistant in March. It was a major pain in the posterior. Suddenly, ANY file I tried to open, it would ask me to choose what to open it with, and whatever the default had been was removed from the list, so I had to browse to find it. I uninstalled it and then ran a batch file that reassociates all files with the Windows (OEM) default.

About that time I installed "Iron", a portable (Flash Drive) web browser, which I downloaded from a reputable site (portableapps.com). During the install, it said I needed to reboot, which is odd for a portable, app, since they run without the windows registry, they NEVER need a reboot. I couldn't stop it, and the system restarted. Right after that, Handycafé took over my browsing, wiped Firefox, and Chrome of ALL extensions and bookmarks I had, reset my homepage and search engine preferences, and then this file thing happened. It took me two hours to get rid of it.

I never saw file.org, but I do remember that type assistant. I wouldn't want either on my system. If I didn't specifically install it, it better not be there.

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Test Screen Name

Brainiac

That doesn't sound right AT ALL. Don't follow those links, or download anything from there.

Can you show us a screen shot of the prompt to update Adobe Reader that you get, please?

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Anonymous

Thx for the response! Sure, I can do that, but I'll have to wait unti the prompt to update pops up again, it has been popping up every day for last few days. First the small box appears in the lower right hand corner of my screen saying an update is ready for Adobe reader, and it gives the number of the update version. I click on that, and up comes a large box from file.org that can not be minimized or removed from front and center on the screen, though I can move it around. I can close it, but not minimize it.

How do I do a screen shot and post it here? I will try to do so next time it happens.

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Test Screen Name

Brainiac

Thank you. That does look very like the "real" Adobe Reader pop-up. Can anyone confirm this, I don't have Reader XI to check.

Just a thought: it's easy to assume that, if you have some malware, and it is downloading XX software (an antivirus was mentioned for example) then the makers of XX software are to blame.

Actually, there is a whole class of malware that exists to make money by "click" advertising charges. It's probably well known that some companies encourage people to link to them and pay a fee if there is a successful sale. If you buy a book from a bug company from a link on someone's web site - perhaps the author, perhaps just someone tryng to make money - then the owner of the web site which made the "click" might get 5% of the fee. Even free software download can get "click charge" money. Similar but different are "pay per click" adverts.

So, it's a common and annoying technique for unscrpulous web sites to try and encourage these sorts of links by deception. You are misled, a click happens, money changes hands. Some people go further and create malware to secretly generate these links by the million or billion... all of this serves to blacken the name of the company which was really just hoping to pay for interested people being led to them.

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