Corel PaintShop Pro Malware
When you install Corel PaintShop Pro X2 (version 12) you get an extra service that you’re not told about — ProtexisLicensing.
It’s alleged to be spyware that monitors your system and reports back to the software vendor.
Removing it is simple:
- Use the service manager GUI to stop it and set it to disabled (that’s probably enough, but not for me).
- Open a command prompt (with elevated priviledges on Vista, Win7, or Server2008) and type “sc delete protexislicensing”
- Now delete the file “C:\Windows\SysWOW64\PSIService.exe”
For your convenience I’ve included the command to do all these tasts below; simply put them into a batch file and run it (withe elevated priviledges) or copy paste execute each line in a command window.
Odd that I haven’t seen federal charges against Corel for cyber terrorism — they certainly didn’t have my permission to install any type of monitoring software on my machine (and that’s probably true of all their paying customers).
I certainly don’t feel that companies that take actions like this are on any higher moral or legal ground than software pirates — while perhaps not as devious as the root kits many software suppliers installed, it is every bit as invasive.
Join me in boycotting Corel (and any other company that violates the trust of it’s customers)… as a former first lady once said:
Just Say NO!
- Nancy Reagan
——
disable_corel_spyware.bat
sc stop protexislicensing
sc config protexislicensing start= disabled
sc delete protexislicensing
del “%windir%\SysWOW64\PSIService.exe”
You can also download a “fancy” batch file to do the job from my server as a batch file in a 7zip archive disable_corel_spyware.
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