Product Review–SmileyCentral (Ask Jeeves, Inc.)
Test run July 21, 2005, default settings on clean install of Windows XP Home, OEM edition. Unpatched, no service packs, antivirus, or blocking software. Hardware firewall was the only security in place.
Version tested: No version number, but copyright date in the license is June 1, 2005. Also known as FunWebProducts.
Summary: Claims not to be adware or spyware, and I saw no indications to indicate that this is anything more than some cute buttons and icons, plus lots of settings changes relating to search functions. The apparent revenue model for the free product is that it directs your searches to AskJeeves.com, where they make money on sponsored ads.
Recommendation, Business systems: Remove–serves no business purpose, has no warranty, and may add to network traffic.
Recommendation, Personal systems: Mostly harmless.
LICENSE
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Under section 2, License conditions–the program phones home for updates:
“We may require the updating of the Software on your computer when we release a new version of the Software, or when we make new features available. This update may occur automatically or through other means and may occur all at once or over multiple sessions.”
INSTALLATION
============
Added to running files:
C:\Program Files\MyWebSearch\bar\1.bin\MWSOEMON.EXE
System settings changes, according to HijackThis:
R3 – URLSearchHook: (no name) – {00A6FAF6-072E-44cf-8957-5838F569A31D} – C:\Program Files\MyWebSearch\SrchAstt\1.bin\MWSSRCAS.DLL
O2 – BHO: MyWebSearch Search Assistant BHO – {00A6FAF1-072E-44cf-8957-5838F569A31D} – C:\Program Files\MyWebSearch\SrchAstt\1.bin\MWSSRCAS.DLL
O2 – BHO: mwsBar BHO – {07B18EA1-A523-4961-B6BB-170DE4475CCA} – C:\Program Files\MyWebSearch\bar\1.bin\MWSBAR.DLL
O4 – HKLM\..\Run: [MyWebSearch Email Plugin] C:\PROGRA~1\MYWEBS~1\bar\1.bin\mwsoemon.exe
O4 – HKCU\..\Run: [MyWebSearch Email Plugin] C:\PROGRA~1\MYWEBS~1\bar\1.bin\mwsoemon.exe
O4 – Startup: MyWebSearch Email Plugin.lnk = C:\Program Files\MyWebSearch\bar\1.bin\MWSOEMON.EXE
O4 – Global Startup: MyWebSearch Email Plugin.lnk = C:\Program Files\MyWebSearch\bar\1.bin\MWSOEMON.EXE
O8 – Extra context menu item: &Search – http://bar.mywebsearch.com/menusearch.html?p=ZNxdm824YYUS
O16 – DPF: {1D4DB7D2-6EC9-47A3-BD87-1E41684E07BB} – http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/nocache/funwebproducts/ei-2/SmileyCentralFWBInitialSetup1.0.0.8-2.cab
UNINSTALL
=========
Listed in Add/Remove programs as “My Web Search (SmileyCentral). Uninstall requires reboot.
These settings were left behind:
O16 – DPF: {1D4DB7D2-6EC9-47A3-BD87-1E41684E07BB} – http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/nocache/funwebproducts/ei-2/SmileyCentralFWBInitialSetup1.0.0.8-2.cab
Left behind read-only folder C:\Program Files\FunWebProducts, containing 2 files, 3 folders. The custom icon selected as a cursor was also left behind.
No shortcuts were left behind.
REINSTALL TEST
==============
No problems. Worked same as the first install. The second uninstall failed at reboot, with a ‘RUNDLL’ error box: “Error loading C:\PROGRA~1\UNINST~1.DLL. The specified module could not be found.” Message did not appear on subsequent reboot.
POST-MORTEM
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Surprise, surprise. There are so many ads for this product that I just expected the worst. But it’s clearly not that. Definitely a lightweight, and some home users may enjoy it.