Yahoo Assistant, formerly named3721 Internet Assistant, is aBrowser Helper Object forInternet Explorer developed by Beijing 3721 Technology Co. Ltd, and was renamed to Yahoo Assistant after Beijing 3721 Technology was acquired byYahoo.
3721 Internet Assistant, together with3721 Chinese Keywords, are known asSpyware byMicrosoft AntiSpyware, andmalware orbrowser hijacker by some others, such asPanda Antivirus. However, Yahoo China filed a lawsuit against Beijing Sanjiwuxian Internet Technology Co. Ltd, the developer of the 360Safeantispyware for identifying Yahoo Assistant asmalware in 360Safe.[1]
3721 Internet Assistant was originally released as a normal client-server application. However, it turned to useActiveX technology to install itself on a client system later and was also shipped with many sharewares as default install options.3721 Internet Assistant was also blamed for its use of a flaw in Microsoft Internet Explorer to install itself automatically when a user is browsing an array of 3721 sponsored personal and commercial websites with Microsoft Internet Explorer. Yahoo! Assistant is also included in 3721 Chinese Keywords andYahoo! Mail Express, but sometimes the whole package of Internet Assistant, Chinese Keywords and Mail Express is named "Yahoo Assistant" in some sharewares. The company says the automatic installation ended in September 2005 and now asks user's permission before installing,[2] however,CA Inc. reported that during Yahoo! Assistant installation, extra components are installed without obtaining user's consent.[3]
This software is also bundled with the Chinese client of theCGA Gaming platformArchived 2006-10-21 at theWayback Machine.
3721 claims3721 Internet Assistant includes many useful features, such as IE setting repair, security shield, removal of internet history information and blocking ads. However, it installs various windows hooks that will slow down the system, and tries to install the hooks repeatedly. Some users also reported that Internet Assistant buttons reappeared immediately after their manual removal using Internet Explorer customization features, andBlue Screen of Death appeared when using Internet Assistant.
3721 Internet Assistant will enable/disable other Internet Explorer extensions, except the advertisement links and extensions installed by Yahoo products.
3721 Internet Assistant runs under multiplerundll32.exe processes. If one of them is killed inWindows Task Manager, it will immediately be restarted by others, thereby resisting efforts by a user to terminate the application.
Adriver namedCnsMinKP.sys is installed with3721 Internet Assistant, along with several hiddenWindows services.
After uninstallation, several files are left on the system, but they are not visible inWindows Explorer. They can be found by using tools such asTotal Commander or in the DOS box.
Yahoo Assistant also removes 360Safe, anantispyware program of a competitor, without notifying the user.[4] On August 15, 2007, a Beijing court ruled this behavior asunfair competition.
3721 Internet Assistant, together with3721 Chinese Keywords, according toInterfax, are regarded by Chinese internet users as "Hooligan" or "Zombie" applications. The uninstall program of the pair provided by 3721 simply redirects users to the 3721 website (in Simplified Chinese thus not recognizable except by Chinese speakers), and the default option of the web page is to keep3721 Internet Assistant after the uninstallation. After following the web uninstallation wizard and a reboot, many 3721 files will still remain on the client system. The pair were ranked #1 byBeijing Association of Online Media in its list of ChineseMalware at 2005.
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