Resolved Can't Get Rid of iYogi

A friend tried to renew his Kaspersky AV, which he was quite happy with. When he called the support phone number on the Kaspersky site, the number took him to iYogi, a "partner" of Kaspersky who is supposed to help with support issues and - after providing assistance - they may offer their "protection and maintenance" package for a price.

My friend received no assistance on his Kaspersy issue. The iYogi tech immediately installed the iYogi dock, took over my friends computer and "cleaned" it of numerous problems, uninstalled my friend's Kaspersky AV, and installed their recommended AV program, which just happened to be Microsoft Security Essentials. They also uninstalled Malwarebytes which I had just installed a few weeks prior.

This scam was reported by Krebsonsecurity blog in 2012 and as a result, Avast severed their sweetheart arrangement with iYogi. Apparently, Kaspersky has not done so yet.

I tried to uninstall the iYogi dock and related tools via Control Panel. Could not do so. I downloaded and installed CCleaner and tried to uninstall it there with the same result.

Is there a quick and easy way to get rid of iYogi or should I go on over to Malware Removal and let Broni fix it for us?

Added: The unit is a Dell 15 Inspiron running Windows 7.

 

Hi Robert, Have a look at this and scroll down the page to see "Should I remove it ".
http://www.shouldiremoveit.com/iYogi-Support-Dock-22995-program.aspx
Did you find any reference to iYogi in Control Panel?
I haven't had your problem but usually the Software will show in Control Panel where you can uninstall it. Neil.

 

Thanks for the link. I think I saw that one when I was "Googling" the issue.

The iYogi dock is shown in the list of programs in the Control Panel. When I tried to uninstall, it listed about 6 ancillary tools such as PCOptimizer, etc and asked if wanted to uninstall them as well. When I agreed and clicked continue, I got a message that said some of the items were running and I couldn't uninstall as long as they were running. I went to Task Manager and closed everything related to iYogi that was running. Got the same message when I went back to the uninstall screen.

When I tried to uninstall using CCleaner - same result.

 

Evan,

Thanks. I won't be able to get to the computer til tomorrow. Will let you know how it goes.

 

Evan. Unless you use the PAID version of Revo, it doesn't work like the FREE version on a 64 bit system. I use the FREE on a 64 bit and have had no problems with it.

The FREE version will not uninstall 64 bit versions of a program but will work fine on 32 bit versions.

At least that is my understanding.

 

Evan, Like said I have to. But Revo claims that it doesn't work properly.

Look at their page and see the difference between the regular and the pro.
http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

 

Try JRT and Malwarebytes Anti Malware. They may not remove it but would deactivate it.

 

Won't have access to the unit til later today but I plan go give Revo a try and if no to then I will give JRT a try. I downloaded and ran Malwarebytes yesterday afternoon and it didn't do the trick. If the two above don't work, I will start a new thread in Malware Removal. Thanks for all the input.

 

I was able to uninstall the iYogi dock using the Revo Uninstaller. However, I saw something called Tech Genie still lurking - not shown as an installed program or listed in CCleaner's Uninstall list. I will give the computer a couple of days and see if it stays - if so I will try Malwarebytes and JRT. Thanks for all the help. If nothing pops up in the next couple of days I will mark this one "Resolved ".

I'm still a bit puzzled as to why reputable? companies would post this company's phone number on their website and lead people to believe they were calling their own tech support.

 

Wonder where he got the phone number from. A link would be nice to see if it is really Kaspersky or a second party that he got to.

 

A statement in 2012 by Dave Mello, VP of support and services for Kaspersky Lab's North America division, said, in part:

iYogi has purchased key search-engine terms, which causes their links to display prominently in search-engine queries for Kaspersky Lab support. ... Kaspersky Lab has never engaged in any sort of formal business relationship with iYogi ... "

 

Thanks to all. I looked at the unit again today and couldn't find any suspicious looking items. If anything comes back, I will probably impose on Broni.