Pokki - Stay away from it

Winchester

In the kitchen with my cookies
Thread starter
Veteran
Joined
Aug 28, 2009
Messages
29,730
Purraise
28,024
Location
In the kitchen
Pokki is advertised as a Windows-based shell with a start menu. Lots of free apps. Lots of games. It's the best thing since sliced bread.

Not. What it is is a very invasive piece of software that acts just like a virus. It gradually takes over your computer.

I have a Toshiba laptop that I'm running Win 8.1. Every once in a while I get downloads from the Toshiba Service Station to help make the laptop run better, have better security. When this one came in this afternoon talking about security problems, I thought maybe I'd better download and install it. What a mistake. 

It had Pokki as part of the download. And suddenly, there it was, out of the blue. And suddenly, I lost my wireless mouse. I knew this wasn't good. It took me a good two hours, but it's finally gone. Lord, I was every where in that computer. All over the Registry, I was in all the hidden files and folders and well, I was all over the place. As fast as I'd delete it, it would come back. It's not as simple as uninstalling a program. Nope. Not at all. It has a bunch of different programs, all bundled in with it, and you need to get rid of all of it. Everything. Or it just keeps coming back, every time you restart the computer. I had to go into Chrome and kill the extension there. And I finally reset Chrome to default. Every darn time I would reboot, it would come back. I was beside myself. Kaspersky didn't catch it, but my understanding is that it acts like a shell for Windows, so maybe that's why. I downloaded and ran Malwarebytes and that got rid of a lot of the files. But not all of them.

The interesting thing is that during the time I was dealing with this, I got a phone call from somebody (the usual male suspect with an accent) who said that he knew I was having some computer problems and he could help me. I told him I had a Mac and that I wasn't having any trouble at all. And then, after mouthing off a bunch of 
 epithets, I hung up on him. Now, I know it was just a coincidence. He didn't say he was from Microsoft; he didn't say he was from Windows. Very unnerving. Rick didn't know what the heck to think.

I have finally re-started my laptop now for the fourth time without finding Pokki. Did a search for Pokki. And came up with nothing. Finally. And once I got the laptop to reboot without Pokki, I regained my mouse, too. Ran a scan with Kaspersky and then ran another scan with Malwarebytes again. Neither program caught anything at all.

The thing is, from what I've been reading about it, people either like it or they hate it. Some think it's absolutely wonderful; others feel that it's very invasive and that it will gradually work its way through the system, taking over the task bar, taking over your browsing habits, giving you a ton of ads, all kinds of stuff. I just wanted it gone. Period. People are calling it a virus, at the least, it's a form of adware. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is be careful. I'm not amused at all that I got this from Toshiba. In an important security update. That's simply unfathomable to me. I doubt I will ever install another Toshiba update at all.
 
Last edited:

gunblade

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Jul 26, 2015
Messages
49
Purraise
5
Hi,

it seems you know your way around a computer so thats good. It comes from experience that we learn what is good/bad. We all probably have been in your shoes or will be eventually. I'm glad you got your virus under control. The only things that I install on my computer are games from their main developer sites, windows updates and drivers (when required) from their sites. Always choose advance install and hunt for misc programs that are installed by default.

Java is a great example. Even though we often require to install it, the main site installer comes with yahoo toolbar if you select the default install. I've seen other downloads that have multiple Agree or Disagree windows that if you don't stop to read installs multiple programs you don't want.

Again experience is the main antidote. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If you needed it, choose advance and read it.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

Winchester

In the kitchen with my cookies
Thread starter
Veteran
Joined
Aug 28, 2009
Messages
29,730
Purraise
28,024
Location
In the kitchen
In this case, Pokki was part of a security update that Toshiba really felt was important. It didn't say that Pokki was part of it or honestly? I wouldn't have installed the update. I believe that if there's an important "security" update, then other software shouldn't be involved. In this case, I had no idea. I read what the update was about (I always read the updates; I never just say, "Yeah, OK, just do it."), The purpose was to fix some security issues, etc. At no time, did it even mention Pokki or shell or start menu or My Apps Store or anything like it. It wasn't until the update had installed that the Pokki icon appeared on my taskbar and, at that point, I also lost control of the mouse. Why that would kill the mouse is beyond me. 

I truly feel that Toshiba had no right whatsoever to include something like this is any update, but to include it in an "important security update" is beyond comprehension. And, as you can tell, I'm still frustrated about it. From what I've been reading now, Pokki is part of Toshiba, Lenovo, Acer, HP, and some of the other computer brands. 

And it depends on what you read. Like I said before, some people think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Others? Not so much. Me? No way.
 
Last edited:

mollyblue

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
803
Purraise
168
I'm very bad about not reading my install agreements... and lucky this did not happen to me.  I am not that great with computers and I probably would have been getting a new laptop!
 
Top