Ever Heard of ByteFence?

[Smith83]

hxxps://xxx.bytefence.com/

Just ran across it on a computer I was repairing, I took it off without even question. Just wandering if you guys have heard of it.??

 

[Exterminator]

hxxps://xxx.bytefence.com/

Just ran across it on a computer I was repairing, I took it off without even question. Just wandering if you guys have heard of it.??

Probably got on there bundled with something else
It is a legitimate Anti Malware program but is many times bundled with other software and usually some specific removal instructions are needed if you didn't download and install it from the official website.In this manner (PUP) it can change homepage and default browser.
See ByteFence Redirect
Remove ByteFence Search (Virus Removal Guide)

 

[Smith83]

Thanks, I was wandering if anyone here actually used it? Any how I removed it for the person and installed unchecky for them since I figured it came bundled.

 

[Jack]

Hey @Smith83,
ByteFence Anti-Malware, as far as I can tell, it's just a re-branded copy of Reason Core Security, so it's not malicious. It will perform the same as Reason Core Security, so this review from BleepingComputer - [Product Review] Reason Core Security - Anti-Virus, Anti-Malware, and Privacy Software - should apply to ByteFence.

 

[Smith83]

@Jack Thanks for answering my question. I figured it was a legit program and was asking if someone here had experience with it. Thanks again for answering.

 

[Deleted Member 333v73x]

This is what I found, it 'claims' to be Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.:

 

[Jack]

This is what I found, it 'claims' to be Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.:
View attachment 85773

Don't know why are you getting that Malwarebytes note. However looking at the files within the ByteFence folder, I can see that they are using Reason Core engine..

Update:

 

[Deleted Member 333v73x]

@Jack The picture I uploaded was from their website, it seems really strange the first picture on their website says for real-time protection: 'Available with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium' and when you run a scan with it, the scanning process is almost identical to Malwarebytes, but as you said it uses Reason Core Security's engine, that is really confusing and strange .

 

[siriuscat]

Greetings,all. I registered just to chime in on this one.

I found it bundled with Format Factory which I was updating and although I "never" fall for bundled stuff, I did this time - after all, FF is awesome and I confused "awesome" with "reputable". BF did some weird things including removing my perfectly innocuous Firefox extension, OmniSidebar.

Adding insult to injury: Because I use Software Organizer, removing BF required removing Format Factory again.

I consider BF a POS and will stick with MalwareBytes.

 

[KlausW]

I'm using ResonCore on a daily basis alongside with other AVs. Tried the trial and then felt the difference when it expired. It gets most of the crapware out (which i tend to get a lot due to my job). I think they are doing a decent job in terms or detection and removal rate. And as a bonus - lots of cool info on their FB page and the blog (i do have a thing for online security pieces

 

[Tani]

Never heard of it, may be it is infamous that's why they are spreading their software this way.

 

[DJ Panda]

I personally wouldn't trust knock off software.. You don't know what's bundled inside the program itself...

 

[bordertide]

hxxps://xxx.bytefence.com/

Just ran across it on a computer I was repairing, I took it off without even question. Just wandering if you guys have heard of it.??

ByteFence is malicious if you don't buy it. It is a Trojan carrier and will bombard you with malware and pop ups and slow your system down to a crawl - keep ignoring it and you'll get blue screened. The Delaware police are aware of these crooks and anyone having problems with this ought to fill out an online complaint form. ByteFence is owned by Byte Technologies at a mail address in Delaware and not to be confused with Byte Technological who are legitimate and have representation worldwide; they too are very annoyed by the thieves running this scam.

 

[Nicky232807]

So my Dell windows 10 is less than a Year old my son downloaded a ton of games on it and it became slow ..I deleted a ton of viruses on it.and did a complete factory restore. Then got my kids their own Dell.. so I BARELY use mine and when I do it's very little things a few months ago bytefence popped up and continued to pop up CONSTANTLY.. I kept clicking out of it. My super fast computer became increasingly slower and slower to the point I stopped using it till I had a chance to uninstall whatever the problem is..didn't find much a few unwanted "antivirus" programs and finally uninstalling Bytefence...this just took almost ten mins and deleted hundreds of files... wtf...

 

[Nicky232807]

It's telling me the picture is too large to uoload let me keep trying

 

[rterrell]

Hello, I'm a new member and glad to be a part of this group. I also found my way here because of bytefence. Anyone who's been working with a computer for many years has had run-ins with malware - the worst when I lost my entire OS from a bad active-x trojan horse Anyway, I finally gave in to the "promptings" FB to install Messenger. Big mistake.The next morning when I logged into my Windows 10 computer, BYTEFENCE had a big a** screen size display right in my monitor face telling me I had 30+ malwares that needed to be removed. And of course I had to BUY bytefence to get that done!! One of the "malwares," on its list - I don't remember which, I happened to know was bogus (I mean I knew it was not on my computer). So I was convinced byteware is mal itself.

Well, I clicked off bytefence's tab, but it kept popping up on its own. Today, I uninstalled it, and it still tried to come back during the deinstall - hoping I might send money, I guess.

I don't see any trace of it now, but I'm going to be looking for some malware programs to hunt down anything it might have left hiding somewhere. It behaved just like malware imho. Now I plan to dump Messenger, too!

 

[roger_m]

ByteFence is malicious if you don't buy it. It is a Trojan carrier and will bombard you with malware and pop ups and slow your system down to a crawl - keep ignoring it and you'll get blue screened. The Delaware police are aware of these crooks and anyone having problems with this ought to fill out an online complaint form. ByteFence is owned by Byte Technologies at a mail address in Delaware and not to be confused with Byte Technological who are legitimate and have representation worldwide; they too are very annoyed by the thieves running this scam.

That is not true. I used the trial version for a number of months, and there is nothing malicious about it. While it's safe, Reason Core Security of which it is a rebrand is a much better choice as is has a free version which can remove anything it finds, whereas ByteFence only has a lmited trial which will scan for but not remove threats.

 

[jlsilicon]

Actually, it is MALICIOUS. Suggest removing it Immediately.

Apparently, I found it Installed with a Download of a Video Compression Utility that I downloaded (AnyVideo - I believe) a few weeks ago.
I started looking when I saw that FireFox was running at about 250M instead of the normal 130M Task RAM - (dropped to 130M again after removal). It was also executing ConHost.exe every second or 2 repeatedly - apparently it spies on You and your Pc / Internet etc.
No Program should be doing this. Don't know why anybody would advise anything else.
(I have done past AntiVirus work.)

Simple Removal :
1) Kill ByteFence.exe in TaskManager.
2) Delete ALL files (that you can) in the C:\Program Files\ByteFence\ directory.
3) Rename remaining few files with .dead on ending (file.dead , etc).
4) Restart Computer.
5) Delete C:\Program Files\ByteFence\ directory now.

 

[509322]

ByteFence is earning a bad reputation because it is being incorporated into Install Monsters that download and install a bunch of different software - such as COMODO Geek Buddy, Webroot System Analyzer, PC Medik, etc. The exact reason why malc0ders are including it in their Install Monsters isn't clear, but it almost certainly has something to do earning cash.

Inspection of the ByteFence executables themselves show as clean.

 

[CmorDusMor]

From what I can tell, I downloaded a program that included ByteFence a few days ago, without downloading it directly. As such i decided to look it up, and found this. I scanned ByteFence with Avast Antivirus, and it seemed fine. I deleted it anyway just to be precocious, but really I just want to say
Thanks.
Delete ByteFence to all who have it using the steps provided by 'jlsilicon' because more often than not, ByteFence is most likely up to no good. I'm no administrator, but I'd consider this thread closed.