I’ve seen this piece of spyware a few times on client machines and its easy to remove with most spyware apps now. Whats interesting is what the company actually uses it for. A good read:
WARNING: Sometimes when you remove this spyware, it can take your Winsock components with it, essentially disabling your network access. If that happens, use this tool to fix it:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/WinSock_XP_Fix_d4372.html
EDIT: Alternativly you can use functionality introduced by SP2 –
Windows XP Service Pack 2 – New Winsock NETSH commands
Two new Netsh commands are available in Windows XP Service Pack 2.
netsh winsock reset catalog
This command resets the Winsock catalog to the default configuration. This can be useful if a malformed LSP is installed that results in loss of network connectivity. While use of this command can restore network connectivity, it should be used with care because any previously-installed LSPs will need to be re-installed.
netsh winsock show catalog
This command displays the list of Winsock LSPs that are installed on the computer.
To output the results to a file type this in Command Prompt (CMD.EXE) netsh winsock show catalog >C:lsp.txt Click to view the sample file now – lsp.txt |