Security Essentials detects mIRC as Adware:Win32/OpenCandy
mIRC Adware:Win32/OpenCandy
Today as soon as I downloaded mIRC, Security Essentials popped up alerting me of Adware:Win32/OpenCandy. I thought it might have been scanning in the background and detected something coincidently, but looks like it detected mIRC as Adware:Win32/OpenCandy!
I am a long time mIRC user and am very much aware about the script support by the software and how else the IRC chat client can be used for malicious purposes. I trust mIRC, and the risk level was shown as medium, so I allowed it in Security Essentials.
There is an official explanation about this whole thing on mIRC website www.mirc.com.
I went ahead with the installation expecting to see an 'offer' to install something, but didn't see anything. It got installed as usual. Maybe I'll be asked to open the candy when the trial ends 😀
References
Details about OpenCandy at mirc.com
Microsoft Malware Protection Center
Your post was one of the top Google search results for this. I do not use mIRC and MSE just found this on my PC.
I haven’t seen malware on a computer of mine in over a decade. I am going to be curious to figure out where I picked this up from. I haven’t been on IRC since #warez, so it’s definitely not an intentional mIRC download.
Hi David, I am sure it came bundled with something else? Maybe WinAmp or something?
MSE v2 also flags Adware:Win32/OpenCandy when downloading System Information for Windows (SIW) by Gabriel Topala (downloaded from download.com).
Research shows that Open Candy may not be a part of what you are installing, but it may offer to install something additional.
And indeed, when installing SIW, I was offered to install RealPlayer.
No biggie.