Relax, PTSNOOP is NOT a Virus and never has been.

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Well that's the so called virus experts for ya, rather sound alarms than spend 5 minutes hacking it up to see what it does

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If they just would have named their executable something else, it most likely wouldn't bother anyone... but PTSnoop.exe does sound suspicious. I would have worried about it if I had seen it in my startup group. How about something a little more mundane... like PTmodem.exe... or something to that effect?

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I agree with "newgrl" on Dec 2 entry, as she said "How about something a little more mundane... like PTmodem.exe... or something to that effect?"... that's about it.

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so if ptsnoop.exe started to establish a connection over ppp whould you be worried? unfortunately, I didn't take notes about where it was connecting to and on what port.

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I have this program in my Registry too - and had read that it could be necessary for a modem. BUT, there are plenty of sites around that say Ptsnoop can also be a malicious trojan. How can I find out its real nature (have done a virus scan etc)?

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EVERYONE WHO HAS ANSWERED YOU IS DEAD WRONG AND SHOULD NOT GIVE ADVICE UNLESS THEY ARE 100% SURE. PTSNOOP is NOT a virus, but a backdoor program. A backdoor program gives outsiders access to your computer via the internet. THIS IS NOT A MODEM PROGRAM. USE COMMON SENSE PEOPLE! No one would name a file "SNOOP"! Read the following article for removal instructions: http://www.europe.f-secure.com/v-descs/ptsnoop.shtml

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OK, I was wrong, some modems do install this program. But rather than asking someone on this list, I suggest you contact the company who sold you your computer and/or modem and ask them.

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If i'm using cable internet, is the ptsnoop program even really necessay? I want to try and free up some resources by closing programs runnung in the background.

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The f-secure site mentioned above gives a useful test - copy and open your win.ini file using e.g. notepad, look for the "load=" line below the ptsnoop. This is where a visual basic virus that uses the ptsnoop will have it's sites defined. Remove the text after the =. My line was blank after the =, and my PC has never tried to connect to a site on its own.

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i have seen this ptsnoop.exe on many computers throughout my experience it has never bothered me before ntil today. this was mainly because i saw the ptsnoop in starting up from the Run key in the registry and deleted the entry, but a few days later wen i pressed CTRL-ALT-DEL i saw that it was running and wen i checked the regisstry i saw that it had come back, so i checked on the interent and see that some ppl think its a trojan and some ppl think its a modem program. As far as i can tell the one on my pc is not the virus or trojan but sumthing , it has also never tried to connect to the internet since i run firewall software on my pc which alerts me if any program which has not been given permission tries to connect to the internet, any program that tries to connect or has permission is logged and ptsnoop has never tried, so i dont know wat it is but its not a virus or trojan( this does not mean that the one on your pc isnt so check it out) ps the firewall im running is zonealarm it is free for single users

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Just rename the executable if it worries you. Change the extention or something. As far as I know, this program should never make a TCP/IP connection in or out.

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Wow people... Everybody is an expert!!! Some say it's nothing without a doubt, some say it's a virus or backdoor without a doubt, hell one guy said "DON'T SAY ANYTHING UNLESS YOU KNOW..IT IS A VIRUS (because of the name)" then he posted again to say "I'M not sure!" another person said if you’re so worried take your computer to a repair tech. (he must not have realized that this was a computing tech support message board). Well...I had the same question. What the hell is this ptsnoop? And after reading all the posts here I think I am actually dumber than I was before I came here. Just remember...those who are quick to answer that which they do not know, often times end up with their foot squarely in their mouth!

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I just did a fresh install of a PC. Ptsnoop is an exe file for the PC-Tel modem I have installed. It came up after I installed the drivers off Microsofts update page. I personaly don't know what it does but if it doesn't need to be run then I won't bother with it. Also from what I have seen PTsnoop is also a Trojan. So people here are both right. Here is the info I found on the Trojan... "This non-destructive backdoor program is created in Visual Basic 5.0. It uses the Visual Basic WebBrowser Control to download pages from the Internet. It appears as a PCTEL modem driver program PTSNOOP.exe." Always do your reseach before posting smart remarks on others. It only makes you look like the idiot.

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[windows] ;rem TShoot: load=ptsnoop.exe ;rem TShoot: run= NullPort=None load=ptsnoop.exe ;rem TShoot: run=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\cmmpu.exe run= device=Canon Bubble-Jet BJC-210,CAN800B,LPT1: That is the only reference to ptsnoop.exe in my win.ini file... so it seems as if it has to do with my printer...

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my pctel modem driver uses the files ptsnoop.exe and pctptt.exe, and both of these come up in the startup. big deal.

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Well... The Properties - Version menu claims that the program is made by PCTel. So either they wrote it into the program to keep people from knowing (makes sense) or it's just what everyone here seems to think it is... A modem related program

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I too have found the PTSnoop on my computer. I know for a fact it is not a virus on my system since I reformated my entire HD and the file kept resurfacing. I also happen to have an Archos jukebox that had problems transfering files through the USB port. I used msconfig to disable PTsnoop from loading on start-up. Not only has my computer performace not been harmed, but the USB transfers are improved. Hope this helps.

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I don't have a question about PTSNOOP, but thought I could throw something else out there. Does anyone know how to connect a printer, that's locally connected w/USB, on a network?

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Much like Sasha's response (Response #21), It's in my win.ini file, and it seems to have something to do with my printer: [windows] load=ptsnoop.exe run= NullPort=None device=EPSON Stylus COLOR 740,EPIJNL20,EPUSB1: Has anyone noticed problems with their computers, such as excessive crashes? Does this program hog a lot of memory as a TSR (terminate and stay resident)?

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I just renamed ptsnoop.exe to ptsnoop.xyz, no problems so far, and it doesn't load up on startup anymore. Modem still works...

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right click on ptsnoop.exe and click on quick view it will open up a screen and all the information on PCTEL will be inside IF it is the modem program. im too busy to read all the resonses so if this has been stated already then sorry and disregard

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Tech Support Gurru tip of the day....rename all occurance's of ptsnoop.exe. Have problems...rename it back. No problems...then you don't need the files. This is one of the handiest troubleshooting tricks you will ever use. ALWAYS HAVE A BOOT DISK HANDY. If you know DOS...all is good.

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http://www.echelonwatch.org

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I was curious about ptsnoop on my computer so I deleted ptsnoop.exe and tried to sign on......my modem would not inneciate. Restored ptsnoop and batta bing batta boom I'm replying to this thread.

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Gotcha all beat. I have two "ptsnoop.exe's" running. One seems to be the PCTel driver (msinfo32 sez PCTel supplied it), and the other is Karen Kenworthy's Snoop, which is a neat and handy little utility I got from her site http://www.karenware.com/ There could be a virus out there, but I don't worry about it.

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JB Todd and Sasha: Win.ini is the Windows Initialization file. This is the file that tells Windows what your settings are. Naturally, it would have your printer configuration in this file. Not to be ugly, but believe the well-respected people of this board. I've learned that and now I am pretty well respected on Computing.net. PCjabber

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I hate PTSNOOP.exe All I know about it is as follows - - Yesterday, for no apparent reason, my computer kept resetting its home page to a DISGUSTING website and its numerous related pop-ups. After hours of trying different things I noticed a new line in the startup process that read, 'load=ptsnoop.exe' I unchecked that instruction and BINGO - my computer doesnt reset its homepage any more. Then I noticed that i have 2 versions of ptsnoop.exe on my machine - i 'quickviewed' them and they seem to be 2 quite different files - - - so my conclusion is that one of them is the dreaded backdoor file. This file has caused me 24hours of confusion and frustration - it's a b********d.

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The file "ptsnoop.exe" is a file used by PCTel modems. If you delete it, it can reinstall itself the next time you reboot. For more info, visit Symantec's website www.sarc.com and do a search for ptsnoop.

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Hello guys. I just reinstal my modem driver. It has PcTel chip in it. But i cant find this ptsnoop.exe file and my modem doesnt work. Can any one tell me where to get this file from. I dont want any viruses. Thanks

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