IT Security: Relevant Knowledge Spyware / Adware

Relevant Knowledge is classified as spyware or adware by some of the anti-virus software vendors, e.g. Symantec, McAfee, CA, BitDefender, F-Secure and some others. Detections: Spyware.Marketscore, Proxy-OSS, Adware.Relevant.0961. Relevant Knowledge monitors browsing habits and purchasing activities. The data collected is sent to the creator of the application or third-parties. It displays surveys in a pop-up window. Relevant Knowledge uses Internet connection in the background without a user's knowledge and in some cases may even affect Internet connection speed because your Internet connections will go through its own proxy. RelevantKnowledge is bundled in many freeware and commercial applications and it is introduced to a user when those commercial or free products are installed. It could be Windows screensavers, themes, games, etc. That's why you should read user agreement very carefully before installing such applications; otherwise you may install Relevant Knowledge or similar spyware/adware without even realizing it. If you recently noticed a Relevant Knowledge icon on your computer task bar which is a gray circle with lines running through it like latitude and longitude lines on a rounded surface and rlvknlg.exe in your process list then your computer is infected with Relevant Knowledge. To remove it from your computer, please follow the removal instructions below.

1. First of all, download recommended anti-malware software and run a full system scan. It will detect and remove this infection from your computer. You may then follow the manual removal instructions below to remove the leftover traces of this browser hijacker. Hopefully you won't have to do that.
2. As this infection is known to be installed by vulnerabilities in out-dated and insecure programs, it is strongly suggested that you use an automatic software update tool to scan for vulnerable programs on your computer.
3. Go to the Start Menu. Select Control Panel → Add/Remove Programs.
If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, select Control Panel → Uninstall a Program.
4. Search for Relevant Knowledge in the list. Click Uninstall up near the top of the window.
5. Restart your computer. Relevant Knowledge should be gone. If it's still on your computer, please end RelevantKnowledge's process using Task Manager (rlvknlg.exe) and delete files from C:\Program Files\RelevantKnowledge\ folder manually.

* Note:
Associated Relevant Knowledge files and registry values:
<< Files >>
C:\Program Files\RelevantKnowledge\nscf.dat
C:\Program Files\RelevantKnowledge\rlls64.dll
C:\Program Files\RelevantKnowledge\rlls.dll
C:\Program Files\RelevantKnowledge\rloci.bin
C:\Program Files\RelevantKnowledge\rlservice.exe
C:\Program Files\RelevantKnowledge\rlvknlg64.exe
C:\Program Files\RelevantKnowledge\rlvknlg.exe

<< Registry values >>
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Start Menu\Programs\RelevantKnowledge
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "RelevantKnowledge"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce "OSSProxy" rlvknlg.exe
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\MUICache Data "RelevantKnowledge"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{d08d9f98-1c78-4704-87e6-368b0023d831}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\AuthorizedApplications\List "c:\program files\relevantknowledge\rlvknlg.exe:*:Enabled:rlvknlg.exe"