NowBox is a system tray task that runs constantly with Windows. It downloads advertising to be shown if you click on its icon.

Distribution

Known to be bundled with recent versions of the BearShare file-sharing software.

Advertising

Yes. The software polls the servers at vflash.com every minute when an internet connection is present. When there is new advertising to be shown it downloads it and causes the icon to flash (under Windows XP this may be hidden).

Privacy violation

None known.

Security issues

None known.

Stability problems

None known.

Removal

There should be an entry for NowBox in Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. When prompted whether to delete the 'shared' SystemTrayUser DLL you say say 'yes'.

Ad-Aware reflist 032-23.06.02 and Common anti-spyware titles update 21.06 can also remove NowBox.