There seems to be a lot of confusion and speculation about this thing. It apparently is/was a valid program, used by HP and some others to check for updates periodically and to download them automatically. According to the people who make it, some AntiSpyware programs "mistakenly" reported it as spyware, and may have attempted to remove it. A removal attempt may have damaged the files, resulting in the "Security Warning" you're getting.

The statement, at the publishers of the program, Backweb indicates that nearly all AS program publishers now know that it's a real program and no longer try to remove it. If yours was "broken" before that happened, you may want to consider fixing it, rather than just getting rid of it.

One major company that reportedly uses it for updates is F-Secure, so if you've had their AV or other programs installed, it probably needs to be fixed, or you won't stay current. Quite likely, if you're using F-Secure AV, a remove and reinstall of that software should fix the Backweb installation so you won't get the error message.

If you have EVER used an HP printer or scanner, especially one of their "consumer class" el-cheapo ones and/or their multipurpose print/scan/fax etc abominations, that's also possibly where it came from, although I don't know whether this particular program is the one that HP uses for being obnoxious.

Especially for the "consumer class" stuff, HP just assumes that their stuff is the only thing you should have on your computer, and they just barge in and "automate" everything. It's "because you need it."

I've exchanged words with them on the subject, but I don't think they got the message.

The is NO WAY to make an HP "automatic update" program well-mannered, in my experience, and it's really difficult to get one turned off.

My HP Laserjet 1200, and my HP Deskjet 9650 (prints to 13x19") - neither of which is exactly a "consumer class" printer - don't have the problem. The only solution I found for "her" HP1315xi Multipurpose was to remove everything associated with it, lock the HP installation disk in some dark and inaccessible place, and the reinstall the printer from Microsoft default drivers.

The bottom line here is that the program that's giving you the error message IS NOT MALWARE. An AntiSpyware program may have detected that it uses some "deeply embedded functions" and thought it was spyware. An attempt by an AS program to remove it - especially by one that didn't know what it was - probably "broke the program" so that it now behaves like "something malfunctioning."

Not everything that doesn't work is malware. Some of it is HP-ware, Mickey-ware, and even Apple-ware that just happens to not work like it should.

In order to install the Backware update utility, the company that uses it must have a license. A license certificate has to appear in the appropriate file on each user machine. It's the manufacturer that provided it who has to be licensed, but if the file that certifies that the license is good has been deleted or damaged, the program won't run, and you get the error message every time it tries to run.

Check the link above, and also click the "Need more information" at the bottom of that page for some additional info on who uses the program. If you can figure out which program it came with, on your machine, reinstalling that program will probably fix the problem, since your "current and updated AntiMalware programs" aren't likely to mistake it for malware again.

John