WildTangent

WildTangent is an online gaming plugin bundle from Wildtangent.com, containing the WildTangent Web Driver, WildTangent Multiplayer Library, WildTangent Updater and WildTangent GameChannel. WildTangent is downloaded as a standard setup .exe file or installed by an activeX control from the vendor's web site. WildTangent is also bundled with Games from WildTangent and some WinAmp plugins. Some Internet Service providers such as Verizon and Bellsouth install the WildTangent software. Some desktops from HP comes with WildTangent installed. AOL Instant Messenger 5.5 bundled WildTangent Multiplayer Library, Updater and WebDriver without any notice in the End User License Agreement. Later on the AIM license was modified to also mention WildTangent, which you can see in the AIM 5.5.3595 EULA. Symantec support has more information about how WildTangent is installed on the users' system.

WildTangent has an automatic update feature: "The WildTangent Updater, or wcmdmgr.exe, as it is known to your computer system, is our automated support engine; because of the complexity and rapid innovation of cutting-edge 3d hardware these days, we have decided on an automated solution for supporting all the latest hardware out there. The Updater allows your computer to periodically check in with our servers and see if an update is available. If so, it downloads and installs the new version without interrupting your work." Source You can configure WildTangent not to update automatically.

WildTangent use Globally Unique Identifiers (GUIDs) when connecting their servers in order to identify your installation of the software. These GUIDs are not shared with any third parties according to the vendor.

The vendor's write-up about the information WildTangent collects: "We collect certain system configuration information through our software such as your computer's CPU speed, video card configuration, and DirectX version. We use this information to adjust the way our games and other software work in order to ensure their best possible performance. We also collect certain product usage information through our software such as the number of product launches and time spent playing a product.
Our software includes a service that updates the GameChannel menu located in your Start folder with the latest games. Periodically, your computer will connect to our servers to receive the latest product updates. New product availability information or messages are transparently and unobtrusively transferred to your computer in the background, allowing you to review them later when you're off-line. You can access these product updates in the Game Channel folder of your start menu." Source

A presentation from Symantec mentions WildTangent (Swedish).

Classification

Files

wcmdmgr.exe, GameChannel.exe, wtbgmtt.exe, wtdmmp.dll, wtdmmpi.jar, wtdmmpv.dll, wtdmmp.dll, wtdmmpi.jar, wtdmmpv.dll, wcmdmgrl.exe

If you have any of the files related to WildTangent on your system, please send them for additional analysis. Generally, I have only analysed a few versions for each software component listed at this web site. With your help I will be able to look at both old and more recent versions of the WildTangent software. Thank you very much for your time!

Vendor

Detection

Uninstall notice for WildTangent

Notice that removing WildTangent may cause the program that bundled it to not function as intended.

Uninstall procedure

Uninstall WildTangent from "Add/Remove Programs" in the Windows® Control Panel. The vendor is also offering uninstall instructions. If you run into problems uninstalling, please contact the vendor for support. Note that you will not be able to play WildTangent games if you decide to uninstall.

Earlier versions of WildTangent's uninstaller leaved a large number of files in the "%WinDir%\wt\" folder which can be deleted manually after running the uninstaller.
Note: %WinDir% is a variable (?). By default, this is C:\Windows (Windows 95/98/Me/XP) or C:\WINNT (Windows NT/2000).

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Contact information for WildTangent's vendor

In order to provide correct, accurate and updated information about WildTangent I encourage the vendor to contact me if any part of this write-up needs a revision.

Overview