New spyware that uninstalls 'Adaware'

spywareinfo.com ^

[damnlimey]

April 22, 2002

URGENT WARNING!!

Users of Lavasoft's Adaware and developers of anti-spyware software need to be made aware of a shocking new development.

There is a software media player being distributed which searches for and removes Adaware if it is installed. Radlight media player has been tested by several testers and by the Adaware developer himself. Radlight, which bundles with the spyware application "Savenow" and with New.Net software, makes repeated searches for the installation of Adaware and removes it if found

click for article

[damnlimey]

Apparently Adaware has a new reference file up already.
The spyware war heats up.

[martin_fierro]

Here's another useful site that performs a service similar to Adaware:

http://catchup.cnet.com/

Click on the "adware scan" link. This site will also analyze what software releases you have and recommend updates.

[billbears]

bump for evening download

[Bikers4Bush]

Bump, same here.

[jgrubbs]

I just installed Ad-Aware then installed this Radlight. Radlight told me it was going to uninstall Ad-Aware when I installed it, but it didn't. I ran Ad-Aware and it uninstalled Radlight.

[damnlimey]

If you just downloaded Adaware today it probably comes with the new reference file already installed .
Therefore Adaware would see Radlight and nuke it.
If this isn't the case then the terrorists have already won ; ^)

[LibWhacker]

If you just downloaded Adaware today it probably comes with the new reference file already installed .

LavaSoft just released a new version of Ad-aware a couple of weeks ago (that I haven't gotten around to downloading yet). So the reference file distributed with it is probably not that old. But when I first installed Ad-aware on my computer, the reference file distributed with the software was nearly six months old. Anyone downloading Ad-aware for the first time is still well-advised to download the latest reference file seperately and update it regularly. An updated ref file is released about once a week.

I hate scumware. It drives me up the wall. I get a couple of hundred modifications of my registry every week. Gator is the worst. I can't imagine how screwed up someone's registry must be who has been surfing the net for years and never taken any steps to block these scumware registry keys. They would have thousands and thousands of them choking up their registry, far more than the number of legitimate keys. Talk about slowing down your system . . .

I wish to hell Billy Gates would get off his ass and allow his customers to disable ALL modifications of the registry at the operating system level.

Thanks for posting this.

[weegee]

I would call this a virus since it is designed to disable software I have legally installed on my computer. So much for consumer protection.

[weegee]

In this instance, it sounds like the media player software program that some people may try to install is spyware that would like to "write home" about your surfing habits. It is a bit over competetive of them to remove your program that conflicts with this. The user should be informed of that the media player will not install with programs designed to stop outside monitoring of your computer (and they should fess up that is what they are doing). The install program should halt with a message explaining why rather than seeking its own remedy to the situation.

I do fear new spyware that does what it can to block Ad-Aware though.