Posted on 05/31/2005 6:41:03 PM PDT by El Conservador
The next time you run a scan with your anti-spyware tool, it might miss some programs. Several anti-spyware firms, including Aluria, Lavasoft, and PestPatrol, have quietly stopped detecting adware from companies like Claria and WhenU--a process called delisting. Those adware companies have been petitioning anti-spyware firms to delist their software; other companies have resorted to sending cease-and-desist letters that threaten legal action.
In most cases it's difficult for customers to determine whether their anti-spyware tool has delisted anything and, if so, which adware it skips.
"When a spyware program gets delisted, users won't be aware of its presence," says Harvard law student and spyware researcher Ben Edelman. The practice, he says, "offers spyware makers a new lease on life, letting them keep users who otherwise would have removed their software."
Degrees of Spyware
Of course, some spyware apps are worse than others. One spyware program may make severe changes to your computer's settings, while another merely displays ads.
Claria and WhenU are making the case that their adware programs don't resort to illegal tactics, such as exploiting security holes, to install themselves. And though this software can be annoying, adware developers argue that merely being listed in an anti-spyware scanner's database tarnishes a company's reputation by linking its relatively benign adware application with far more harmful and intrusive spyware programs.
According to Avi Naider of WhenU, though some other adware companies will track your Web meanderings and sell that data, WhenU's privacy policy doesn't permit it to track the search queries that users type or the Web pages that they browse.
Each anti-spyware firm uses its own set of criteria to decide whether to remove or detect a file or Registry key related to spyware. Usually even a few bad behaviors suffice to red-tag a file as spyware or adware.
Peter Mackow of PCTools, maker of the Spyware Doctor anti-spyware program, says that his company won't publish the entire list of its criteria for fear that spyware companies will use the information to design a spyware application that skirts every rule. That is a position shared by many others who fight spyware.
"The spyware guys want a really rigid set of rules defining spyware so they can then make an end run around [all of them]," says Eric L. Howes, who tracks the spyware business for Spywarewarrior.com and consults for anti-spyware software companies.
Experts recommend that you employ two--or even three--anti-spyware tools. The more you use, the likelier they are to counter the individual biases of each anti-spyware company.
To Delist or Not
It's unfair to permanently blacklist a company based on its past behavior, so some delisting is inevitable. But delisting an adware application is a dangerous proposition for anti-spyware developers. In the past, some spyware and adware makers have changed their software enough to get delisted only to resume the activity that got them flagged in the first place.
As a result, the anti-spyware industry has developed a thick skin. Delisting is rare because, Edelman says, anti-spyware firms "stand up to strongly worded demand letters."
Adware companies also decry the word spyware itself as inherently negative, so some anti-spyware firms have tried to create terms that mean essentially the same thing, using more-neutral language: grayware, potentially unwanted programs, or potentially unwanted software. But Webroot's CEO David Moll argues that matters could get more confusing if the anti-spyware companies try to refer to spyware by other names, just when many people are beginning to understand what spyware can do.
Seems to me that something you install on purpose isn't spyware. Especially if it does no harm.
By that definition, Realplayer and Quicktime are also spyware. I hate them, but they're not spyware.
Heh... yeah - seems to me. I like Weatherbug... I get one popup from it when I click it to get forecasts... but it's the only popup I ever get, I use Google's popup blocker and get by OK otherwise.
I like the current temp thingy and the click to get the forecasts. I also like the severe weather alert warnings that come out on it.
I have MS's Antispyware tool running, but it's never found more than two or three items ever. I've just not ever had trouble with spyware, 'cept when I got Gator, but I was hanging out in places I shouldn't have been and so I almost deserved it ;~D
Quicktime and Realplayer don't exist on my PC either. If a program can't be removed easily and completely then I won't use it.
WE've been running weatherbug for a couple of years as well, no problems. In fact, the machine with weatherbug on it has had no problems whatsoever, while my machine has gotten internet phlegm several times.
No complaints here.
Sometimes it DOES feel that way, right?
Have you figured out a way to get either of those programs to run a scan on a schedule?
Webroot Spy Sweeper is damn good....it isnt free though.
To be technically correct, weatherbug is adware, extremly badly written adware that causes crashing and lockups. Some versions have been worse than others.
Some early versions may have been allowing backplane installation of other ad and malware, and they have since, supposedly, cleaned up their act.
Intellicast has a similar application with no adware AFAIK.
I can't post all that often...all my CPU cycles are soaked up running anti-virus and spyware scanners...
Because it has one ad with it?
extremly badly written adware that causes crashing and lockups. Some versions have been worse than others.
My machine never locks up. Ever. Weatherbug works like a charm.
I use several. The Microsoft beta and Yahoo are two of the best. Ad-aware isn't bad either. In combination they are pretty powerful.
A.K.A Classic Media Player, which also will play DVD's.
Moments ago my Norton picked up a Minibug weather-site derived "potential hijacker"- which is pretty typical of Weatherbug infestation. And I did not reinstall after the original. RegKeys and Firefox adware infection- or would have.
When I run Spybot it gives me the same reult every time, there are 5 things that need removed, but it's always the same 5 things and always 5, but when I run Registry Mechanic and Aluria I find much more interesting things.
I recently installed the latest Norton Antivirus and it now takes about 10 minutes for my computer to get started, it runs ok after that could this be connected.
I use the same one. It wasn't much good until a few months back when they came out with a new version. Now it works very very well. Buy a one yr subscription from somewhere online for $30 in the form of a CD mailed to you, then you can put it on more than one machine in your home with one year of updates. I wouldn't do this, but I have heard of such a thing.
I also use free: AdAware and Spybot as supplemental. AdAware gets more than Spybot, but Spysweeper seems to carry out 95% of the garbage.
I think you made a very good selection. I love my Webroot Spy Sweeper. It's very user-friendly and easy to figure out. That's the one I leave on at all times. I just crank up and run the others once or twice a week as a backup.
The Lavasoft Ad-Aware seems pretty decent, but the Ad-Watch makes no sense at all. It keeps giving me popups with an option to "accept" or "block" and when I click "block", nothing happens. So I don't bother with it anymore.
I went to the link and doublclick tried to load!
Yes, I trust my spyware protection - I use a Mac!
(flame suit zipped an ready!)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.