Spyware More Common in Popular Software? 71
Keith Young asks: "Over the past month, we have seen a 1500% increase of spyware denials on our firewall primarily due to WildTangent 'spyware' installed with AOL IM 5.5 and adware installed with Weatherbug. Since many of these widely-installed types of applications have an automatic upgrade feature, how can these be tested for license agreements, spyware, and security 'irregularities'? Is this another reason to approach management to choose only open source alternatives?"
Re:No (Score:3, Insightful)
Say, would you like a brand-new weather cover for your car? Oh, good. *small print* oh, by the way, we're going to watch everywhere you drive, everyone who gets in, what songs you like to listen to on the radio, what your gas mileage is, what sorts of add-ons you buy and install, what sort of add-ons you don't buy but feel compelled to install anyway, and what conversations you have while you'r
Re:No (Score:2)
Re:No (Score:2, Insightful)
Opensource is good but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Then run free software on the Windows you have (Score:1)
Implicit in your argument is the premise that there do not exist many free application programs for the Microsoft Windows platform. Can you show evidence of this premise?
Re:Then run free software on the Windows you have (Score:1)
Re:Then run free software on the Windows you have (Score:1)
Re:I am a Mac user. (Score:4, Insightful)
But when I clicked on the link, it returned "Not found", and even an extensive search of the site revealed nothing.
You're either a great troll (people click Insightful without clicking on the link?) or there's something odd going on.
And yes, I did remove the "here" from the end of your URL and tried a bunch of other things and nothing got me to the link
D
Re:I am a Mac user. (Score:3, Informative)
There are only two references to spyware on the site, and neither refer to any Mac spyware.
Re:I am a Mac user. (Score:1)
Re:I am a Mac user. (Score:3, Interesting)
A suggestion to OS X users: get a copy of Little Snitch [obdev.at]. Any time an "unauthorized" connection is innitiated from your Mac, Little Snitch will "blow the whistle" on the offending app. It is
free apps aren't free (Score:5, Insightful)
GAIM (Score:5, Informative)
Just a friendly reminder in case there's anyone out there in slashdot land who still doesn't know about it. Works perfectly with AIM/ICQ and Jabber (and those other services no one actually uses ^_~) Even has a Win32 installer.
Re:GAIM (Score:1)
Re:GAIM (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re:GAIM (Score:4, Interesting)
You'd be surprised how few VoIP proggies exist for OS 9 machines, and even rarer still, proggies that also have Windows clients...
Apart from MSN Messenger (which requires at least 9.2.2), AIM seems to be the only solution.
Re:GAIM (Score:2)
Re:GAIM (Score:2)
Unfortunately, some users out there still prefer to stick with OS 9 than to upgrade to OS X. They are of the opinion that Apple should have preserved their beloved old interface and way of doing things in OS X. You can't persuade these people to move to OS X... so you have to live with them.
Incidentally, I'm surprised Jaguar runs okay on your beige G3. I'm guessing you maxed out your RAM. From most a
Re:GAIM (Score:1)
Re:GAIM (Score:2)
GAIM, Miranda, Trillian-Pro... (Score:2)
Did anyone compare them?
Use Gaim (Score:5, Informative)
I use gaim [sourceforge.net] instead of AOL instant messenger. It's got just about every feature that AOL instant messenger has, plus a slew more (plus it can consolidate chat clients). It is easy enough to use for non techies that all my friends and family are on it instead of the AOL version. There are OpenSource projects out there for everything. Check out Sourceforge [sourceforge.net]. And, if you really like the product, and it saves you some money, donate some money to the project so it can get even better.
Weather *Bug* (Score:5, Funny)
AIM/gaim video chat (Score:5, Interesting)
Is there something out there that does? I was looking forward to AIM 5.5 connecting with iChat to do video chat with my dad and friends; now I may have to avoid that if the AIM spyware is bad (sigh)
Re:AIM/gaim video chat (Score:1)
Re:AIM/gaim video chat (Score:2, Flamebait)
Trillian? (Score:2)
Re:AIM/gaim video chat (Score:2)
http://www.aim.com/get_aim/win/win_beta.adp
screensaver.com (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:screensaver.com (Score:2)
Weatherbug? (Score:3, Informative)
I know older versions of Weatherbug included Gator, but my understanding was that they had stopped bundling this garbage in favor of a more unintrusive ad-only revenue model. At least the last couple of versions I scanned with Spybot S&D and Ad-aware tested clean.
Did I miss something?
Oh, and more on-topic, YES. Spyware is a big reason why I use open-source software whenever possible.
Re:Weatherbug? (Score:1)
Weatherbug now has (during install) a checkbox for WhenU.com. Last time that I tested it out, it was checked ON by default. Since most end-users don't know what WhenU is, they happily install the spyware.
--Keith
Why even allow WildTangent? (Score:2)
Re:Why even allow WildTangent? (Score:2)
You'd be surprised how many people hammer out a few games of solitaire or Zuma or whatever at lunch.
Re:Why even allow WildTangent? (Score:2)
Fortunately, he didn't know how to use a web browser. Else the lan would have been crawling with downloaded games (and the associated spyware) in no time.
Re:Why even allow WildTangent? (Score:2)
It doesn't take a streaming web technology for 3D games to play solitaire. If people want to play a game at lunch then can always go to Yahoo! Games, Pogo, or some other web based game site that doesn't require non-session specific software to be installed on the end user's machine.
Re:Why even allow WildTangent? (Score:1)
Re:Why even allow WildTangent? (Score:2)
why?
because they up the productivity, make the day funner? if that's the case(and that's allowed) they can go play some browser based games that don't need crap installed on the pc.
Re:Why even allow WildTangent? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why even allow WildTangent? (Score:2)
If WT is not allowed then it's not allowed, period. So a bulletin goes out that says, "AOL IM 5.5 installs WT, which is a no no, therefore AOL IM 5.5 is a no no. Don't install it."
Is AOL based IM *required* at your organization? If not then there is no reason to even allow AOL IM. If IM is required then the company shou
I have never seen an installer... (Score:2)
Hey, we're going to install software on your machine that pops up advertisements whenever you do anything on the internet, and sometimes when you're not! Also, we'll record all the sites you go to. Hope you don't mind!!!! LOL
Re:Sick of the spin on this site (Score:1, Interesting)
There is nothing wrong with Directed Advertising, get it?
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Nothing wrong with door-to-door evangelists stopping by during dinner either.
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First of all, how is it stealing when we clearly state in our EULA what we're doing?
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A jerk that hides behind an EULA is still a jerk.
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but rather ask them if we can use their data to make adverts which are more successful
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As long as you specifically ask me for each and every piece of data each and every time you want it and give me the option to s
Re:Sick of the spin on this site (Score:1, Interesting)
Is that your Mom's computer you're using, or something?
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Flamebait. I build and maintain my own systems. I put in my hard work and research time.
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I guess they're all jerks "hiding" like me. Nothing to do with lawsuits from assholes after a quick buck.
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They're using the EULA to cover their tracks for doing something they know is questionable at best and more probably illegal. In the end the consumer's ownership of their personal information might be affirmed but who can afford to press th
Use older versions. (Score:1)
I use some older 4.x version of AIM. Not at my desk so I couldn't tell you the exact version.
It was one of the first ones that let you store your buddy list on the server, but it doesn't have any annoying features that suck up bandwith, along with memory/cpu cycles.
Re:Use older versions. (Score:2)
WinPatrol (Score:3, Interesting)
Most spyware tend to set themselves to run automatically on startup, and WinPatrol's watchdog will bark at you whenever a program does that, and let you confirm or deny. (If you register, they'll give you information about tat program to help your decision).
Re:WinPatrol (Score:1)
Re:WinPatrol (Score:1)
The difference w/ Winpatrol (the free version) is that it sits in your system tray and alerts you immediately whenever a program tries to add itself to that startup list. And for frequent offenders (how many times has qttask.exe appeared in your startup?), you can set a task to "disable" so that any time that program attempts to join the auto-start list, it will fail.
I
Most Managements (Score:2)
There is no easier way to fight the paranoia about open source s/w , if you work for PHB.
AOL advocates using Ad-Aware (Score:4, Interesting)
Of course, that was probably posted long before Ad-Aware would actually remove parts of AIM itself.
Really don't like ad/spyware in stuff I PAID for! (Score:1)
HOWEVER, I've bought software only to get ticked off because it wants to installed crap like Gator or worse on my system. Many times, this isn't part of a EULA (if there is even one). That's one way to
Re:Really don't like ad/spyware in stuff I PAID fo (Score:1)
Reverse Engineer.
That is what I did to AIM, after all pop-ups and adverts in my IM I don't like. There was no mention of that in the EULA.
WeatherBug alternative (Score:2)
Spyware and Adware (Score:2)
I recall there was a plug-in for Kazaa that removed the Spyware/Adware and kept Kazaa working. Diet-K was the name I think.
By my definitions, Spyware and Adware are malware and unethical to force the users to install with the free or shareware software.
Many PHBs confuse free or shareware with open source software and claim that open source software contains