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One interesting conclusion from this study showed that even users with a high "Spyware IQ" have a nearly 100% chance of visiting a dangerous site during 30 days of typical online searching and browsing activity.

Sure, we like to visit places like http://www.cracks.am, who actually write their own spyware. But I am not so sure that qualifies me as ever installing any of their garbage.

Example is here (NSFW), try to download a file if you want to see what I mean.

All right, I'll bite.

Middle-click on link to open in new tab. Deny www.cracks.am from setting a cookie. Click the letter "C" in the alphabetical set of links. Click the link for "C++ Editor v1.0". Deny install.xxxtoolbar.com from setting a cookie. Click the "Download a File" button. Then two dialog windows appear. One is titled "JavaScript Application" and says "Download ABORTED -- You must click YES". Hitting "OK" (the only button on that window) lets me access the other window.

The other window is a standard Firefox download window saying "You have chosen to open C++_Editor_v1.0.zip which is a: ZIP file from: http://www.cracks.am/", etc. Clicking "OK" for the default choice, which is "Open with /usr/bin/file-roller", gives me a look inside a zip file filled with wholesome-looking files with names like iNFECTiON.nfo. Meanwhile the web page itself complains "Download Error - wrong URL! Please turn off any download managers" even though the ZIP file appears to have downloaded fine.

Using the packaged version of Mozilla Firefox on Debian GNU/Linux (unstable), version 1.0+dfsg.1-5. Also using Privoxy as a proxy; don't know whether this made a difference. Conclusion: at least on this platform, installing unsigned XPIs isn't going to work on a properly updated Firefox.

Some sites will try to foist an unsigned xpi on you, and this goes way back... can't remember when I first saw it but I'd wager it was almost a year ago. Example is here (NSFW), try to download a file if you want to see what I mean. It's a cracking site so maybe you deserve what you get, but I've had some seemingly harmless lyrics sites try it as well. Us moz users have had a nice free ride for a while and things are certainly going to get worse - we all know the huge window saying "warning, this might be unsafe" won't do a bit of good - but at least now your mother's spyware-infested wreck of a browser will have proper PNG support!

Comprehensive Data havens may not be too far off, eh?

I saw one xpi try to install on cracks.am. I was happy and mad at the same time. It's mainstream!!!

Chris

ok posted anonymously because i dont need the karma and i run a warez version of XP.
When m$ released sp1 for xp, they "banned" the most commonly posted cd keys in the sp. If you were using a banned key, the sp wouldnt install. Easily fixed and bypassed, due to articles such as this .

M$ key generation algorythm seems to have been broken too. There are programs that will generate LEGIT xp pro corporate keys. And windows update works JUST fine with these keys. Try it for yourself. The below link is for a keygen that works for xp pro.

Do not visit this link using IE . It will try to install spyware via activeX. Use Mozilla or another safe browswer.

Well then, it's now illegal to link to websites that may contain copyrighted material. Gotcha.

Well, here's a link to a page about a DeCSS program (no, not the one you're thinking).

Here's another that distributes freeware.

Oh, and a link to Disney just for the hell of it.

A note to /. mods, editors, hosts, OSDN, etc.:
The (RI|MP)AA will not come burn your house down if you "inform them" of me this second! But the instant that you mark me as +1 Funny and click on, they're going to get you, too!

Pass this on to 15 of your friends within the next 1000000 minutes or you'll have bad luck forever and your dog will die, too!

or here is the crack

I regarding the ability to use Google as a warez search machine. The article was about Google censorship and the one response to my post pinpointed almost exactly the point that I brought up, which is the point discussed in this article.

Google has a nice long list of directory lists containing warez (remember the days of l33t FTP searching for filenames? Google for something like, in my last article: "xwin32*.exe * * * * *" "listing of"), serial numbers (Oh, I've found XP's serial number several times in Google's cache) and other "sensitive" information. My question is if other commercial sites are being constantly shut down due to these links (intentional or not), why aren't people targeting Google as well?

In fact, if I'm *cough*too cheap to buy software*cough* or just want to evaluate some crippleware or such before I buy it, I often skip astalavista and cracks.am and just Google it up. Saves me the porn and pop ups, and I don't have to cripple my browser for this (yes I know it's possible to do in other ways, yes I enjoy javascript, no thanks, I don't want comments about how I'm retarded because I don't do it the right way).

This is similar for sites such as the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine that contains other sensitive information.

Because of the academic merit of both of these search mechanisms, I doubt either one will be shut down. Indeed, I highly doubt restrictions will be placed. They're valuable tools for finding more valuable tools. For more information about this sort of stuff, I suggest searching on Fravia+'s web-searching lore. Other information on there relates to "reality cracking", reverse engineering, and other taboo topics. Google's got it all cached. Interested? Just search for (insert topic here) site:searchlores.org.

Sometimes I don't think the comparison of Google to God is that far off. Pardon my heresy.

like every other piece of software that is out there.. isn't reverse engineering great...?

for all the m$ people designing this crap there are 100's to 1 "reverse engineering" it

Turn off javascript and visit cracks.am -- the one stop shop for all your cracking needs.

If you run this, it modifies windows Explorer and Internet Explorer (maybe they're the same thing now?) to pop up porn ads every couple of minutes, and replaces all of your bookmarks and buttons. My friend got caught doing this. Luckily I use Opera (faster anyway).

-Cruz

While visiting astalavista to, um, get a serial number that I'd previously lost from a program I'd bought, I followed a link to a site http://www.cracks.am. When I clicked on the link to download the serial, a dialog popped up asking for my permission to install a program from C2 Media, and certifying that the program had a certificate from Verisign.
Stupidly, I clicked yes, and promptly regretted it. A whole day of browser abuse followed.
* My desktop got taken over by an 'affiliates' homepage
* My desktop got swarmed with icons for adult and gambling sites
* If a site took a long time to load, or got a 404, my browser would end up at the portal http://www.lop.com, part of the 'affiliates' network.
The program didn't leave a listing in the add/remove window. It wasn't in c:\program files.
It had buried itself deep into my windows folder.

Instinctively I searched my disks and registry for lop.com and removed all references. No cure. My browser still kept going to lop.com.

My only cure was radical action. I ran Win2k in a VMware box with disks set to non-persistent. Immediately before saying 'yes' to the installation, I ran the 'InCtrl' install tracker program. Thank God for InCrtrl - after the install was done, I had a list of all files added by this nasty piece of scumware, and had the utmost pleasure in removing it once and for all.

here's the crack: http://cracks.am/d.x?37598

If those retarded idiots at Apple had any sense, they would scrap all the poorly designed "Quicktime Experience" user interface abortions, and provide a codec plugin to use in my media player of choice. (Windows Media Player, of course.)

At least that way I'd be able to view a .mov file in Full Screen without resorting to obtaining a hack from www.cracks.am. Because nobody PAYS for Quicktime unless they're stupid.

Quicktime is the nigger of the internet. And Real is the paki. Both reprehensible, vile subhuman creatures, and soon to be wiped out forever.

Just crack it.