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Spyware Makers Resent Cleaned-Up Versions

Posted by timothy on from the have-some-injury-with-your-insult dept.

Tri0de points to a ZDnet artcle on a programmer who's taken it upon himself to release spyware- and adware-free versions of popular file-sharing programs. "'He's done Grokster and iMesh. And he's not alone. His work, now available through the Grokster and iMesh networks themselves, joins that of other programmers who have previously "cleaned" programs such as Kazaa and Audiogalaxy in a campaign against "adware" and "spyware." Is the shoe on the other foot?'"

2 of 291 comments (clear)

  1. Why didn't RIAA think of that? by geophile · · Score: 4, Informative

    I think it's very funny that it took another hacker to figure out that kazaa etc. could be disabled in this way. If the RIAA had any brains at all, they would have figured this out and ... uhh ... wait a minute, maybe Yuri == RIAA?

  2. Re:Be VERY wary (how to roll your own kazaalite) by shird · · Score: 5, Informative

    In the case of Kazaa, its actually quite easy to make your own 'lite' version, there are plenty of sites with instructions on how to do this. Taken from a post to usenet:

    /* Install KaZaa 1.6 */

    1) Install the new KaZaa, then close the application when all finished.

    /* Begin Brilliant Digital Uninstall */

    2) In Control Panel, click Add/Remove Programs and find "b3d Projector".
    Uninstall this application (make sure all browsers are closed or it won't
    work)

    3) Find a folder called "b3duninstall" located usually directly in your
    Windows folder. Delete this folder.

    4) Locate the following files:

    > bdedownloader.dll
    > bdedata2.dll
    > bdefdi.dll
    > bdeinsta2.dll
    > bdeinstall.exe
    > bdesecureinstall.cab
    > bdesecureinstall.exe
    > bdeverify.exe
    > bdeverify.dll

    They are usually located in your Windows/System, Windows/System32 folder.
    Rename each file adding a ".bak" to the end. (or Delete them if you don't
    care about backing them up)

    -->Note to Borland users: Borland software creates files that start with
    "BDE" as well, so be careful.

    /* Brilliant Digital Uninstall done, proceed to Cydoor crippling */

    5) Download the dummy cd_clint.dll package at
    http://www.cexx.org/cd_clint.zip

    6) Go to your Windows/System32 folder. Find "CD_Clint.dll" and rename it to
    "CD_Clint.dll.bak"

    7) Extract the "CD_Clint.dll" file from the package you got in step 5 into
    the Windows/System32 folder (thus replacing the old CD_Clint you backed up
    in step 6).

    /* Cydoor crippled. */

    --
    I.O.U One Sig.