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McAfee lists Adware in Top 10 Viruses
joelethan writes "In the new sensitive, caring world of Windows security McAfee Virusscan detects adware/malware, just like its competitors. A surprising consequence is that the McAfee's Regional Virus Info now regularly shows adware in its infection top ten. It feels so good to see old favorites like 180Search and DFC listed. "Now for your listening pleasure it's Adware.Gator at number 7 with a bullet..."
"
ADWare is actually a secret conspiracy from the guys who make tums to capture a whole new generation of geeks..
Geek: "Helpdesk, how can I help you?"
Hapless Worker Drone: "I have all these funny ads that keep popping up!"
Geek: "Did you install that nifty new weather bug, or that 'Gator' thing?"
Hapless Worker Drone: "I didn't install anything! This is your fault! You guys are supposed to protect us!"
Geek: "See that socket over there? It's the automatic anti human virus protecter, stick your finger in and call me in an hour"
"It's not stealing if you don't get caught!"
Uh-oh! They'll get sued by Claria!
In Soviet russia, only old Koreans profit from pictures of Natalie Portman stored on Beowulf Clusters.
1) Switch to better web browser that dosen't have activeX spyware infecting it
2)Destroy spyware
3)Switch to a secure operating system.
4) ???
5) Profit, by not having to waste time with viruses!
However, Netsky still completely wipes the floor with the adware. Over 10 times as many instances of Netsky were discovered than Gator.
liqbase
But when will the financial geniuses at Symantec decide to start exacting a "fee" to spyware vendors to remove their malware from the list????
Because there are still people who don't know:
Ad-Aware
Search & Destroy
To keep your pc running fast and without too many crashes..
Are you retarded? It's easy to keep a Windows machine clear of Adware. You just don't do stupid crap like install Gator. If you're capable of handling a non-Windows machine (Macs excluded) you should be more than able to not do stupid stuff to your computer.
I have just upgraded to Enterprise 8.0i at work to test it out and I am very impressed with it. Good scanning times as well as some handy features like Buffer Over Flow protection. McAfee may have crappy home user products but the corporate stuff is top stuff!
this is the reason why i dont use windows.. one minute after your installation is done, you already got lots of spyware.
Not every computer related problem has Microsoft to blame. Though it is tempting to blame them...
No? What about people borrowing my computer? One click away and a lot of spyware is installed. What about i forget to pull the networkconnection before i start a fresh windows installation. Etc. You dont have to be retarded to get spyware. To avoid them you need to regulary run windowsupdate and run scan with software like Ad-Aware.
..let's stick to some realism. I don't have any spyware on my Windows machine. Unlike viruses, the user has to actually install them (though that may involve just clicking "yes" in IE). Poor judgement can not be solved by technical solutions, OSS or not.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
It's not spyware, it's a virus! McAfee says so.
..it was recognised for what it is. Here, in the UK, such software falls foul of the Computer Misuse Act (which is due for an update). Personally, I already spend far too much time removing Adware, Spyware, BHOs, et cetera from Windows machines, especially at one site, where they seem to actually think CoolWebSearch really is cool.
This is a good move, currently I'm helping my mom's next door neighbor trouble shoot her Dell...1000 miles away! My mom has dial up, but her computer is just chocked by viruii and adware. She's new to the internet, so she thinks if she just does whatever she'll be ok.
Also, the McAfee trial she was using didn't catch much, I suppose she didn't have updated pattens, but with a dial up, is it possible/easy to get updates?
I'm leaning on her to get Broadband, and then let me put Linux on that Dell...
CB_)EW____>>>
free ipod and free gmail!
While not exactly *required* as AdAware and SpyBot are it is certainly a nice addition to the list.
SpywareBlaster
I would have posted AC to avoid the karmawhoring but Slashdot isn't allowing my subnet to post anonymously anymore. So blame them for the "Continual Karmawhoring".
The way Gator tries to install is absolutely unacceptable. I really think that it should be stopped, one way or another.
Claria sounds like some sexual desease.
I dont blame them on microsoft. I never said that. But spyware and virus problem is there, you cant deny that..
Only if you don't know what you are doing. I've been running XP for two years, and not one virus, or spyware, and pretty minimal effort on my part.
The problem is there, no denying, but the solution is way. What is more, it isn't windows specific anyway. Keeping your machine in order and secure is something you should be doing on any OS.
Considering there is zero spyware for Macs or Linux... you're damn right I'm going to blame Microsoft.
Magic Lantern, carnivore, omnivore...
So how do you keep the feds from snooping you?
Build your own energy sources from scratch. http://otherpower.com/
Actually, this used to be a valid point. But with XPSP2, IE is configured to disable ActiveX installations (but allows the user to run them, if so inclined).
I support LOTS of PCs on the side and this has eliminated 99 percent of the adware/spyware related issues. If people are no longer prompted with a "yes/no" type choice, then there is no problem.
Kudos to Microsloth on this one.
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
...Other than malware/Adware starts with a team of lawyers on staff, where as virus writers don't get a lawyer until after they are busted.
And while most malware may not be self replicating, it does have viral components in that it is predatory non-living creature that lives off its host. And good malware, like a good virus goes undetected. Cheating the system of confidentiality and resources. Sending it's host to places that suit it, and exploit the host.
Does it really matter that they aren't totally self replicating like a worm... early viruses were just malicious macros using MS Office and WP as a vector to be passed around by unsuspecting knobs.
A lot of smart viruses use their host to infect others. HIV, for example isn't very good at replicating itself... it relies on humans to do most of the work. It just sits in the blood stream. Other viruses use multiple species to get passed around where some species are adversly effected and other species in the chain don't even notice it's benign precence.
Similarly, code like Roings or Gator, are a great malware/virus hybrid. They just sit around and wait to be downloaded from from blog sites like Xanga or P2P networks like Kazaa... it uses other users to actually recommend to their friends to get the infection. Now that is using relational marketing!
Why bother writing self replicating code when you can get guillable fools to do the replicating for you.
As far as spyware for linux, I suspect it is out there. My browser (mozilla) has been hijacked a few times, I haven't figured out how. Has anyone else experienced this? I am not trying to start a flame war, I know I probably have something missing or misconfigured, but how... I don't know.
would it work? slashdot is adware as well, remember that.
spyware.. now that's something that should be illeagal, installing software without the user knowing what the software will do(and without asking the 'victim' if he wants it or not).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Could companies be prosecuted for exploiting bugs and vulnerabilities to install their garbage on people's machines? I don't know how many reinstalls I've went through, forgot to turn off the fifteen different settings in IE, and ended up with webpages spamming my desktop and taskbar as hard as they could by going to a seemingly harmless website, or mistyping the name of a popular website.
I recently fixed someone's computer that had so much spyware, it was running like a 66MHz machine on Windows 98SE. They were using a 2.5GHz with 512MB of RAM. The start button would take three seconds of griding to hit, and hitting it made three or four spam windows pop up, mostly about gambling, porn, or pills.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
Yeah, that's gonna happen. Last thing we need are civil rights groups everywhere screaming at the top of their lungs that illegalizing adware is stifling free speech!
Gator beats any virus in infestation rate if you look at the more relevant statistics.
Lalala
And also just to clarify that Adaware is NOT available at http://www.adaware.com/
http://www.adaware.com/ is actually a Ada software site who is taking advantage of their name to sell spyassasin. Kind of underhanded as it doesn't SAY it is spyassasin.
--jeff++
ipv6 is my vpn
I really, really, want to open "pamanderson.exe" and "AllWindowsCrackz.exe"
McAfee lets you delete the specific executable that comprises the malware application, but doesn't help you delete the associated data files. I find I have to go in afterward and clean up after McAfee does its thing. (I suppose I should get a copy of Ad-Aware or one of the other anti-adware apps, but, frankly, most of them LOOK like the ads they're trying to kill - these guys need to get better GUI designers and look more "professional".)
Still, it's better than nothing.
BTW, have I said lately that adware/spyware authors should DIE A HORRIBLE, PAINFUL, LINGERING DEATH!
Don't underestimate the power of The Source
I wonder how much money McAfee spent in legal advice before doing this... I wonder how long before the spyware vendors sue, saying that their software performs a valuable service, as shown by the fact that users deliberately and knowingly install it...
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Joe Six-Pack is finally getting a sense for these things, which is a great step. I recently started working for a net marketing company, and I'm amazed by the volume of flaming emails we get from people across the country saying that they will take us to court when they find the single cookie we put on their machine. There is also a lot of talk of pushing their congressmen to make our 'spyware' actions illegal.
I love this. It would be nice if people were more educated on this (and knew the difference between a viral program and an inert string of text that they have set their browser to allow), but it's a huge start. Detecting these programs as viruses is wonderful - it raises awareness levels. And the first step to legislation is enough people telling their congressmen. Remember, a phone call or letter is worth hundreds of constituient votes.
Four years ago when I first came across Gator, I considered taking apart their offices with a bat and a black ski mask. But I lived on the wrong coast. Now I might finally see them go to jail some day, and their cell mates will do far worse things to some scrawny coders than I ever could. But that will only happen if you contact your congresscritter. So do it.
Though I do agree, spyware should be illegal, most of the spyware is mentioned in the EULA. Check out: Is kazaa spyware?
where they quote the EULA agreement stating:
We may add, delete or change some or all of the Software's functionality provided in connection with KaZaA at any time. This may include download of necessary software modules. Any new features that augment or enhance
Like the web page suggests, thats "pretty open-ended."
Fact is, most people (>99% imho) DONT read the EULA!
Personally, I for the most part run Linux. This came in handy with all the email "viruses" floating around a little while back. I could just grab the damn things and if they were VB script, look at what they were doing with no worries.
These adware/spyware things don't really effect me now, but I am worried what might happen when Linux distributions start to permeate the desktop scene. Especially with some of the fun things a friend of mine showed me with FireFox/Mozilla and a neat thing called XUL. That was some messed up stuff....
But I am going to agree with you on the adware/spyware authors that should DIE DIE DIE. But I am going to add to that, spammers, script kiddies and all the other jack arses that decide to steal my Internet bandwidth by messing with the many windows boxes out there. It's my web too damn it!
"Don't sweat the petty stuff and don't pet the sweaty stuff." -- by an Unknown Wise man.
seriously, I wonder how long it is before they sue mcafee and others, just because of this point they want to make. Not that anyone will believe them.
I actually came across one that had an unistall utility, complete with a massive EULA for this uninstaller, and a license key for the uninstaller, which is emailed to you, if you decide to actuaslly trust them (description here, with company info) It's blackmail, of course, and probably not enforcable.
Legitiamte businessmen indeed.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
and of course, this could never happen under another operating system...
Is faster than Spyware removal tech.
An instance on a system I was removing spyware from was so infested that no matter what I did I could not remove it. Adaware/Spybot could not remove it. The user in question happened to frequent weatherbug et. al so had the latest and greatest spyware. Now in my situation our upline is blocking spyware sites as they find them.
What ended up happening is, our busy spyware installer guy put found a site that wasn't blocked and installed the latest and greatest. Soon thereafter his browser stopped taking him anywhere. Our upline was blocking all requests his browser made because they were all being superceded by the spyware address.
I download all of the newest updates, nada. I speculate that it may be a newer spyware/adware infecting his system and offer him a reimaging of his station, or waiting a day to see if there is a fix. One day goes by, no fix. I spare his system out and give him a replacement while I image his old one. Well the system sits for a while, and eventually I get back to it (4 days after the initial problem.) I figure, hell I'll run Adaware again. Update...scan... remove... reboot... scan...remove... and finally the spyware is removed.
The moral of this story is use Firefox.
I figured you guys would love this...
The firm i worked at up until recently decided to do some "sponsored marketing" thru Claria/Gator. I tried to preach their evils to the marketing department, but my protesting fell on deaf ears. A few weeks later, one of the marketing folks called me into his office because he was having terrible troubles with I.E. Turns out, as expected his lappie was riddled with spyware, w/ Gator/Claria products being the chief offender. When he asked what the major problem was, and I showed him the ad-aware, hijack this, and spybot entries w/ gator/claria all over them - i think he finally realized. The initial short term advertising contract wasn't renewed, or so i hear.
If more comapnies knew how bad these apps are, and what problems they created, maybe they wouldn't want their services and products advertised in this manner.
Look at the bright side-- now Gator doesn't have to do marketing or polling research to see how installed/popular their product is!
Not All Who Wander Are Lost
But does McAfee do anything effective with them? How about McAfee Corporate (good) vs. the home user version (ukkkk!)?
The latest Norton (2004) detectes malware, but doesn't seem to do anything effective about it.
The best prevention is good surfing habits, and giving most Windows users no rights at all to install stuff.
/.
Two products we have fully implemented that have helpded (no Mandrake/Firefox comments please heh)
1. Trend Micro Office Scan 6.5 (new version) It caught all the Trojans and malware, left most of the adware
2. Spysweeper Enterprise - This put the -smack- down on every little piece of adware and malware...very impressive.
If you are stuck with M$ this will help alot - both products are centrally managed and controlled...I dont work for either, but you can get on top of the virus/malware pain. We had some users w/ 1000+ malware just from add sites, they werent even hitting the porn/hacking stuff.
Enjoy
When is somebody going to step up to the plate and sue these companies for defacing personal property? They get away with it every day and there are laws against it. Plain and simple they are destroying people's property without their permission, at least not any signatures that would hold up in court. All it will take is for one company to sue these companies, and others will follow...at least our company will!
If carrots got you drunk, rabbits would be fucked up. - Comedian Mitch Hedberg R.I.P. 03/30/68-2/24/05
The problem with Adware/Spyware/whatever isn't so much the invasion of privacy part. After all, in most cases, you did click accept at some point. That's what happens when you need your pr0nzor or bikini calendar so much that you don't care where it comes from, you deserve it. The problem is the lousy implimentation of the invasion of privacy.
I helped a friend diagnose his constantly crashing computer remotely one time and found that he had over 18,000 individual copies of some type of CoolWeb in his Windows\System folder.
The real problem isn't with New.net hijacking and sending people to other domains; the real problem is when their software breaks and you can't use any TCP/IP related applications until you find someone with some technical know-how to fix it.
These bastards should be liable for this sort of thing. Actually, they probably are.
I keep forgetting my place. Jesus is for losers. Why do I still play to the crowd?
As an American geek, I take great offense to that comment. As a matter of fact, I'm on a contract right now that includes three H1-B programmers from India, who, while faster coders than I am, marvel at my problem solving skills.
I lengthy discussion about the difference in our styles turned up that Indians are taught based on memorization, while Americans are taught based on problem solving.
So go ask those other programmers on my contract whether or not American geeks suck at IT jobs.
Saying Android is a family of phones is akin to saying Linux is a family of PCs.
Mcafee is starting to mark adware/spyware as viruses.
Great!
Now make an AV app that effectively removes them when it's detected.
Right now, not one virus scanner cleans adware/spyware effectively. You always need to use either spybot or adaware to get rid of it for good. The reason for this is simply because every antivirus firm uses scanning techniques dated from the DOS era to scan and remove this stuff.
If you work for symantec, or mcafee, or any other AV firm for that matter, pleast drill it in your AV scanning division that the Windows Registry Must be scanned for viruses/adware/spyware entries First then all the files on the system. Then once it's found, remove all traces of it including folders, leftover installer files and temp files. I've seen spyware and adware that is just about impossible to remove unless you scour the entire registry for any possible method of entry, then scour the drive for installers that will reinstall it if it's removed. That is why adaware and spybot are so effective at removing this stuff. it removes it from executing and gets it all on the next restart.
Lavasoft Ad-aware is better at removing even some common viruses than most virus scanners today. It's almost second nature that you have to get a "Virus Cleaner" to remove viruses for some AV scanners that adaware removes on the first try.
Until AV firms understand that the registry is just as important to scan as the files, they will never be effective in removing these threats. Dont think that Virus writers aren't looking at these techniques these spyware groups are using to get around you guys and aren't implementing these techniques in their next virus.
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
The abusive, obtuse, and broad EULA's that people click on without reading make it extremely difficult to deal with these companies. Here is one great way we should consider.
1)Make a copy of their agreement, and replace "The cool thing we say we do" with "Free pizza for the office"
2)Replace "We get to infest your machine with junk" with "We get to tar and feather you and put pictures on the internet"
3)Get together a bunch of cheese pizzas and head to their office. Get them to sign the modified agreement for delivery.
4) Proceed to tar and feather the person that signed for the pizza, and share the fantastic photos on the internet.
Remember, it's not assault, it's marketing they agreed to in the license. The beauty of it is that if they fight it, they fight their own agreement, and we can use anything they do to get them to be responsible for the *hundreds of millions of dollars* of damage they have caused to innocent people's computers.
-Z
... to the eyes at least!
1 23219
http://shit.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/17/
A computer is a property like a house. Enter it without permission and you are jailed for 5 years. period.
Now, if we get the DMCA shit here in US to be revoked, we can enact this law.... But then Orrin Hatch will have passed the INDUCE act by then...
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer