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Windows AntiSpyware Downgrades Claria Detections
accihap writes "A week after word leaked out that Microsoft was negotiating an acquisition deal with Claria (See recent /. coverage), spyware researchers have noticed that the Windows antispyware application has downgraded Claria's Gator detections and changed the recommended action from 'quarantine' to 'ignore.' Screenshots of the new default settings."
Honestly...is anyone surprised by this? We all saw this coming.
Unfortunately, M$ can pull this sort of thing with near-impunity, as the only ones outraged by this are the ones who had issues with them in the first place (read: us).
The vast majority of Windows users out there are just going to shrug and say, "Oh well...if Microsoft says they're not a threat, then they must not be a threat."
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
...how quickly corps like MS will sell out their customers to make a quick buck. This is not only found in the Spyware arena but also with companies such as Intel embedding DRM into their chips when coaked by the various entertainment industries.
My 3D Texturing Skinning work (under construction)
First thing is we need to make sure these images are real. We have been caught with faked images many times before. If they are then I think all it really does is reinforce the need to run multiple anti-spyware utilities.
When a for-profit organization releases a product that can adversely (or positively) affect another for-profit organization we must expect, at least sometimes, to have some negative effects on the consumer. Its a capitalist society and companies are free to do anything and everything they need to maximize profits, within the scope of the law.
This sort of thing boils my blood. There is a certain level of trust I have with a vendor who provides detection and removal of spyware, etc. I've not payed as much attention as maybe I should have, but what other vendors are strong in detecting spyware that don't give in or at least haven't thus far? The product they purchased from Giant was really good to boot. Doesn't take look for the MS taint to occur, does it?
Unrelated, I get the impression, MS doesn't need more competent competition to fail. Instead, they need to continue doing just what they are doing. Between moves like this, the failure to manage projects, etc. they are hurting themselves just fine and making everything that isn't MS look better.
Every so often the MS marketing machine almost gets me to believe they might be changing. The developer blogs have helped a lot in that respect. Then MS does something like this. On the one hand they say they are concerned about this threat and then, not too long into the future, they pull a move like this which says the exact opposite.
I'd like to see independent evidence before jumping to conclusions. Anyone want to install Gator and test it themselves? :-)
A few people I have spoken with have been telling me how wonderfull this free tool is. I pointed out I don't need said tool as I just run a better OS but now I have a much better comeback next time someone praises MS for releasing this hehe.
How long before MS integrates Gator into the OS where it cannot be removed without corrupting the system?
If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
Indeed. In fact, I have to constantly remind the Windows evangelists that the entire spyware and virus problem has created a cottage industry, and as long as Microsoft can make money off of it, they will choose never to solve it.
--Storm
One has to wonder if companies such as Microsoft do things like this intentionally or, as the comment in the article indicated, simply miss some things in the wash?
Of course this was done intentionally. GAIN must be the most widespread and well-known spyware out there, do you think that a team of people working on one of the world's biggest anti-spyware programs accidentally thought it was not a threat and should be set to "ignore"? Or do you think someone "accidentally" modified the status in the database by clicking a few wrong buttons, and that quality control didn't check before a product release that their anti-spyware program happens to ignore the world's biggest spyware? There is just no way this happened by mistake.
The initial designation of the software has changed, big deal. If Microsoft made it so I couldn't set it to remove/quarentine, then I'd have a real problem with this but nothing has really changed. I am still able to remove that piece of shit software, although that hasn't been a problem for me because I don't get spyware.
/. response to this sort of MS stuff is acceptable but it has become a knee-jerk reaction and it's old.
Sometimes the initial
At first people thought:
1. MS buying Giant means putting a great anti-spyware product into Windows. Windows becomes *stronger* at stopping such attacks.
2. MS possibly buying Claria means that Microsoft could eliminate one of the biggest pieces of spyware out there. In other words, Claria/Gator becomes *weaker*.
Now, it's possible that things will look like this:
1. Anti-spyware becomes *weaker*.
2. Claria/Gator becomes *stronger*.
So much for doing the right thing(s).
Marketing a security product for your own operating system is like correcting your own spelling test.
I might just have to go make up some more bumper stickers or something.
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Hey, look at the bright side, at least it detects their software and doesn't ignore it completely! Can anyone else tell me a company that would not do the same? Anti-anti-spyware anyone?
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
I'm wondering: if anyone out there actually still trusts Microsoft (rhetoric: of course, some people do), is there any demonstrably good reason for that trust or are they just ignorant/apathetic?
I suppose another way to ask this question is why the Revolution(tm) hasn't come yet...
$p$g
I don't know why anyone would think otherwise. Everything that Microsoft puts on your computer wants to call back home and report on what you do and how you do it. Everything Claria trys to put on your computer wants to call back home and report your every action and keystroke. So running any 'Microsoft spyware' in the first place is like letting a burglar watch your home. What did you expect would eventually happen?
Enjoy your Karma, after all you earned it. Feel your Karma Joe, feel it burn.
Well considering he said "networks he manages" I doubt that replacing windows is an option. You've never really had fun until you've tried to explain to a CIO or equivelant that some of the software (especially the OS) that they are using in a company with 20,000 computers causes all kinds of problems. You generally get a blank stare back and a comment like "But it is Windows, which is secure, right?". Love clueless upper management.
Hey do you ever think that there is a reason why so many against microsoft? They are a f-ing monopoly, who have shoved their pos os down our throats for over a decade. They have brute forced OEM's to include their operating system. They have bullied competitors and put many out of business.
Linux users dream for a better world of software. Sure many of the items on your list are valid. THAT IS NOT THE POINT. Unless we strive for a computing world outside of Microcrap, we'll forever be forced to take their software as it is.
Note how many changes Microshit has done because of the outcry of IT professionals-patches, firewalls, etc.. These would not have happened if the "linux zealots" just took what microshit had to offer lying down.
Personally, i though M$ should have been completely broken up and their OS and software separated into different companies. But, as always, $$$ makes right, and the govt and courts were bought off.
It's time to dream of a world outside of microsoft. And even though that may mean the dissolution of your "brainwashed ms lacky" job at M$, we'll go dancing merrily down the street knowing that WE WILL HAVE CHOICES.
Without the dreams of what Linux (and mac osx) can become, we are stuck with M$'s putrid software for the masses.
Why do you find it hard to believe? Because McAfee and Norton are big names? Because they're more popular? Life's full of examples where the underdog is the superior product, from OS X vs. Windows to Saucony vs. Nike.
IMO, AVG and Avast! are both better antivirus packages than McAfee or Norton.
The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.