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Acer May Be Bugging Computers

Posted by Zonk on from the might-want-to-look-into-this dept.

tomjen writes "What if a well known laptop company had silently placed an ActiveX Control on their computers that allowed any webpage to execute any program? Well Acer apparently has and they have (based on the last modified-by date of the file) been doing this since 1998. 'Checking the interface of the control reveals it has a method named "Run()" as shown below. The method supports parameters "Drive", "FileName", and "CmdLine". Isn't it strange for a control that's marked "safe for scripting" to allow a method that is suggestive of possible abuse?'"

3 of 396 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Phew! by ResidntGeek · · Score: 0, Troll

    And I'm sure you have no problem being the reason everyone hates Americans. Other people try not to be like that.

    --
    ResidntGeek
  2. Re:Phew! by TapeCutter · · Score: 0, Troll

    Someone please mod this agressive idiot to hell....please.

    --
    And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  3. Re:I'm not impressed with this IE7 "improvement" by dangitman · · Score: 0, Troll

    What would happen to sites like YouTube or movie sites, video, audio sites, if all browsers are suddenly rendered incapable of supporting plugins.

    Somehow other browsers and OSes manage to support plug-ins without using Active X.

    --
    ... and then they built the supercollider.