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AVG Fakes User Agent, Floods the Internet

Slimy anti-virus provider AVG is spamming the internet with deceptive traffic pretending to be Internet Explorer. Essentially, users of the software automatically pre-crawl search results, which is bad, but they do so with an intentionally generic user agent. This is flooding websites with meaningless traffic (on Slashdot, we're seeing them as like 6% of our page traffic now). Best of all, they change their UA to avoid being filtered by websites who are seeing massive increases in bandwidth from worthless robots.

16 of 928 comments (clear)

  1. Hooray by genner · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hooray look at all the hits I'm getting.

  2. ACID by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I bet AVG would score higher on ACID than IE...

  3. Re:How do you really feel? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ok. It's run by Jews in a secret conspiracy to take over the World using sharks with frickin' lasers and gorgeous fembots with a penchant for evil.

  4. "as like" by DaHat · · Score: 5, Funny

    > on Slashdot, we're seeing them as like 6% of our page traffic now

    Come on Taco... proper English (or at least something seemingly like it) isn't that hard... is 6% exactly, around 6% or really just 'like 6%'

    I honestly like, do not recall like the last time I like, saw someone use 'like' in that long standing improper way in like text, it's always like, been for me, like only something a person like, verbalizes.

  5. My ex wife.... by WwWonka · · Score: 5, Funny

    ....used to fake user agents all the time. As a man I thought I was always properly connecting to her internet portal. guess not.

    1. Re:My ex wife.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      ....used to fake user agents all the time.

      You mean she called out other browsers' names during sex? Weird.

  6. Re:F5 IRule by rvw · · Score: 4, Funny

    Another suggestion I read somewhere else is to redirect all traffic to the AVG website. That will teach them!

  7. are you sure it's avg_free_stf_xxxx.exe by pbhj · · Score: 4, Funny

    Shouldn't it be avg_free_stfu_xxxx.exe ??

  8. Re:HOWTO install AVG without Search Crawling by Em+Ellel · · Score: 5, Funny

    At a Command Prompt window, type
    c:\downloads\avg_free_stf_xxxxxxxxxx.exe /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSurf /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSearch

    where c:\downloads\avg_free_stf_xxxxxxxxxx.exe is the full path of your AVG 8 installer.

    At least it is intuitive....

    -Em

    --
    RelevantElephants: A Somatic WebComic...
  9. Re:How do you really feel? by The+Clockwork+Troll · · Score: 5, Funny

    In this day and age it's sad to see that anti-sharkitism is still alive and well.

    AVG = Alotta VaGina?

    --

    There are no karma whores, only moderation johns
  10. Re:payback by MyLongNickName · · Score: 4, Funny

    so we don't know what readers are actually interested in

    Porn. Anime. Sometimes computers.

    Hope that alleviates your concerns.

    --
    See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
  11. Re:One Word by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 5, Funny

    Personally, I wish they'd write a secure user. Then AV wouldn't be necessary.

  12. Re:F5 IRule by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 5, Funny

    You've got an actual Ass Hat? Where'd you get it? I could order a couple hundred because a lot of people deserve them.

    In fact, let's spam the White House and Congress with a million Ass Hats. I'm sure some enterprising person could design a hat that resembles the south end of a north-bound mule.

    --
    You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
  13. Re:Sure AVG's not slimy... by Slashdot+Suxxors · · Score: 5, Funny

    Whatever man, you haven't lived till you've used used a flamethrower to burn a bee's nest, a firehose to put out a candle, or a .50 cal to get rid your "rodent" problem.

  14. Re:One Word by paulzeye · · Score: 5, Funny

    Actually I think on access scanning is a great way to cripple performance : )

  15. Re:Sure AVG's not slimy... by rrkap · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, its the equivalent of taking a flamethrower to all your neighbor's houses because you think there might be a wasp flying around.

    Oh, come on! Who hasn't done that?

    --
    I like my beverages with warning labels!