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Norton Users Worried By PIFTS.exe, Stonewalling By Symantec
An anonymous reader writes that "[Monday] evening, on systems with Norton Internet Protection running, users began to see a popup warning about an executable named PIFTS.exe trying to access the internet. The file was shown to be located in a non-existent folder inside the Symantec LiveUpdate folder. There were several posts about this to the Norton customer forums asking for help or information on this mysterious program. The initial thread received several thousand views and several pages of replies in a few short hours before being deleted. Several subsequent posts to the Norton forum were deleted much more quickly. These actions — whether actively covering up, or simply not well thought through — have spurred people to begin crafting conspiracy theories about the purposes of this PIFTS program. I for one am blocking the program until more information becomes available." The current top link on Google for "PIFTS.exe" links to one of these deleted questions on Norton's support boards, which sounds innocent enough: "I searched this forum but did not see PIFTS.exe. Any idea what this is?"
has become self aware.
We are here to protect you. You can trust us.
Let's begin the conspiracy theories:
Ping Internet For Time on Slashdot?
Don't worry about it. It's just the Privacy Invader From Team Symantec.
Possible
Information
For
Terrorist
Sleeper cells
Therefore...Norton* = Terrorist.
*the slashdot user "Em Emalb" does not seriously think Norton supports terrorism, in fact, if the pounding on his door is any indicator, neither does Nort...)&(^#%)*&#^ stoptazingmePeterNorton! OWWW! Sonofa...that thing stings bro.
Sent from your iPad.
P = Purposely
I = Introduced
F = File
T = Thieving
S = System
Didn't you know? In order to reduce the cost of Norton subscriptions, every Norton install now runs a clandestine side business in gun-running and coke smuggling...
If that's true, Symantec must be dumber than I thought if they provided a backdoor to a firewall that allows said firewall to warn the user.
'If Christ had tweeted the sermon on the mount, it might have lasted until nightfall.' - John Perry Barlow
*PIFTS*
No, that's not the file. That's the noise I make in disgust everytime somebody tells me to install Norton.
I'd rather download WINDOWSANTIVIRUS.jpg.exe from bittorrent. At least that will shut up every now and then after I pay the extortion fee.
PIFTS is the sound of their market share with the excellent way they are treating their customers.
I know I would be removing this from my machines.
"Because we are not employing at entry level, offshoring will kill our industry stone dead."
Maybe Norton's anti-virus is so good that even THEY can't get a virus past it? ;)
What sort of response are you talking about?
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
>>>Norton is a turd....It's like a parasite that eats cycles for no reason
I have McAfee on my new laptop. Is that any better, or should I remove it immediately? Why or why not?
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Wow, you managed to uninstall Norton A/V in less than 48 hours????
Perfectly Innocent Firewall Testing System
I know a guy who knows someone who dated the sister of someone at symantec, and lets just say, they're going to team up with Starbucks To Begin Sinister 'Phase Two' Of Operation
Thanks for effort. I just hope you will have the time to do it while still following the other piece of news you have posted on your blog regarding the immediate annexation of Mexico by the U.S...
There is an effort underway here http://chrysler5thavenue.blogspot.com/
The previous blog entry on this site is that the US is annexing Mexico. Looks like a reliable source to me.
Just waiting for Norton to pop up and say.... "Dear Honorable Sir or madam I am writing to you from Norton Nigerias headquarters. Please advise you have been awarded Nortons prize fund of one million thousand dollers please enter your account details below to receive funds in due course."
Laters Sol "Have you found the secrets of the universe? Asked Zebade "I'm sure I left them here somewhere"
FROST PIFTS!
Strawman? False Dichotomy? Slippery Slope?
Man... where do I even begin to explain how bizarre this leap of logic is? Not even Evel Knievel could make this jump.
Sure, and McDonalds is the most well known and available restaurant in the world. Does that say anything about the quality of it?
Yes it does. It suggests that McDonalds doesn't poison its customers most of the time (or they wouldn't come back). Beyond that, no, not really.
.sig withheld by request
/ yet another smug, uninfected Linux user.
BAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAAAAA*choke*
You remember you told me to tell you when you were being rude and obnoxious?
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Not even Evel Knievel could make this jump.
Is that because he is dead? Or because the gap is too far?
12. Profit???
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Exactly how many fucking many processes does Norton need to have running at one time???
So many that they are running out of Process ID numbers. There is a move afoot to ditch the old PIDv4 standard and adopt the new PIDv6 standard. This will a LOT more Norton processes to run, thus enhancing security.