".....it actually overwrites parts of the user's TCP/IP stack"
Our software does NOT overwrite the TCP/IP stack; it adds itself to the TCP/IP stack.
".....so that any time they access the internet (not just their browser), it gets pushed through the (usually fairly buggy) New.Net DLLs."
This information is false. Internet access is NOT pushed through our software. Our software recognizes when the user is trying to access a New.net domain name extension and ONLY then does it route the user through our software.
"And the fun part is, if you (or the user) uncheck the New.Net software in MSCONFIG, it doesn't just stop New.Net from working...They simply stop being able to use the internet."
I'm not sure where you thought that using MSCONFIG would stop our software from working. The RUN registry entry that you are referring to, does not affect the fucntionality of the software. That registry entry is used to update the software. Disabling this registry entry will NOT disable Internet access but it will prevent our software from updating.
"So then we have to pray that their version of New.Net has a working uninstaller,"
All of the versions of our software came with a working uninstaller. However, some uninstallers were rendered useless once a "tech support rep" started to use unconventional and unsupported methods of removing our software.
"....or we have to go through a huge manual uninstall that involves removing multiple registry keys."
There is no need to use any such manual removal procedures to remove our software. Proper removal instructions and accurate information about our software can be found at http://www.newdotnet.com.
Leonard Amabile Director of Customer Support New.net, Inc.
Okay, so now we know that you are commenting on an older version of our software. And how long ago did you contact us to correct the problem? Our registry instructions take no more than 15-20 minutes to clear out the registry entries that uninstall would have removed had it been working. I admit that our older versions had problems and we have actively made improvements in subsequent releases of our software. There has not been a customer that has had a problem with our software that my support group has not been able to correct; if it is the result of our software. I might add that New.net is not the only software that adds itself into the TCP/IP stack and we have willingly corrected faults on other software as well in order to correct a customer's network issues. We follow the guidelines specified from Microsoft on LSP provisions and we do not sway from the guidelines in any way.
"I would say the primary reason that Ad-Aware isn't touching new.net is they're terrified (rightly) of damaging a user's IP stack during the uninstall. Too bad you weren't worried about the same thing when you wrote earlier versions of your software. I understand that recent versions of new.net are improved in this area, and I applaud your decision to test it."
Any of your comments regarding Ad-Aware is false and I would like for you to provide evidence that otherwise. I have been in contact with Lavasoft many times and the result, from Lavasoft, was that we are not "spyware" and that they had no reason to remove us.
Your comments suggesting that we are a trojan is most offensive and should be corrected as soon as possible. Its comments like yours that spread the wrong information and cause fear and concern to users that would otherwise not have a problem. We do not transmit any personally identifiable information and our software is a service to our users and customers.
Leonard Amabile Director of Customer Support New.net, Inc.
What I meant by, "We in no way install in a "stealthy manner", since it is the responsibility of the user to read the install screens that are provided during an installation.", was that we have screens outside of the EULA that explain what our software does and what is being installed so that the user is informed.
And as I have stated, we are currently looking into our disclosures and will update or change what is necessary. I welcome suggestions, if we have missed something or if there is a better way to disclose our installation.
Leonard Amabile
Director of Customer Support
New.net, Inc.
First off let me provide some background information regarding our software.
Below is the list of all of our present and past distribution partners (download partners have always been clearly listed on the New.net website):
Present Partners:
BearShare KaZaA iMesh
Past Partners:
Go!Zilla Babylon Cydoor GDivx WebShots
Each one of our current and previous distribution partners is required to provide disclosure during installation that our software is bundled. We in no way install in a "stealthy manner", since it is the responsibility of the user to read the install screens that are provided during an installation.
In light of these recent comments regarding disclosure, we are working with each of our distribution partners to improve awareness of the New.net bundle in the install process.
New.net's software provides a service to its customers as well as its users that want to gain access to domain extensions that our sold on our site. In order to provide resolution, our software adds itself to the TCP/IP stack. There are other methods to resolving our domain extensions such as adding "new.net" to the domain suffix search order or adding our DNS servers in the DNS server search order in the network configurations. You may also append ".new.net" to the domain extension in the address bar of the browser for resolution. Our software is our "user friendly" way of providing such access. Manually changing network configurations requires a reboot whereas our software can install in seconds and provide resolution immediately.
Our software is not "unstable" in anyway unless a user tampers with the configuration to a point where it makes Windows unstable. This is consistent with any other software that adds itself to the TCP/IP stack. If someone were to just randomly start deleting files on their system that are referenced in the TCP/IP stack, without first checking to see if there is an uninstall in Add/Remove Programs, then of course you would expect nothing less than an unstable or corrupt system with network issues.
"The little war I mentioned earlier is going to get nastier soon. Uninvited components like Cydoor and NEW.NET are sure to take steps to defeat Ad-Aware and programs like it. If I wrote a stealth component today, I would have it seek out an Ad-Aware signature file and modify it to ignore me, or add my directory to the ignore lists. Ad-Aware could respond by digitally signing the files, or with other techniques. This cycle will escalate, with each side taking new steps to ensure its dominance. Users will pay the price in decreasing system stability."
Let's be clear on this point: New.net does not create or distribute any kind of stealth software in order to avoid signature files for Ad-Aware. In fact, Lavasoft had determined that our software is not "spyware" and discontinued removing our software since August 2001. I welcome anyone to contact Lavasoft directly for further information. There are still mirror sites out there that list New.net as a component that is removed by Ad-Aware; but I assure you that these sites reflect information prior to August 2001.
"I've been beating up on NEW.NET quite a bit in this article. I suppose it's because the deinstallation of their component trashed the IP stack on my Windows 2000 system and it took me a half day to put it back together again. What the hell were they thinking when they stuffed a buggy service deep into my IP stack without telling me? I think they should have to compensate me in some way. A $250 Small claims court action here in Virginia might be a way to do it."
The New.net client is clearly listed in Add/Remove Programs like the majority of all other software and when the correct procedure is used then the software is properly uninstalled. If someone decides to remove software "their way" as opposed to the correct way then you can assuredly expect problems. Please explain your procedures of "deinstallation" that lead to a "trashed IP stack," this may be useful to the New.net QA team.
Leonard Amabile Director of Customer Support New.net, Inc.
Slashdot Mirror
".....it actually overwrites parts of the user's TCP/IP stack"
Our software does NOT overwrite the TCP/IP stack; it adds itself to the TCP/IP stack.
".....so that any time they access the internet (not just their browser), it gets pushed through the (usually fairly buggy) New.Net DLLs."
This information is false. Internet access is NOT pushed through our software. Our software recognizes when the user is trying to access a New.net domain name extension and ONLY then does it route the user through our software.
"And the fun part is, if you (or the user) uncheck the New.Net software in MSCONFIG, it doesn't just stop New.Net from working...They simply stop being able to use the internet."
I'm not sure where you thought that using MSCONFIG would stop our software from working. The RUN registry entry that you are referring to, does not affect the fucntionality of the software. That registry entry is used to update the software. Disabling this registry entry will NOT disable Internet access but it will prevent our software from updating.
"So then we have to pray that their version of New.Net has a working uninstaller,"
All of the versions of our software came with a working uninstaller. However, some uninstallers were rendered useless once a "tech support rep" started to use unconventional and unsupported methods of removing our software.
"....or we have to go through a huge manual uninstall that involves removing multiple registry keys."
There is no need to use any such manual removal procedures to remove our software. Proper removal instructions and accurate information about our software can be found at http://www.newdotnet.com.
Leonard Amabile
Director of Customer Support
New.net, Inc.
Okay, so now we know that you are commenting on an older version of our software. And how long ago did you contact us to correct the problem? Our registry instructions take no more than 15-20 minutes to clear out the registry entries that uninstall would have removed had it been working. I admit that our older versions had problems and we have actively made improvements in subsequent releases of our software. There has not been a customer that has had a problem with our software that my support group has not been able to correct; if it is the result of our software. I might add that New.net is not the only software that adds itself into the TCP/IP stack and we have willingly corrected faults on other software as well in order to correct a customer's network issues. We follow the guidelines specified from Microsoft on LSP provisions and we do not sway from the guidelines in any way.
"I would say the primary reason that Ad-Aware isn't touching new.net is they're terrified (rightly) of damaging a user's IP stack during the uninstall. Too bad you weren't worried about the same thing when you wrote earlier versions of your software. I understand that recent versions of new.net are improved in this area, and I applaud your decision to test it."
Any of your comments regarding Ad-Aware is false and I would like for you to provide evidence that otherwise. I have been in contact with Lavasoft many times and the result, from Lavasoft, was that we are not "spyware" and that they had no reason to remove us.
Your comments suggesting that we are a trojan is most offensive and should be corrected as soon as possible. Its comments like yours that spread the wrong information and cause fear and concern to users that would otherwise not have a problem. We do not transmit any personally identifiable information and our software is a service to our users and customers.
Leonard Amabile
Director of Customer Support
New.net, Inc.
What I meant by, "We in no way install in a "stealthy manner", since it is the responsibility of the user to read the install screens that are provided during an installation.", was that we have screens outside of the EULA that explain what our software does and what is being installed so that the user is informed.
And as I have stated, we are currently looking into our disclosures and will update or change what is necessary. I welcome suggestions, if we have missed something or if there is a better way to disclose our installation.
Leonard Amabile
Director of Customer Support
New.net, Inc.
First off let me provide some background information regarding our software.
Below is the list of all of our present and past distribution partners (download partners have always been clearly listed on the New.net website):
Present Partners:
BearShare
KaZaA
iMesh
Past Partners:
Go!Zilla
Babylon
Cydoor
GDivx
WebShots
Each one of our current and previous distribution partners is required to provide disclosure during installation that our software is bundled. We in no way install in a "stealthy manner", since it is the responsibility of the user to read the install screens that are provided during an installation.
In light of these recent comments regarding disclosure, we are working with each of our distribution partners to improve awareness of the New.net bundle in the install process.
New.net's software provides a service to its customers as well as its users that want to gain access to domain extensions that our sold on our site. In order to provide resolution, our software adds itself to the TCP/IP stack. There are other methods to resolving our domain extensions such as adding "new.net" to the domain suffix search order or adding our DNS servers in the DNS server search order in the network configurations. You may also append ".new.net" to the domain extension in the address bar of the browser for resolution. Our software is our "user friendly" way of providing such access. Manually changing network configurations requires a reboot whereas our software can install in seconds and provide resolution immediately.
Our software is not "unstable" in anyway unless a user tampers with the configuration to a point where it makes Windows unstable. This is consistent with any other software that adds itself to the TCP/IP stack. If someone were to just randomly start deleting files on their system that are referenced in the TCP/IP stack, without first checking to see if there is an uninstall in Add/Remove Programs, then of course you would expect nothing less than an unstable or corrupt system with network issues.
"The little war I mentioned earlier is going to get nastier soon. Uninvited components like Cydoor and NEW.NET are sure to take steps to defeat Ad-Aware and programs like it. If I wrote a stealth component today, I would have it seek out an Ad-Aware signature file and modify it to ignore me, or add my directory to the ignore lists. Ad-Aware could respond by digitally signing the files, or with other techniques. This cycle will escalate, with each side taking new steps to ensure its dominance. Users will pay the price in decreasing system stability."
Let's be clear on this point: New.net does not create or distribute any kind of stealth software in order to avoid signature files for Ad-Aware. In fact, Lavasoft had determined that our software is not "spyware" and discontinued removing our software since August 2001. I welcome anyone to contact Lavasoft directly for further information. There are still mirror sites out there that list New.net as a component that is removed by Ad-Aware; but I assure you that these sites reflect information prior to August 2001.
"I've been beating up on NEW.NET quite a bit in this article. I suppose it's because the deinstallation of their component trashed the IP stack on my Windows 2000 system and it took me a half day to put it back together again. What the hell were they thinking when they stuffed a buggy service deep into my IP stack without telling me? I think they should have to compensate me in some way. A $250 Small claims court action here in Virginia might be a way to do it."
The New.net client is clearly listed in Add/Remove Programs like the majority of all other software and when the correct procedure is used then the software is properly uninstalled. If someone decides to remove software "their way" as opposed to the correct way then you can assuredly expect problems. Please explain your procedures of "deinstallation" that lead to a "trashed IP stack," this may be useful to the New.net QA team.
Leonard Amabile
Director of Customer Support
New.net, Inc.