Spyware: August 2004 Archives
http://www3.ca.com/Press/pressrelease.asp?CID=61871
Computer Associates, the collector of software companies, has purchased PestPatrol. Pestpatrol was most recently in the news for providing a spyware plugin for the Yahoo toolbar, but conventiently turning off the detection for Claria (Gator) which provides a large portion of Yahoo's income.
Pest Patrol has also released a first generation corporate anti-spyware scanner that has an interface resembling a high schoolers c++ final project.
Spybot Search and Destroy has gained legitimate accolades as a anti-spyware tool. Some people have tried to take advantage of that by pretending to be Spybot but offering a different product and charging for it (Spybot S&D is free).
Make sure that your friends and family are getting the real deal from Patrick Kolla at http://security.kolla.de/ or www.safer-networking.org (same site). The software is also available from tucows and download.com. Dont fall for fakes
Symantec is being sued for labeling a product as spyware according to a news.com article. It says that Symantec has labeled TrackEight's product "Spyware Nuker" as adware and as such they have lost business. The SARC writeup is linked here.
SpywareNuker is on the list of rogue/suspect spyware applications maintained by spywarewarrior.com. It seems that TrackEights parent company includes adware in most of the products they release. Earlier versions of spyware nuker were ripped off of adaware and spybot search and destroy. This earlier version is still being distributed.
Although the current version is reported to not have these same problems, their sibling companies are responsible for Bargain Buddy, WhenU and MySearch crapware. Do you really want to be using software to remove adware/spyware from the same company that put it there in the first place?
I couldn't wade through this thread but it remains pretty clear to me that TrackEight are not reputable people.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out assuming the results become public knowledge.
