Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.
Jason Perlow, Sr. Technology Editor at ZDNet, is a technologist with over two decades of experience integrating large heterogeneous multi-vendor computing environments in Fortune 500 companies. Jason is currently a Technology Solution Professional with Microsoft Corp. His expressed views do not necessarily represent those of his employer.
Considering the popularity of peer-to-peer programs on ZDNet Downloads, Ben Edelman's latest article will be of particular interest. He compares the bundled spyware and license agreements in five of the top file sharing apps.
While researching the pop-up behavior of 180Search I found that the advertisers paying for exposure are being taken for a ride.
According to this post at Vital Security, a component of spyware BroadcastPC causes the download and installation of Microsoft's .NET Framework.
While researching the pop-up behavior of 180Search, I found that the advertisers paying for exposure are being taken for a ride. 180Search claims to have cleaned up their act, only delivering two or three ads a day (still too many, in my opinion) and performing a clean uninstall.
While adware makers such as WhenU and 180Search try to play nice and reenter decent society, spyware vendor IDownload.com, which also operates under the name ISearch.
Showing its concern for our privacy and its own general competence, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appointed D. Reed Freeman, a Vice President of Claria, to its Privacy Advisory Committee.
Security researchers at Microsoft warned against the possible use of rootkits by spyware manufacturers, in a Computerworld article. This tactic would make spyware nearly impossible to detect and remove.
As reported in Spyware Warrior, Lavasoft adjusted its Threat Assessment Chart and put WhenU back in Ad-Aware's definition file. One problem with an adware company cleaning up its act and trying to get out of antispyware definition lists is that there's usually a ton of old installations of their software crippling computers.
I really like the Computer Associates Spyware Information Center. Not only does it host a searchable database of spyware, it also shows a list of newly discovered components.
Lavasoft is currently facing the wrath of Ad-Aware users due to the fact that it removed WhenU from its definition file.