| reply to eburger68
Re: Adware Vendors Running for Cover... Hi All:
Just to expand a bit on Ben's helpful explanation, we are seeing dodgy anti-spyware applications that are actually being installed as part of a larger collection of adware/spyware programs delivered to users' desktops via drive-by-downloads. The three big ones that are known to be installed via this kind of mass drive-by installation process are SpySpotter, Spyblocs/eBlocs, and Spyware Stormer. In fact, Spyblocs/eBlocs showed up in the adware/spyware collections that I used in two of my tests back in October (see »spywarewarrior.com/asw-test-guide.htm ). Moreover, you can search any of the larger anti-spyware forums and find numerous complaints from unwitting victims of these three anti-spyware apps.
Now, I do not have knowledge of the precise arrangments and relationships among the various companies involved in these inexcusable installation processes, but I find them much more troubling than the search site listings discussed above. There is no excuse whatsoever for an anti-spyware application to be downloaded and installed via the same installation methods as the software it's supposed to be detecting and removing.
Best,
Eric L. Howes |
