Broadband Tech > Security > Security > ASW Vendors in La-La Land

reply to Kiwi

Re: ASW Vendors in La-La Land

reply to antiserious
"and OUR thread's not goin' anywhere"

Neither is my browser's cache. (just boosted it to 100MB)

reply to christos
Edit: I posted too quickly about Lavasoft deleting
discussion threads. In this case it appears to be
accidental. But the question about WhenU still remains,
and won't go away if they ignore it.

2nd edit: I wonder if all of this is merely a database
error that Lavasoft is still trying to sort out. That
they really didn't mean to remove WhenU from the detection
list, and that somehow the file got scrambled up. It has
happened before, I think.

reply to eburger68
Folks,

It maybe WORSE than thought, here is a quote over at the Lavasoft Forum:

"I've noticed two definition files that have been smaller in size, the first one was on Jan 11th, the second was the latest ref file. I noticed Claria was one of the updated definitions on the Jan 11th update, does Ad-Aware still detect Claria?

I would be interested to know what exactly was removed if anything, since as I understand it, the definition files should be a bit larger, unless they removed some FP's or extra definitions..."

What ELSE Pray tell, may be removed?

For ther entire thread click here:

»www.lavasoftsupport.com/index.ph···ic=59008

reply to eburger68
I ran the current Ad-Aware bundle from BetaNews, which has the SE1R26 definitions (25 Jan 2005), and BearShare 4.6.3.4 on a test XP Home Edition SP1a install. Even though I didn't start BearShare itself post-install, the VVSN process was already running at the time I ran a default Ad-Aware scan -- which only produced hits on old Alexa "stuff."

Anecdotally, in the Spyware Warrior commentary that Eric provided a link to in his original post, it sounds like the SE1R25 / 11 Jan 2005 definitions still flagged WhenU, but the SE1R26 definitions I'm seeing don't seem to...

Thanks,

Philip Sloss
--
Feedback? e-mail: stuff@lupwa.org

reply to eburger68
...With all this crap going on in the anti-spyware business, I have to wonder why anyone would buy an anti-spyware product. Download a demo, donate to Kolla, maybe, but with Giant now in Microsoft's uncaring hands, Aluria corrupted, and Pest Patrol and Lavasoft at the very least appearing so (not to mention Pest Patrol's false positive issue), who's to say who to trust?

And of course, appearance matters--deserved or not. I don't think I'll ever look on Ad-Aware with any sort of trust, now.
--
TCPA - Treacherous Computing
Kerio 2.1.5 - Best damn firewall
Licenses should be per user, Ditch Norton! Get F-Prot!

reply to psloss

Anyone know the size of the SE1R24 and SE1R23 files, how much LARGER were they?

Hint Hint, know what I mean.

reply to salzan

I have the SE125 definitions. They were saved as ref.old in the Lavasoft folder after the update. Would you like them?

On their way.

reply to eburger68
Huh! What a thought, have to dig out the old files off the CD backup! Then, perhaps it's time to review the source code! I know, not nice but extreme circumstance & no resolve forces issues, perhaps. Not ONE single Adaware response to date, so I guess I was stupid enough to miss 'something' ~Will back check tomorrow.

Deliberate omission of Spyware, from Adaware checks, seems like a crime, they better fess up or fix it!

I'm going hunting, no rifle or handgun Just some basic "Tools". Eric time to get serious and get this can of 'worms' either resolved or take Adaware OFF DSLR.

Cheers
--
2.66g/533fsb Intel CPU @ 3.48g512meg Twinmos PC3700~466 DDR @ 2.8v -PCpower&Cooling 512.ATI 9500 Pro @ 9700 Pro @1.6v--AMD ASUS A7N8X-E ~2500+ @3200 ATI 9500 Pro, Corsair 512LL.-- Aristotle.net

reply to eburger68
First of all I would like to thank you Eric for keeping the internet community informed of important matters. If it wasn't for people like you the internet would be in chaos.

Now getting to what I really wanted to say. It makes me want to puke to think that the anti adware and spyware vendors are sleeping with the enemy that most of the internet community is so against. We depend on the anti adware and spyware vendors to defend the internet from bogus and deceitful products that do more harm than good. As you so proven Eric, even some of the most popular anti adware and spyware vendors can't be trusted.

Whatever happened to rightful ownership? These days when someone goes and buys a computer and hooks it up to the internet, it is no longer there computer to own. Either a piece of software or a website owns your computer. It's like a hundred hands grabbing at your computer pulling it in all different directions. They invade your privacy and force things on you that you don't want.

What's the next best thing to do? You do like allot of other people are doing, disconnecting themselves from the world wide web or you can just limit yourself to websites that you know. Notice how I didn't say trust cause trust needs to be earned. As we seen, the anti adware and spyware vendors that we trusted for so long can no longer be trusted with our computer security needs. They smiled in our face for so long and now stabbed us in the back.

Since we can't trust the anti adware and spyware vendors, the internet community needs to take action on there own. A person's voice is a powerful tool in the fight against unwanted adware and spyware. We need to let these companies know where we stand on this and that we mean business. Money speaks a thousand words for any company and the more we speak up against what is being done, the more we can make a difference.

My 2 cents

Cheers

reply to eburger68

... someone mentioned a backup cd, so I just checked mine ... I have two defs.ref files backed up (if anybody wants them, IM me), the 12-13-04 file's 403KB, the 12-16-04 file's 409KB ...

... just sayin' ...

--
... "Nobody's perfect - well, there was this one guy, but we killed Him" ... Christopher Moore, 'Lamb' ...

reply to salzan

reply to psloss
For what it's worth ...

Reference Number : SE1R20 25.11.2004
Internal build : 25
File size : 401144 Bytes
Total size : 1271832 Bytes
Signature data size : 1242561 Bytes
Reference data size : 28759 Bytes
Signatures total : 35327
Fingerprints total : 536
Fingerprints size : 20604 Bytes
Target categories : 15
Target families : 620

Reference Number : SE1R21 03.12.2004
Internal build : 26
File size : 407954 Bytes
Total size : 1292266 Bytes
Signature data size : 1262795 Bytes
Reference data size : 28959 Bytes
Signatures total : 35914
Fingerprints total : 577
Fingerprints size : 21902 Bytes
Target categories : 15
Target families : 625

Reference Number : SE1R22 13.12.2004
Internal build : 27
File size : 412583 Bytes
Total size : 1306536 Bytes
Signature data size : 1276987 Bytes
Reference data size : 29037 Bytes
Signatures total : 36308
Fingerprints total : 597
Fingerprints size : 22525 Bytes
Target categories : 15
Target families : 628

Reference Number : SE1R23 16.12.2004
Internal build : 28
File size : 418765 Bytes
Total size : 1325342 Bytes
Signature data size : 1295582 Bytes
Reference data size : 29248 Bytes
Signatures total : 36831
Fingerprints total : 624
Fingerprints size : 23478 Bytes
Target categories : 15
Target families : 634

Reference Number : SE1R24 29.12.2004
Internal build : 29
File size : 416382 Bytes
Total size : 1313453 Bytes
Signature data size : 1283765 Bytes
Reference data size : 29176 Bytes
Signatures total : 36484
Fingerprints total : 610
Fingerprints size : 23044 Bytes
Target categories : 15
Target families : 633

Reference Number : SE1R25 11.01.2005
Internal build : 30
File size : 412196 Bytes
Total size : 1300547 Bytes
Signature data size : 1270864 Bytes
Reference data size : 29171 Bytes
Signatures total : 36186
Fingerprints total : 604
Fingerprints size : 22767 Bytes
Target categories : 15
Target families : 632

Reference Number : SE1R26 25.01.2005
Internal build : 31
File size : 413418 Bytes
Total size : 1303446 Bytes
Signature data size : 1273751 Bytes
Reference data size : 29183 Bytes
Signatures total : 36254
Fingerprints total : 607
Fingerprints size : 22890 Bytes
Target categories : 15
Target families : 632

Reference Number : SE1R27 05.02.2005
Internal build : 32
File size : 410347 Bytes
Total size : 1296130 Bytes
Signature data size : 1266439 Bytes
Reference data size : 29179 Bytes
Signatures total : 36032
Fingerprints total : 616
Fingerprints size : 23320 Bytes
Target categories : 15
Target families : 631

From the past few updates, it looks like over 800 signatures were removed, I hope those were only WhenU, otherwise its going to be tough to find out what else they decided to remove without telling us.

reply to eburger68
That's a significant size reduction. At least Spybot gives you a detailed list of what the definitions are so you can see if something has been removed.
--
"Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too." - Voltaire

I was a bit surprised when aaw dropped from 403kb to 401kb as well when I was pushing the new defs to computers at work. I gave benefit of doubt and thought they had optimized/removed duplicates, I guess I was wrong.