Yahoo! Anti-Spy

looks like Yahoo! is joning the spyware fight.

Yahoo Article

 

"Anti-Spy is supported by third-party software provided by Carlisle, Pa.-based PestPatrol. Pete Cafarchio, the company's VP of business development, called the Yahoo! product a "stripped down" version of PestPatrol's free anti-spyware software."

LOL, given the less than stellar record of pest patrol to avoid false positives,possibly the stripped down version won't cause as many false positives as the "full one" !

 

Seeing's as I'm not a regular poster here, I'm not sure this will even go in. Personally I think Yahoo joining the spyware fight is a joke. I am currently in the process of removing wildtangent from my pc which was installed with a game from guess who....yahoo....

 

http://www.eweek.com/print_article/0,1761,a=128565,00.asp

See read and shiver -- maybe they're only fighting concurrents spyware, as they partnered themselves with gator/gain etc etc.

 

Edelman said of Yahoo. "It's not clear if Yahoo is on the side of the user or the advertisers."

...it's always nice to read about a company right here in my home town, Sunnyvale, California. I don't read anything negative into this. It may be a questionable decision from a business standpoint to distribute a program that targets its business partners. I assume Yahoo! is attempting damage control for its slightly tarnished image. And so what if adware removal is not selected by default and you have to check a box?

(Patient: "I get a sharp pain when ever I move my arm like this." Doctor: "Then don't move your arm like that").

The whole thing is sort of remeniscent of M$oft providing patches for the holes that they made in the first place. It doesn't make me trust M$, but that won't stop me from installing the patch.

-HandsOff

 

Mike Healan of SpywareInfo published an article about this in his Spyware Weekly Newsletter. You may read about it HERE.

Regards,
Kent

 

Hi Kent, i read the article and i do agree with Mikes point of view that it would be more convenient to have the program operate the same way that Pest Patrol does with regards to adware. In fact if Pest Patrols free version has more customizable functionality I would forego the yahoo version and simply use the Pest Patrol version.

However i still hail yahoo!'s move as positive because in the big picture more spyware adware will be neutralized as a result. Sure they could give you a better product. They could also sent me a check for $1000 bucks. The name of the game is doing the best you can with the tools at your disposal.

I will even go a step further. Considering the bad publicity and flack they are getting both from the public and from their business partners, I have to say it was a gutsy move to do as much as they did. Do you think their relations with Claria are going to get better as a result of this? Come on, give them some credit for moving in the right direction. (That last not directed at you Kent, or anyone in particular - just people that seem annoyed because they were given a gift, but they want a better gift).

-HandsOff

 

I think this overlooks a crucial difference: M$, for all it's other faults, is not a business partner with those who profit from such security holes (especially in light of Skittles46's remark, although one should be skeptical of what reads on forums).

Unless Yahoo! intends to make this a fully implemented detector/remover, or at least provides an unmistakable disclaimer stating its limited functionality after each scan, I see the danger this program might give users a false sense of security. While such a feature might be better than no spyware checker at all, what would reduce the amount of adware/spyware even more is Yahoo! promoting the much better tools that already exist and encouraging people to use them. Of course, I admit that Yahoo! might prove me wrong that this isn't simply a publicity/p.r. stunt rather than an earnest attempt at eradicating all the spyware and adware it possibly can. But given the severity of the conflict of interest, coupled with the what at present appears to be a program of dubious value, I doubt very much they will.

 

...about M$ not partnering with those who take advantage of the security "opportunities" that M$ has generated.

It's very hard to wade through all the disclaimers and fine print and nail them down on something, but for instance

Internet Explore search and Alexia? Maybe not technically, but it seems like they are compromising your searches

What about Wild Tangent spyware in programs that are linked to on Windows Media player support pages? In my book if M$ has a link on there site that is supposed to be a support page, and the site linked to installs spyware...

What am I saying? They had disclaimers...somewhere...probably.

It seems to me that you are right about a conflict of interest though. That is why I would suggest that someone choose an antispyware product by it's merits rather than because it is offered to you. On the other hand, If you already install and use yahoo software, then you have established some degree of trust. If they could be trusted to install WWW software then you better be able to trust them with the antispyware. Trust is getting scarce with regards to the internet. For peoplel who may have been burned with bogus spyware and antipopup programs and the like, yahoos offering could be a real benefit.

-HandsOff