Free Spyware Doctor Edition

Discussion in 'other anti-malware software' started by Oleg, Jun 30, 2005.

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  1. sclausen

    sclausen Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 24, 2005
    Posts:
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    Beef, it's a pity that you posted anonymously as we have no way to respond to your concerns directly. Live Update checks are pretty standard practice these days and I think we have explained and admitted the reasons why this is occurring previously in this thread. You of course have the right to your opinion but we'll have to respectfully disagree with your comments.

    To VaMPiRiC_CRoW, JRCATES is correct, we are constantly updating the program with new scanners, OnGuard real-time and tools through Live Update. The benefit of this is that we are generally able to improve any part of the program without waiting for a major release, compared to some other products that had to release standalone hotfixes/new product versions for specific threats early this year we can just update or add a scanner through Live Update.

    Regards,

    Simon Clausen
     
  2. Bubba

    Bubba Updates Team

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2002
    Posts:
    11,271
    Perhaps you need to re-read the response given early on in this thread and enlighten all of us where You feel the beef is :doubt:

    Posted earlier by sclausen---> https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=540482#post540482

    Otherwise you are simply spreading Fud with your comment of...."your program began as a Trojan.....an will be consider as such by many"
     
  3. peakaboo

    peakaboo Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2002
    Posts:
    377
    Simon,

    re: the MD5 changes...

    1) I received a response from Kelly Griffin on your Staff

    @ 10:28:18 PM
    Tue, Sep 13th 2005

    saying:

    This is a known Spyware Doctor occurance on some operating systems, and is not something malicious you should be concerned about.

    Kind Regards,

    Kelly Griffin
    Technical Support Representative

    *******

    2) It looks like the date on your post I am quoting was prior to Kelly's response.

    3) If you run across this please verify Kelly's response and if you could add a little more information as to why this is happening, and what if anything I can do to stop it.

    The issue is very disconcerting, since the 1st thing one thinks of is some sort of trojan or dll injection.

    + Were you able to duplicate the problem and was it Kerio 2.1.5 which was breaking the md5 check sum for swdoctor.exe?

    I appreciate your Spyware Doctor program and your effort to satisfy your customers.
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2005
  4. Beefcarver

    Beefcarver Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2005
    Posts:
    263
    Location:
    michigan
    I downloded the cnet version that supposed to clean. But it never finds anything and has nothing to clean... But I think im spyware free anyway.
    Is anyone using this and actually cleaning anything? I mean the free version?
    Or how I can use something to test it to see if it catches it?
     
  5. sclausen

    sclausen Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 24, 2005
    Posts:
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    peakaboo, regarding the MD5 change what we do know is it does not appear malicious as it also happens on a clean box, but it appears to only happen on Windows Me in our testing (if you have a different OS please let us know). It's possible that it's caused by our software protection as that effectively "wraps" the program and attempts to avoid some cracking / reverse engineering, possibly something in Windows Me is triggering this.

    We've sent a message to the makers of the protection software to see if they know more, but it appears confirmed it's nothing to worry about and is not caused by anything malicious.

    Regards,

    Simon Clausen
     
  6. peakaboo

    peakaboo Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2002
    Posts:
    377
    Simon,

    Thank You for looking into this.

    Yes the machine in question is running WinME.

    Just a suggestion, but you may consider adding this to your FAQ list page. That is one of the first places I went to try and understand the issue.

    If there is something that can be done to prevent this, I'm sure you will try and accomplish.
     
  7. Beef

    Beef Guest

    To: Simon Clausen

    Its only normal that you would disagree. As a business person your goal is to make money. An the last thing you want is for the public to question .
    Your explanation of the Live Update was sorely lacking. In essence you said that the Public could not be trusted to make decisions for themselves SO YOU MADE THE DECISION FOR THEM which reeks of a Big Brother mentality . You did not ASK PERMISSION to install your Live Update nor did you give the Public an opportunity to refuse your Live Update. you simply failed to inform the Public that it even existed . YOU TOTALLY DISRESPECTED THE PUBLIC by making YOUR decisions and YOUR choices instead of allowing the Public to make their own choices.
    There were other options you could have used to programm the Updater. Did you even consider those options or did you just take it upon yourself to install the Live Update Trojan an to hell with what the public may or may not want.
    You clearly stated that YOU did not want YOUR COMPANY to look bad if the Public failed to update your program. Your concern was for YOUR company image not the public.
    Double-Talk may work on the Newbes and Groupies. A few in-experience computer users may actually be taken in by your “explanation” but that wont change the facts. Your program was a Call-Home BECAUSE YOU CHOOSE TO MAKE IT THAT WAY. An in so doing you insulted the Public. You placed yourself above The Free Will Of The Public and Their Freedom Of Choice.
    Now, do really think that you are a person who should be trusted? What about the next time YOU DECIDE that You want to do it YOUR WAY . Can your products ever be trusted not to contain trojans?
    You did it once will you do it again? When were you going to inform the Public about the Live Updater?
    If you had not been caught would you ever have mentioned it?
    The Public is not as ignorant as you seem to think. An the Public can decide if they want to purchase your products knowing now that those products may contain questionable contents.
    Sir, I carry no ill will towards you. My time is far to valuable to waste in such a manner. As a business person every hour of every day decisions are made by me so there is no lacking on my part at being able to make rational judgments.

    Again, let it be understood that its not why your program called home that's an issue. Its the fact that it called home PERIOD that's an issue. You have no right to secretly install a Live Updater on a person’s computer without their knowledge and permission.

    Now I am finish with this conversation so anyone who cares to comment can do so to anyone other than myself.
     
  8. Lizard Man

    Lizard Man Guest

    Sounds like the BEEF is suffering from small penis syndrone !

    I applaud Simon for posting and clearing up some of the questions in this forum. I will move on from the free version to purchase a Version.


    Thanks PC TOOLS !
     
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