please don't be shocked "Outpost is a spyware"

1st i'm using outpost for 3 years , i like this firewall very much
and i think i have abilities that are not present in other competitors

with the start of version 6.xx product line outpst 2008 and 2009

the product was having many bugs which begin to subsides gradually with development from version to the next
and we know that this is normal for a new version with a completely new architecture to have several bugs like famous ourpost bug in the content filtering that more affects the downloading speed

ALL THESE BUGS BEGIN TO SUBSIDE

but the sad thing is that outpost contains one intentional bug , asort of hard coding for advertizing and selling enhancement purposes

there's no option in outost 6.xx to disable the news
the user is even unaware of the connection of outpost to download these news "THESE BEHAVIOURS ARE TYPICAL SPYWARE BEHAVIOURS"

all the previous versions of out post : outpost 3.0 , outpost 3.51 , outpost 4.0 have an option to completely disable downloading the news

on contrary to outpost 2008 , and outpost 2009 which are hard coded

and i'll never use a hard coded software especially when taking about a software firewall
i'm using the lightest and most bug free version of outpost right now "3.51"
untill outpost get rid of its onvious spyware behaviour

 

Hello,


This is a known issue with workaround

See this thread at OP forums

- Stem

 

You could also contact Agnitum support asking them to make it opt-in and opt-out. The more the better.


Regards

 

I have a lifetime license and this, amongst other things, is one of the reasons i don't use or reccommend Outpost. It is UNACCEPTABLE for a security product, to phone home without the user knowing, even when the user has selected the "manual update" option.

This "news" things, is clearly INTENTIONAL, adware at best, so that they can bombard you with their wonderful news.

This is sad for a security company. It's even more sad, that they know this issue for a LONG time, but they choose to IGNORE it, proposing instead manual hacks (like the one posted above). These aren't serious things for a PAID product. (ZA phones home story of some years ago anyone?).

 

This isn't spyware - programs that surreptitiously monitor and report the actions of a computer user - rather it might be considered a mild form of adaware since it checks for the news every day. I agree that the user should have an option to turn it off in the user interface rather than having to figure out workarounds to block it.

Saying all that, this is rather a minor form of intrusion. Maybe you get a news download once a month. Still, as a customer your are entitled to use whatever criteria you like to purchase any product even if I think it's trivial.

 

Claiming it as "Spyware" is a bit harsh... In fact many softwares "phone" home... They are no adware either... one e.g is cyberlinkPower DVD.

I agree there should be an option for user to disable the ad, but there are alternative to do it... just follow their advise...

At least for me, it's not a big issue.

 

i think it's a big shame for a security product especially when it's a paid software "claimed to be professional" to have this adware behaviour

calling home even if the user don't want that in order to advertise about agnitum products is a typical ADWARE behaviour

and for those how claim that adware is different from spyare , that's ok
but both adware and spyware fall in one category "MALWARES"

for aproduct that is supposed to prevent adwares and spywares , and itself is advertizing about the mother company "BIG BIGSHAME"

and for those who claim that it's not abig issue
i adk them "how can all of u to be sure that these are the only hardcoding related behaviour present in outpost
if the intention is present to put hard codes in a software for other purposes other than the main purpose of the program , so there may be many other hard codes and many other hidden calling home behaviour in this product

 

Again not true. The term Malware comes from malicious and software. That is, software that has a malicious intent falls under the category of malware. Advertisement doesn't fall under that category. Putting adware under the category is a bit like calling people who break the speed limit, criminals.

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Adware or advertising-supported software is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements to a computer after the software is installed on it or while the application is being used. Some types of adware are also spyware and can be classified as privacy-invasive software.

and for me a hard coded firewall is equal to all the rogue anti-spyware programs

 

i'm still asking
Does outpost antispyware , protect against Adware executables , and what is the definition of the word "ADWARE" at the agnitum concept ?

 

I have no problems with you having a personal definition that even your Wikipedia quote doesn't support. It's your right to think as you do. Obviously, you're one of those people for which OP just doesn't fit. That's OK, no software is everything for everybody.

 

OP protects you against all unknown executables. That is, unless you give permission no executable can start. I can't anwer for Agnitum as to what their Adware concept is but I can say that Web Control has a whole module specifically designed to block advertisements.

 

Definitely not spyware or malware unless there is actual proof of information being stolen by the software, so the actual title of this thread should be renamed.
Adware....hmmm..is there a browser or desktop screen hijacking to show these advertments from outpost or is there just a simple display within the firewall panel itself?
If the ads seen only within the firewall itself, I would consider this to be a mild form of adware.
Not like the more severe form of adware, for example, such as the desktop nag screen from avira free ware.

Trying out the outpost 2009 free the past few days and have never trialed the later versions of the outpost Pro, so my personal experience with agnitum's present day arrangements are limited.
But the outpost 2009 free does seem to be a substantial and effective firewall and the price is right.
Using fastcache from analogX for caching domain lookups and protowall for blocking IP/IP ranges with the outpost seems to be a good combo.
Plus using the browser's own web filtering along with privoxy helps fill in the missing gap of the outpost's pro features for web content filtering.

 

I tried for a short while on the OPSecuritySuite Pro lastest build.387 as I can remember at top of my head now.
Its web filters are better than others even OA. It has everything for an advanced computer users to do securing his windows box never be secured by its own sake. It shares a common deep menu-tree of steps to get to configurations. It seems it shares a framework with KasperskyLab? For security suite, I personally trust Kaspersky security products except for its versions run on windows server os are high priced.

 

Your assertion here is melodramatic at best

Yes, I will agree that...

• The News downloads could be perceived as a nuisance.
• The News downloads should be easily disabled, if desired, so Agnitum should address this ASAP.

...but to equate it to "rogue anti-spyware" is ridiculous.

 

i said "for me" in my concept "
when the program that should protect me form adwares IS itself adware
this for me
is definitely equal to an antispyware which itself is a spyware "rogue"

u missunderstood my comment "i meant they are simimlar in certain aspect"
so i think ur comment is rashing and is the one that should be "ridiculous"

 

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/3883/newfzn.jpg



http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/7489/new1o.jpg

 

If your going to run Outpost firewall on your pc
why not just do the work around so there is no more news
as so many others have done or use some other firewall!!!

 

WOW , the thread has replies from 3 mods at outpost forum :
" Mr. Manny Carvalho , Mr. wat0114 , Mr. GiddyUp "

i think it will be better if they target their efforts at telling agnitum how bad is the obvious Adware behavior of outpost instead of spending their time in defending some childish adware behaviour of a firewall only for advertisment and selling enhancement purposes

 

Hi minasmwl,

admittedly there is a tendency to post in partial defense of Agnitum, because mods are privy to certain discussions with the developers - none of which can be discussed outside the forum for obvious reasons - for we have a better understanding of the kind of people they are. I will not attempt to convince you, but they do not have malicious intent towards their customers by including automatic news downloads in their product. They are, IMO anyways, good people and they are, after all, a business, and from what I can gather, it is done for business reasons.

If you think about it also, have they not been actively developing their product for quite a number of years? At least they have not abandoned it - and their customers - like we've seen from some other developers. The News does at least inform us of the on-going developments the company is making. And hopefully it is not lost on anyone that they have recently been generous enough to offer a very good free version to anyone who wants it.

As for telling Agnitum how we feel about the news downloads, well, maybe we have, but anything we may have said simply can not be conveyed outside the private forums.

Finally, I fully agree with you and others there should be an easy way to disable the News downloads, though for the time being the workaround Giddyup and others have linked to work very well.

Peace!

 

Ditto...from yet another OP forum mod, me, Ms Minoka.
Mr or Ms minasmwl, I do not need you to tell me what to do or not do

 

Amen and this thread has ran its course for sure!!

 

this is ur 1st reply in this thread , so i don't even know u and i never spoke to u before

now , i see that the thread is being hijacked by some fanboys "or fangirls" for advertizing purposes either for themselves or for outpost and this reminds me exactly of the adware behaviour mentioned above

the aim for this hijacking is clearly obvious , it's to REDIRECT the discussion away from the main subject of the thread to inforce stem to close the thread

but i ask stem to remove all the posts that are out off topic and to continue the thread

 

minasmwl, My suggestion to you sir
if you even have Outpost loaded on your pc
is to contact Agnitum with your concerns about the
issuses you have instead of venting here, which
gets nothing accomplished at all

Bug Submit Form
http://www.agnitum.com/support/forms/submitabug.php

 

hijacking?? fanboys?? I don't think so!

May I remind you that the main subject of the thread is "please don't be shocked "Outpost is a spyware""

...that's right, so all we've done is presented our arguments against a rather serious accusation towards a product and company that we feel has historically maintained a high standard of integrity.

We are entitled to voice our opinions - just as you and others are entitled to voice yours!

As someone else advised, why don't you simply use another product if you feel this one is spyware, or do you have "bridges to burn" with Agnitum?

Anyways, I'm done.