Spyware alert

[WyrmMaster]

I THINK i have found spyware in fraps, the FPS display program. Basically whenever it is running it tries to load fraps.dll into any program that has internet access (opera, flashget, trillian, ect). Luckily i have sygate set to tell me if any program loads an new dlls, so i can deny it access. But this is something to be aware of. Just because the program does not ask for permission to access does not mean its not phoning home. I also never let any windows components (kernal, services and controlls app, ect access the internet.) Personally i think sygate is the best software firewall you can get, and i recommend it to all.

[XPAW_ASSASSIN]

I recommend zonealarm ;)

[OSUmaxx]

Wow, thanks for the headsup.

[WyrmMaster]

Originally posted by XPAW_ASSASSIN
I recommend zonealarm ;)

That i know of zonealarm doesnt do dll authientication.

[Mpegger]

Nor does it allow filtering/blocking of specific ips or ports. Which is why I also recommend Sygate. I love it, especially when running a server in my network. No way would I run ZoneAlarm on that computer.

[Penguin4x4]

Sygate rules over all!(Being free helps somewhat too,:D)

[eXtraktor]

Indeed, everyone is talking about zonealarm but Sygate, in my opinion, is the best free firewall out there. Thanks for the heads up Wyrm.

[Kingslayer]

The question here is not what firewall is better, the question here is Fraps phoning home and is it spyware. Let's take the energy spent on argueing over worthless software firewalls and put it towards finding out if he is right...

My guess, and I will look into this tonight, is that seeing Fraps is a hot running program it will seed it's .dll into any file that is open and if it's a game or a movie (yes, it works on some movie file types0) it displays it's read out, and if it doesn't, then it doesn't put out it's read out.

I hope I'm right, as I like Fraps.

[WyrmMaster]

Ahh, i see what your saying kingslayer. I has to load itself into the program in order to monitor FPS. Sure sounds probable. So it just loads into everything, not just games. I hope your right too, fraps is pretty useful.

[XPAW_ASSASSIN]

Originally posted by Mpegger
Nor does it allow filtering/blocking of specific ips or ports. Which is why I also recommend Sygate. I love it, especially when running a server in my network. No way would I run ZoneAlarm on that computer.

they do actually.. the do allow blocking of a ip and a specific port from that ip..

[UnseenMenace]

use this spware search engine everytime you install something to check it out

http://www.tom-cat.com/spybase/spylist.html

or a list of known spyware

http://www.suttondesigns.com/EnigmaBrowser/Spyware.html

[XPAW_ASSASSIN]

ad-aware is also a very good one.. it has a fulll registry scan.. so it picks up pretty much all nasties ;)

[Kingslayer]

Originally posted by WyrmMaster
Ahh, i see what your saying kingslayer. I has to load itself into the program in order to monitor FPS. Sure sounds probable. So it just loads into everything, not just games. I hope your right too, fraps is pretty useful.

I've been looking at it and it's looking like I'm right. Unless of course I'm wrong. I can't see it phoning home and I hooked it up to my sniffer and it was showing anything trying to get out.

[WyrmMaster]

Good, i was hoping that thats the way it would turn out, because it IS a very useful program. Especially when most games dont have an easy way to display framerates (i dont know WHY).

[DocClock aka MadClocker]

Originally posted by XPAW_ASSASSIN
ad-aware is also a very good one.. it has a fulll registry scan.. so it picks up pretty much all nasties ;)

I just wanted to add that it is important to keep up the ref files.....I was having all kinds of problems (see thread "weird connection prob's in 98se)..anyhow I was trying to figure what to do next, and went to lavasoft.com and d'l'ed the latest ver, and ref files and add-aware found 17 components that the previous ver didn't see, and one of those was a registry "nasty" for lack of a better word, and I cleaned up the mess and now my connection prob's have dissapeared, and w98se is stable again.
BTW the registry component was called "alexa"

[XPAW_ASSASSIN]

this is an important part of any software which includes security and safety.. virus scanners trojan scanners ad scanners and also firewalls should be kept up to date... it can be a hassel but they put updates out for a reason ;)