Should Adware Be Legal?

[Disputant]

We need to get a poll going on how many hours everyone estimates they have spent removing this stuff from their computers (as well as others). I would say over 30 for myself. That includes friends, relatives, co-workers, etc.

At this point, I have spent so much time on removal, that I doubt that I could come up with a number of hours. But it is a very good thought.

Think of all the more constructive things that we all could have been doing with our time had we were not busy ridding our computers of things that were installed without our knowledge.

 

[johan851]

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! That's funny, you were joking right? Easy to block? Fine if you really want a completely crippled browser. Easy to remove? You haven't run into some of the self replicating adware/spywares, or the ones that dissable you spyware removers. Just Ad-aware 6? You're gonna need a lot more than that, Spybot S&D just by itself catches things Ad-aware doesn't, and CWShredder catches things Spybot doesn't.

I feel sorry for your computer, it's very sick and needs some attention. You are a funny man.

That is incredibly offensive. I have reported your post to the moderators.

A lot of spyware can be blocked by Spyware Blaster. I said that a lot of problems can be removed with adaware. Not all, but a lot. Enough for the general consumer, at any rate.

My computer is sick and needs attention? Excuse me? I run all the stuff you do my friend. It's easier for a "normal" computer user to run one program than to deal with 5.

That was simply uncalled for.

 

[Disputant]

I agree with you johan, I think with very little education spyware can be prevented or blocked by the average user. I have helped friends for years overcome it. Many of my friends are not really computer literate and have no desire to be, only to safely use a computer.

My recommendations to them are the to run a few simple programs, none of which require any complex understanding of a computer. I have had a very high success rate with the following and I am sure it has saved me countless hours avoiding problems.

Zonealarm (I use Kerio 2.1.5)
Proxomitron (keeps that scripting from running on websites)
Firefox or some variation of Mozilla for browsing
Ad-Aware
Spy-Bot S&D

 

[johan851]

Yeah, I know it takes Adaware, Spybot S&D, and sometimes even HijackThis! and other things to get rid of all of it. But for the soccer mom or 16 year old girl, 2 programs can be overwhelming. Adaware usually gets enough, and it's much more user friendly than Spybot (it matters for some). I run Adaware, Spybot, SpywareBlaster, and a few other things myself.

I'll take a look at Proxomitron.

 

[Disputant]

Quick note on Proxomitron, the creater stopped supporting/updating it but you can find plenty of download sites to get it. It is a very simple pop up blocker that uses very little resources.

Version 4.5
http://www.proxomitron.info/files/index.shtml

 

[tom10167]

My mom gets her new computer.


OK, when you see boxes like this popup, CLICK NO!!!!! Under absolutely no circumstances should you ever click yes!

Yeah TJ(Nickname) I get it.

I just want to make sure.

*10 days later*

TJ, what's wrong with the computer, I keep getting popups even when I'm not doing anything.

I think right when she said 'computer' I bit my face off.

Why did you click yes mom?

It said I couldn't view the page unless I did.
Well then you don't view the damn page!
But how was I supp-
NO.
But the-
NO!
Bu
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rule number one from now on, forever, everwhere you go, if you see this

You click NO!!! Comprende?

 

[WhatTheSchmidt]

its one thing when you click yes !! install this to your comp!!! and get spyware, but when it gets through without you knowing..that kind should be illegal

 

[WhatTheSchmidt]

lol tom thats funny, i noticed that after i posted

 

[Antillian]

I also think that installing spyware/adware without a user's permission should be illegal, that's a direct privacy violation in my opinion.

 

[tom10167]

its one thing when you click yes !! install this to your comp!!! and get spyware, but when it gets through without you knowing..that kind should be illegal

That doesn't really happen. If it does you should have read more carefully, as it is required by law to say that X program will forcibly install program Y.

 

[Rastion Signe]

I personally do not want the government to get involved, I think they have way to much power, especially now with the patriot act, which is a whole nother thread in its self. I personally loathe spyware, but I really have to fight it much anymore. I have custom set setting in IE (gonna get mozilla soon) so basically I receive no files from websites. If that means I cant view the site, well then too bad, I also have found that ActiveX is used on a lot of sites, but I don't really ever use the parts of the site that require it. I basically have completely disabled ActiveX, in terms of spyware, I sure as hell think there should be regulations against it, such as the complete uninstall, and the verification to install thinger. But you have to admit, that spyware does create jobs for people. I remember ranting about virus's once and someone told me that yea virus's suck, but think of all the people that would be without jobs if we didnt have them. Now that can be turned around backwards and you could argue that without virus's people could do other more porductive work. But the truth is that the internet will NEVER be nice neat and tidy, thats why people like us at overclockers exist, to fix and tweak computers, and thats my two cents .

 

[Oni]

In the end, simple education by people who actually give a damn would be a godsend.

I think my dad is right up there w/ the 'A little bit of education goes a long way' group. My sister installed that little purple POS one day (on a clean install no less. I almost decapitated her and buried her in a shallow grave). I told my mom what it was. She said she wanted to keep it. I said it's spyware, malware, scumware . . . she'd have none of it.

Well, a few hours later, my dad comes to me and goes "I heard you talking to your mom about that program your sister installed, so I did some reading, and uninstalled it myself." None of you can fathom how proud that made me .

That took me from a 1 hour uninstall nightmare to a 10 minute Ad-aware/Spybot S&D cleanup

A little education can go a long way, so long as the person you're educating is listening

As for a government mandate on spyware; I think to some degree we need it. We need proper laws on what is acceptable install behaviour for these programs. I.E. clicking 'yes' to program 'A' will NOT allow that program to install sister programs 'X', 'Y', and 'Z'. There should also be a mandate on what that particular harvester should be allowed to collect and send to their company, and wether or not that company should be allowed to sell it to other companies.

Scumware is getting more and more malicious. Just look at CoolWebSearch. You need a very specialized program to remove it! Not even the standard spyware removal tools will extract it from your system properly. That's rediculous, imo.

 

[electromagnetic]

That is incredibly offensive. I have reported your post to the moderators. That was simply uncalled for.

I think threatening me on a public forum is uncalled for. I also still think ad-aware or a single program is definately NOT enough for a typical user. The whole idea is to get rid of all of it, we're not talking about a virus here, we're talking about an invsasion of privacy.

 

[bluediamond]

Adware and Spyware is quickly becoming an increasing problem, I have spent countless hours uninstalling adware/spyware from my own, my friends and my family's computers.

Spyware/Adware is similar to phone telemarketers, but in my opinion more serious and the government had to finally step in and give people the option to be on a "no-call" list and if they were called they telemarketer will be fined.

At the rate things are going I believe that the government will have to step in a put a stop to spyware/adware because it isn't going to magically go away or get any better, it will continue to get worse and worse.

Just my .02

 

[stikphysh]

electromagnetic and johan: please stop fighting. this isnt the place. just put it behind you.

I noticed many of you feel that spyware is not a major problem since you generaly have to click "Yes" to something before it installs, but keep in mind, this is not always the case. even Yahoo.com will install "Avenue A" (without any warning at all) which is merely a tracking cookie. it is not very malicious, but it DOES fall into this catagory, and is definately a hole that can be exploited in the future.

I spend all day at work cleaning up spyware. it has pretty much become a first step to fixing any problem because these machines come in so bogged down with the crap that its impossible to see if anything is working or not untill its removed.

my aresenal of spyware tools includes:
Spybot
CWshreader
HiJackThis
regsupreme
pestpatrol (not free, but VERY powerful)

 

[Electron Chaser]

My only hope is that one evening while sitting in a restaurant having dinner. I should happen to overhear a conversation about someone talking about some new ad-ware program they just wrote. So that I can calmly get up walk over to the table and beat the ever loving sh** out of him and whoever else happens to be there at the table. Does that answer the question.

 

[johan851]

electromagnetic and johan: please stop fighting. this isnt the place. just put it behind you.

I was finished. Thanks though.

So should beating the crap out of people who produce Adware be legal?

 

[Oni]

Perfectly legal

 

[su root]

This thread reminds me of a Real Life Comic from earlier this year.

 

[lclark2074]

I have the ones that self replicate and their hard to remove thy usually have alittle program running system files that will reinstall itself the names of cores are different from each other