Kr0m

There's some fuss & speculation as to why Lavasoft (and maybe some others) have removed detection of the 'used-to-be classified as spyware' WhenU.

For a pretty good read check out:
http://netrn.net/spywareblog/archive...henu-kool-aid/

Other links mentioned from the netrn.net article:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/...on_dropped.php

The people are demanding answers on Lavasoft's forums:
http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/index...howtopic=58938



PS. this is probably front-page news worthy.

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egghead

nice work

nothing like a fresh story brewing

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Mastershakes

That shizzo is evil.

However..... Start, Settings, Control Panel. Double click on Add/Remove Software. Remove. If you can do that .... I have trouble calling it spyware. Unwanted, unasked for, but it comes off easy. Even that nCase crap comes off via Add/Remove.

Besides, if you run Firefox, or if you have XP updated all the way, and have Anti-Spyware running while using good ole IE - ya never get it. It can be setup to warn you of pretty much any change, and a change as big as WhenU ... well it would flag it for ya.

Kr0m

I hope for Lavasoft's sake they didn't sell-out to WhenU or if they did, I hope the authors of WhenU paid them huge amounts of money in order to make up for the money they'll stop receiving from potential customers.
I'm sure many people will be watching this carefully since Ad-aware was/is one of the top programs amongst users to aid in detection and/or remove most spyware and anything else related.

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tdinc

Nice Find, I'm going to keep an eye on Lavasoft. as well as many others
who find this very disturbing. >raises eyebrow

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Kr0m

It appears Lavasoft has removed the previously mentioned thread about this very topic on their forums.

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vivid_vibe

Interesting indeed. Well, I still have Spy-bot S & D to get me through those long, cold nights. Although it doesn't detect as many things for me as Ad-Aware.

egghead

wow!

at least 1200 people view that threadbefore they pulled it.

Very interesting...

wonder what Steve Gibson will think about this.....

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j79zlr

I believe SpybotSearch and Destroy still catches and removes WhenU spyware. This is a bad development, personally I've always seen AdAware as the "business" in spyware removal, they just want money, atleast SSD doesn't seem to have that motivation, but time will tell.

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Kr0m

Well, I suppose their reasoning could be a few scenarios...
1. They didn't/don't do their own definition files = getting( or ripping ) from someone else that's "sleeping" with the WhenU crew.
2. Someone in charge of the definition files at Lavasoft ( or higher up) is "sleeping" with the WhenU crew.
3. If this is at all possible... The authors of the WhenU 'crap' threatened Lavasoft with a lawsuit or something for removing their 'crap' software when users sorta agreed to install it in the first place (I have no idea how their TOS or Service Agreements are worded when it comes bundled with other 'crap' software like Bearshare).

Either way, I'm done with Lavasoft and so are the 20+ close friends & family w/ PCs that I help. This is a major screw-up on their part if all of this is true and can't be trusted at all anymore.
IF these stories are totally false and people's tests were bogus then I'll apologise
Until proven other wise, Ad-aware goes into the recycle bin with all the other 'crap' software.

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NetRyder

Hmm...interesting. Thanks for the heads up, Kr0m.

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Kr0m

Apparently there was a screw up concerning the thread mentioned from Lavasoft... Forums admins got their wires crossed when trying to merge 2 threads or something...

Anywho, there's a thread at dslreports.com that's worth keeping up on:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/rema...5642~mode=flat

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tdinc

I found this quite amusing on the DSLreports site,,,just to make light of it all
(see pic) anywho.....Lavasoft uninstalled on my rig......spybot stays, giving Spysubtract a try as my second backup to spybot

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Tittles

First i thought that was real :P

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leedogg

I'm feeling better and better about MS acquiring giant. Nobody is about to buy out Gates

I'm thinking, MS antispyware may be the one I actually would be willing to pay for and trust in the long run.

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Kr0m

There has been a reply from a forum admin at Lavasoft:
Lavasoft Forum: http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/index...0&#entry389520
dslreports thread: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/rema...9999~start=100

I'm still ticked off about this. For whatever reason I had trust in Lavasoft's software. I think the biggest thing that ticks me of is the fact that I 'pimped' their software to probably 100s of friends and relatives, so now I feel obligated to contact who I can and warn them of this and suggest a replacement.

Concerning Lavasoft's forum admin, them dropping WhenU's TAC rating or whatever it is to being too low to include in their reference files... one way or another I smell BS.

As for MS/Giant's Antispyware program... I won't be trusting them either.
I guess the only ones to give any amount of trust to are the ones that AREN'T IN IT FOR THE MONEY.

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Johnny

Thanx for the info. I was going to buy this product, now I won't and it will be removed from my system ...

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Kr0m

From the posts I've read on lavasoft and dslreports, you've made the right choice.

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j79zlr

I wouldn't buy their product, but failed detection of one peice of software isn't a reason to stop using it, it still detects alot of malware, and does deep scanning better than Spybot as far as Registry entries are concerned IMHO. Don't go too knee-jerk on this. Though I do believe their motives are less than honorable, especially when PestPatrol has also removed their detection of this around the same time. WhenU is not particularly hard to remove manually anyways.

Look, these programs are just aids to removal, if you want to remove spyware you need to know what you are doing. There is plenty of spyware that isn't detected, or isn't removed by automated programs.

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Johnny

Yeah J, that is true. But, if they do it with one program they could do it with another. This something that is inexcusable. Also I always hated pest patrol, it was nothing but a pest. With this news I hate it even more ..

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