Bad Freeware

I am an idiot

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:38:46 +0000

I am an idiot who has nothing better to do than waste my own time and everyone else's, I did attempt to spam this site but I didn't realise the staff here were unlike anywhere else and actually watched what was happening. Guess I'll move on to another site that doesn't have the excellent staff this one has

Digital Lifeboat online backup

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:06:16 +0000

This software, although free to download, requires the user to sign up for an account and then only offers a FREE 30 DAY useage/trial account after which time the user must then pay to continue using the software.

Project Blackout - possible security issues?

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:46:58 +0000

After writing up a great review for Project Blackout, and admittedly spending some considerable time playing the actual game, I'm somewhat shocked, stunned and a little horrified of a recent find whilst performing a full scan using SUPERAntiSpyware.

It alerted me to the presence of a Trojan in the uninstaller which I naturally assumed was a false positive, but then I remembered these guys also included OpenCandy in the installer, of which there is no mention of anywhere and in fact OpenCandy is (presumably) only installed on the secondary download of the game - the first download is merely the installer to kick off a secondary download for the main files for the game.

It's all got me a little suspicious if I'm honest ... I don't for one second believe there was an actual trojan in the PB files, but SUPERAntiSpyware had detected AND REMOVED the offending file so I thought it was worth a little note to the developers. Here was there response:

Quote

Thank you for contacting the Project Blackout 1:1 support team regarding your inquiry.

We understand your concern regarding the findings of your spyware program. While we cannot verify the findings of your program, due to it being 3rd party, we can confirm that our files are thoroughly tested for integrity before they are released to our players. Should you have concern regarding those files, we urge you to use our official downloader (http://pb.gamerage.com/Download/Client-Download). If the issue persists, we would ask you to contact your Spyware/Antivirus provider regarding the threat detected.

I hope that I was able to answer your inquiry, should you have further questions, feel free to submit another 1:1 and I will be more than glad to assist you further! We thank you again for contacting us and we look forward to seeing you in-game soon!

In other words, they are denying all knowledge of a trojan in their uninstaller - but again, as someone who takes their security very seriously, if this were me the first thing I would have done would be to download SUPERAntiSpyware and perform the check myself - then I would have contacted the spyware developers asking for an explanation. All seems a little odd to me that a developer would simply say, "nope, can't find nothing" and not attempt to verify things themselves.

Anyhow, I will be contacting SAS to see if they can determine where this alert may be coming from
Stay tuned !!

XWinSpector with Extras

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:11:40 +0000

I just installed XWinSpector, but I found I really didn't need this program so I uninstalled it. While uninstalling it took me to a shopping page which I closed off. Going through my programs I noticed something called, "RebateRobot Online Shopping".
I checked Add/Remove and sure enough there it was. I clicked on the program to be taken to the same shopping page as earlier.,with a chance to download more add-ons,so I uninstalled that to. I just wanted to let you know ,when you download XWinSpector you get RebateRobot Online Shopping "WITHOUT ANY NOTICE" !!!!

Same app under different names - spam, deceit or just daft?

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:10:16 +0000

I've recently came across an app which is listed on our site a number of times - the app itself is under different names and websites but is essentially the exact same app throughout.

Take a look at the following apps:
101 Clips
1st Choice Clipboard
A to Z Clipboard
Ace Clipboard
Alpha Clipboard

Now, the obvious similarity here is the fact the titles all start with early letters or numbers, which means they are quite obviously attempting to grab the first page listings on any download site. However, when we actually look at the program more carefully, it's really not difficult to see it's the same thing, uses exactly the same installer and is, essentially, a trial version that offers to store 25 pieces of info in it's clipboard, and if you require any more than that then you have to pay for the shareware version.

With that, I'm removing our support for these downloads with immediate effect and will be adding those titles to our current list of bad freeware purely for the deception value of those attempting to push multiple titles using exactly the same product!.

MP3 Splitter contains Win32:PUP-gen

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 11:24:36 +0000

MP3 Splitter from mp3-joiner.net, contains multiple suspicious and dangerous files.

Auslogics Registry Cleaner + Ask Toolbar

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 04:56:42 +0000

I just installed Auslogics Registry Cleaner today and behold,,during installation I'm given the choice to also install Ask Toolbar and to make Ask my default search!!!!At least they give you the option to opt-out!!!! In my opinion this is like an infection running rampant in the blood stream,,soon everything will catch it!!!!

Freeware? Rants & Raves :o

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:01:57 +0000

Surf Anonymous Free->version 2.1.6.6->released 11.29.2011

IP: 69.164.212.52 which is->http://www.surfanonymous-free.com/

IS bundled with ASK.COM & with NO warning anywhere

to be found. Scanned first (always do) & zilch!

Just a surprise as your looking at the show details of
the installation.
Not only is this author? dishonest but, sneaky too
So, this is my rant so far for the day. So long for now.

Free Audio Recorder and "Relevant Knowledge"

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 14:36:42 +0000

We have removed our support for the freeware title "Free Audio Recorder", the developers of which are freeaudiorecorder.net after it appeared as suspicious according to Malware Patrol and we also found they included "Relevant Knowledge" in their installers. Further info: http://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/relevantknowledge.com

Free CD to WAV MP3 WMA AMR AC3 AAC Ripper

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:32:10 +0000

Negative raings in WOT and SiteAdvisor for amltools.com with reports of rogue software and malware attacks and either active/dormant links to exploits.