AD-AWARE spyware?

[Steven Burnett]

My kids are driving me nuts....they dowload EVERYTHING that pops by
them without a second thought. (The 13 yr old also belives the web
site that claims Jim Morrison and Elvis are hangin out in El Segunda)
Anyway, I downloaded AD-AWARE and removed 250 some objects...some of
themore difficult xxx toolbars took some brut force, but now we're
clean again; or are we?

In my searches to see how to avoid this problem from happening again,
I found Web-root.com's Spy Audit and ran it. Low and Behold, it
claimed AD_AWARE was spyware as well!

Audit Details:

Adware and/or Adware cookies were found on your system.

This spyware is generally not malicious, but will result in profiling
of your online activities and increased exposure to advertising.
The presence of spyware, even non-malicious forms, illustrates
vulnerability to infection and the risk of more devastating
consequences in the future.

So now who am I to beleive? Is web-root just tagging a competitor as
spyware? I noticed AD-AWARE correctly tagged Spy-nukem.

So, now back to my other problem of securing a Win98 machine (sic)....

[floris]

I recently went to the lavasoft website (http://www.lavasoftusa.com) to
download the latest version of adaware and for some reason the site was in
DUTCH?!
Now I wonder very much how an american site could have known that I am
Dutch: I have my IE configured to ask me every time before installing a
cooky and I generally refuse, even than: this was the first time I went to
the site as I usually download my software from Cnet.com.
I sent an email to the nice people of lavasoft about this and they claim I
went to the site http://www.lavasoftusa.com/default.shtml.nl, but this is
NOT true. Even if I type in the URL http://www.lavasoftusa.com the site is
in Dutch.
They did claim in their email not to install spyware.
I was wondering what you guys think of this.


"Steven Burnett" <itc_sburnett@hotmail.com> schreef in bericht
news:886fda41.0309031221.3e7f3318@posting.google.c om...
> My kids are driving me nuts....they dowload EVERYTHING that pops by
> them without a second thought. (The 13 yr old also belives the web
> site that claims Jim Morrison and Elvis are hangin out in El Segunda)
> Anyway, I downloaded AD-AWARE and removed 250 some objects...some of
> themore difficult xxx toolbars took some brut force, but now we're
> clean again; or are we?
>
> In my searches to see how to avoid this problem from happening again,
> I found Web-root.com's Spy Audit and ran it. Low and Behold, it
> claimed AD_AWARE was spyware as well!
>
> Audit Details:
>
> Adware and/or Adware cookies were found on your system.
>
> This spyware is generally not malicious, but will result in profiling
> of your online activities and increased exposure to advertising.
> The presence of spyware, even non-malicious forms, illustrates
> vulnerability to infection and the risk of more devastating
> consequences in the future.
>
> So now who am I to beleive? Is web-root just tagging a competitor as
> spyware? I noticed AD-AWARE correctly tagged Spy-nukem.
>
> So, now back to my other problem of securing a Win98 machine (sic)....

[Arwin Vosselman]

On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 09:04:55 +0200, floris wrote:

>I recently went to the lavasoft website (http://www.lavasoftusa.com) to
>download the latest version of adaware and for some reason the site was in
>DUTCH?!
>Now I wonder very much how an american site could have known that I am
>Dutch: I have my IE configured to ask me every time before installing a
>cooky and I generally refuse, even than: this was the first time I went to
>the site as I usually download my software from Cnet.com.
>I sent an email to the nice people of lavasoft about this and they claim I
>went to the site http://www.lavasoftusa.com/default.shtml.nl, but this is
>NOT true. Even if I type in the URL http://www.lavasoftusa.com the site is
>in Dutch.

There are several possibilities. You instructed your browser to
prefer dutch pages, if available, somewhere under languages. Also your
ip tells them you are from the Netherlands and they serve you with the
dutch version. If you go to www.google.com, it reverts you to
www.goolgle.nl as well.

IMO nothing to worry about.
--
Arwin.

[floris]

i live in france, so the page should have been displayed in french
not sure about the language options in IE though

"Arwin Vosselman" <arwin@xs4all.iNvaLid> schreef in bericht
news:3f581a00.11667001@newszilla.xs4all.nl...
> On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 09:04:55 +0200, floris wrote:
>
> >I recently went to the lavasoft website (http://www.lavasoftusa.com) to
> >download the latest version of adaware and for some reason the site was
in
> >DUTCH?!
> >Now I wonder very much how an american site could have known that I am
> >Dutch: I have my IE configured to ask me every time before installing a
> >cooky and I generally refuse, even than: this was the first time I went
to
> >the site as I usually download my software from Cnet.com.
> >I sent an email to the nice people of lavasoft about this and they claim
I
> >went to the site http://www.lavasoftusa.com/default.shtml.nl, but this is
> >NOT true. Even if I type in the URL http://www.lavasoftusa.com the site
is
> >in Dutch.
>
> There are several possibilities. You instructed your browser to
> prefer dutch pages, if available, somewhere under languages. Also your
> ip tells them you are from the Netherlands and they serve you with the
> dutch version. If you go to www.google.com, it reverts you to
> www.goolgle.nl as well.
>
> IMO nothing to worry about.
> --
> Arwin.

[Steven Burnett]

Im such a dolt!
Ignore previous post.....Im enrolling in remedial reading classes now

[Arwin Vosselman]

On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 15:02:03 +0200, floris wrote:

>i live in france, so the page should have been displayed in french
>not sure about the language options in IE though

But you are dutch? It should be the language settings then, I think.
If you are using a dutch version of IE, that is also transferred with
every request. they might be using that also.
--
Arwin.

[Data64]

"floris" <nospam@no.spam> wrote in
news:bj6o62$gq$1@news-reader3.wanadoo.fr:

> I recently went to the lavasoft website (http://www.lavasoftusa.com)
> to download the latest version of adaware and for some reason the site
> was in DUTCH?!
> Now I wonder very much how an american site could have known that I am
> Dutch: I have my IE configured to ask me every time before installing
> a cooky and I generally refuse, even than: this was the first time I
> went to the site as I usually download my software from Cnet.com.
> I sent an email to the nice people of lavasoft about this and they
> claim I went to the site http://www.lavasoftusa.com/default.shtml.nl,
> but this is NOT true. Even if I type in the URL
> http://www.lavasoftusa.com the site is in Dutch.
> They did claim in their email not to install spyware.
> I was wondering what you guys think of this.
>

When your browser requests a page from a webserver, among other
things it sends a header called "Accept-Language", which indicates
your language preference.

It is trivial to configure a webserver to look at that header and return
the appropriate language.


Hope that helps,
data64

[Jay T. Blocksom]

On 3 Sep 2003 13:21:39 -0700, in <alt.privacy.spyware>,
itc_sburnett@hotmail.com (Steven Burnett) wrote:
>
> My kids are driving me nuts....they dowload EVERYTHING that pops by
> them without a second thought. (The 13 yr old also belives the web
> site that claims Jim Morrison and Elvis are hangin out in El Segunda)
[snip]

Notwitsthading the issue that prompted you to post this article, which by
now you've realized is a moot point, it sounds like it's time for some
serious parenting. No matter what you do to the computer, short of removing
it from your household, you CANNOT prevent your kids from acting stupidly if
that is what they are wont to do. You need to educate your kids, not so
much about each specific hazard or bogus whacko-with-a-website claim, but
about being able to think critically and rationally, and the value in doing
that *before* they act.

Don't try to apply a technogical cure to what is actually a social /
behaviorial problem.

--

Jay T. Blocksom
--------------------------------
Appropriate Technology, Inc.
usenet01[at]appropriate-tech.net


"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.

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[mto]

"Jay T. Blocksom" <usenet01+SPAMBLOCK@appropriate-tech.net> wrote in message
news:73pklvk36oe6aj3bdkca9461dhh653r50r@news.rcn.c om...
> On 3 Sep 2003 13:21:39 -0700, in <alt.privacy.spyware>,
> itc_sburnett@hotmail.com (Steven Burnett) wrote:
> >
> > My kids are driving me nuts....they dowload EVERYTHING that pops by
> > them without a second thought. (The 13 yr old also belives the web
> > site that claims Jim Morrison and Elvis are hangin out in El Segunda)
> [snip]
>
> Notwitsthading the issue that prompted you to post this article, which by
> now you've realized is a moot point, it sounds like it's time for some
> serious parenting. No matter what you do to the computer, short of
removing
> it from your household, you CANNOT prevent your kids from acting stupidly
if
> that is what they are wont to do. You need to educate your kids, not so
> much about each specific hazard or bogus whacko-with-a-website claim, but
> about being able to think critically and rationally, and the value in
doing
> that *before* they act.
>
> Don't try to apply a technogical cure to what is actually a social /
> behaviorial problem.
>
> --
>
> Jay T. Blocksom

A miracle has occurred - Jay and I agree almost exactly on something. If
your children are not both knowledgeable enough about the dangers of the
Internet (and there are many) and reliable enough that you can trust them to
care for the safety of both themselves and your machine, then they have no
business whatever being allowed to surf without a parent at their elbow -
literally. No "net nanny" program comes close to taking the place of a
parent's supervision.

[Steven Burnett]

> > Don't try to apply a technogical cure to what is actually a social /
> > behaviorial problem.
> >
> > --
> >
> > Jay T. Blocksom
>
> A miracle has occurred - Jay and I agree almost exactly on something. If
> your children are not both knowledgeable enough about the dangers of the
> Internet (and there are many) and reliable enough that you can trust them to
> care for the safety of both themselves and your machine, then they have no
> business whatever being allowed to surf without a parent at their elbow -
> literally. No "net nanny" program comes close to taking the place of a
> parent's supervision.

I agree completly with your posts, but I think you missed the point.
The reason WE ALL NEED anti-virus sw and now anti SPyWare is because
you can be comprimised just by being connected to the net. I can
gaurantee you my son never visited any porn sites, yet a xxx IE bar
was installed. Im not looking for sw that prevents them from activly
surfing, i am trying to save MYSELF time from having to constantly
clean out thier computer so it runs at a decent pace again