ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted November 16, 2005 Report Share Posted November 16, 2005 I clicked a Google ad at the bottom of this forum page, and it lead to an antispyware firm called eAcceleration with a product called Stopsign; I won't place any links here. I don't remember what caught my eye, but I dowload, installed, and ran it. It ran for a very, very long time, and after a few hours I cancelled and uninstalled it.Stupid point no. 1: no other anti-virus or antispyware needs to run for so many hours.Stupid point no. 2: it identified a Japanese translation engine on my computer that I installed 1996 as spyware!Stupid point no. 3: it is almost as hard to uninstall as spyware! If you do not immediately reboot Windows after the uninstall, it won't completely uninstall. In fact, even after an immediate reboot (after I downloaded & installed the thing again), it still leaves a number of registry entries!I have just identified a new software type: stupidware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted November 16, 2005 Report Share Posted November 16, 2005 I clicked a Google ad at the bottom of this forum page, and it lead to an antispyware firm called eAcceleration with a product called Stopsign; I won't place any links here. I don't remember what caught my eye, but I dowload, installed, and ran it. It ran for a very, very long time, and after a few hours I cancelled and uninstalled it.Stupid point no. 1: no other anti-virus or antispyware needs to run for so many hours.Stupid point no. 2: it identified a Japanese translation engine on my computer that I installed 1996 as spyware!Stupid point no. 3: it is almost as hard to uninstall as spyware! If you do not immediately reboot Windows after the uninstall, it won't completely uninstall. In fact, even after an immediate reboot (after I downloaded & installed the thing again), it still leaves a number of registry entries!I have just identified a new software type: stupidware.I found a program a week or two ago. If you e-mail Craig with the details he will remove the link. He is as careful as possible, but relies on us to spot bad links. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expertec Posted November 16, 2005 Report Share Posted November 16, 2005 Oh yes... StopSign... I remember that one. ;)We used to class it as a rogue antispyware program, and help/advise people to remove it from their systems. I believe it's now classed as legit, but I still wouldn't go anywhere near it! :mellow: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted November 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2005 It's very hard to control manually. I also do not accuse that software maker of building malware. Just stupidware.I think we - everybody - have just to be a bit careful what we install on our computers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thos Posted November 16, 2005 Report Share Posted November 16, 2005 It's very hard to control manually. I also do not accuse that software maker of building malware. Just stupidware.I think we - everybody - have just to be a bit careful what we install on our computers...How right you are and what a lot of help there is on this forum. :flowers: Thos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted November 16, 2005 Report Share Posted November 16, 2005 After a few disastrous downloads of software, installations from magazine cover disks and sorting out cockups on other people's machines, I am extremely careful about installing anything on my equipment.Good software is rare. Rubbish software - including stupidware - is all too common and it's not necessarily freebie stuff either. With almost no thought, I can include Symantec, McAfee, Steganos, all flavours of packet writing in the undesirables category. There are hundreds upon hundreds of others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expertec Posted November 16, 2005 Report Share Posted November 16, 2005 Why McAfee? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted November 16, 2005 Report Share Posted November 16, 2005 I, and others, have found it unreliable and their subscription service leaves a lot to be desired - it can easily result in the A/V shutting down without warning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r4may Posted November 16, 2005 Report Share Posted November 16, 2005 Good software is rare. Rubbish software - including stupidware - is all too common and it's not necessarily freebie stuff either. With almost no thought, I can include Symantec, McAfee, Steganos, all flavours of packet writing in the undesirables category. There are hundreds upon hundreds of others.Never had any problems with Symantec it does what I require (once it's set up) but it does slow down the operations a bit, probably whist it checks everything.edit my speling again !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 Why McAfee?I was thinking this as well as in the 3 or so years of using McAfee, I have only had a minor problem which was easily resolved.I originally installed Symantec and also found that it slowed my PC down so I got rid of it and tried out McAfee instead. I have been with them ever since.Anyway, Pat Willener, yes I agree that you have to be very careful when clicking on some Google ads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted November 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 Stupid point no. 1: no other anti-virus or antispyware needs to run for so many hours.Stupid point no. 2: it identified a Japanese translation engine on my computer that I installed 1996 as spyware!Stupid point no. 3: it is almost as hard to uninstall as spyware! If you do not immediately reboot Windows after the uninstall, it won't completely uninstall. In fact, even after an immediate reboot (after I downloaded & installed the thing again), it still leaves a number of registry entries!I completely forgot stupid point no. 0: the scan is FREE, but if it finds anything you have to pay to activate removal.I wonder if we should open a new forum with software warnings. Of course we can never agree about Symantec ware (we should ban the words Symantec and Norton from the forum), but I think it could be useful to have user stories collected somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scuzzman Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 Why McAfee?As with Norton, McAfee, during its install procedure, rewrites the win.com self-executable. Relatively harmless on its own, until you want to uninstall and it cannot reverse the changes, which requires a repair install of Windows or a system file check. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 edit my speling again !!r4may - why not install a free spell checker on your computer.This is the one I use Click Here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 edit my speling again !!r4may - why not install a free spell checker on your computer.This is the one I use Click HereThere is a speel chucker on my Gooooooogle Tooooolbar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 edit my speling again !!r4may - why not install a free spell checker on your computer.This is the one I use Click HereIE Spellchecker is an excellent tool. Regarding McAffee I tried it once, but never again. When I tried to uninstall it, Windows had to be reinstalled. I was also a great fan of Norton, and used System Tools quite happily. What put me off was when i wanted to pay my annual subscription to System Tools 2003, I was told that I could have downloads but would no longer qualify for support. This was on a two year old program. I now use Nod 32 AV, with all the support that I may need, including telephone support within the UK, and NOT at an exorbitant 0900 rate. I use Sygate Firewall and am VERY pleased with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 As with Norton, McAfee, during its install procedure, rewrites the win.com self-executable. Relatively harmless on its own, until you want to uninstall and it cannot reverse the changes, which requires a repair install of Windows or a system file checkThat's strange as I had no trouble uninstalling McAfee VirusScan 8, I am now on version 9. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r4may Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 edit my speling again !!r4may - why not install a free spell checker on your computer.This is the one I use Click HereThanks I'll give it a try Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 After installation, open the program and make sure to select English UK, not English American. You will find the setting in Tools/Options Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted November 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2005 I have used McAfee VirusScan for a very long time, and I've never had any troubles with it. But this morning I've found that the thing has gone mad! It had identified all previous downloads of the Ccleaner install files as trojans and deleted them. It has also deleted the uninstall file for Ccleaner, the download of the Ewido Security Suite, and all its uninstall files. Plus a number of other files!It had identified all these files as trojans of the type Prockill-DF; their website says for that one "There have been reports of an incorrect identification in the 4629 DAT files of certain installer packages. This will be corrected in the 4630 DATs."Yeah, right - it ran with the 4631 DAT when it deleted the files. :angry: McAfee is now designated as stupidware :angry: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted November 18, 2005 Report Share Posted November 18, 2005 Nod 32 does not delete anything of it's own accord. It quarantines, and then asks you what you want to do. I would NOT like to hand over complete control like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted November 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2005 Nod 32 does not delete anything of it's own accord. It quarantines, and then asks you what you want to do. I would NOT like to hand over complete control like that.I fully agree! So far I haven't found anywhere where I can specify what action to take.I also just found that it deleted parts of Microsoft AntiSpyware; I can no longer run it or update it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expertec Posted November 18, 2005 Report Share Posted November 18, 2005 I ran Norton AV for 4 years and never had a problem with it.When the last set of subscriptions ran out, I was given a copy of McAfee AV and did not renew with Symantec. Since then I've been running McAfee and not had any problems with it... if it does go mad, I'll let you know. :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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