From SiteAdvisor:

“We have investigated and determined that the red download facet derives from forum posts and HijackThis logs. The overall site rating will change to green in the coming weeks.”

Hopefully they will quickly turn them back to green rating. Maybe as quick as they made them into red?

To my amazement I woke up today finding a few of the site/forums I visit given a red or yellow rating. Just because they may be linking to other red rated places or their downloads are classified as bad.

Even when users post logs or a spammer gets through the net. Whoever goes through the pile surely needs to be configured to know where a bad link is hosted? I am not crawler expert, but it seems obvious.

I won’t hide the fact I like SiteAdvisor, but after finding this, my mind is changing a bit.

Take for example BlueTack. This forum is a well respected place to seek help. However it now has a red rating - See here

It also links to places like Microsoft and Invisionpower. Would they be affected?
What about MalwareBytes. I should visit this place more often as it’s resourceful.

However it too has a red rating for linking to red sites - See here

From the link you just looked at, we have another site, dknoppix. He is an Anti-Malware fighter, just like me. And an admin at our forum. His site too has a red rating - See here

I know some AV vendors flag certain fixes we use to remove malware. However to resolve that we need better communications between the security world and products like this. This seriously needs to be addressed by someone.

Because of the popularity of SiteAdvisor, we are more than likely getting more and more users actually using it. Therefore when they see a red rating, that may scare them off. When they need the help!

Especially with the sites I just mentioned. They are great places to seek help and gain some knowledge.

/End of rant - Unless you want to discuss it here.

Update - Now TomCoyote is added as a red site. The interweb is crazy! - See here

Add the Cexx forums as red - See here
And add Lavasoft support as red - See here

…by me!

The Sp4m is getting bad so all comments will be approved by me. I check my comments often. So your comment(s), unless it is spam, will be approved quick.

Thank you for your understanding.

That’s right. We all know about AOL’s privacy cock-up. Now StopBadware have got in on the act!

According to StopBadware:-

“We found that AOL 9.0 (free version) is currently badware because it installs additional software without telling the user, it forces the user to take certain actions, it adds various components to Internet Explorer and the taskbar without disclosure, it may automatically update without the user’s consent, and it fails to uninstall completely.”

The report goes into some great detail on why they gave it a “badware status” . From “Adds additional icons to default Internet Explorer toolbar (Makes changes to other software without disclosure)” to “Forces users to take an action (Interferes with computer use)”.

For the full-monty write up, have a gander here. You will like it! Why not discuss it in our forum. We would like your opinions.

New day and new malware! It has been several days now since many experts started to blog about this new rootkit.

But what is it? How does it work? And what does it prevent to run? Well in many instances it prevents to run tools like Blacklight, Rootkit Revealer, Ice Sword, Avenger, Gmer. All these tools are used to detect rootkits. So all in all this is a worrying thing!

There is a PDF file for you to read here that goes into great detail. However at this current time it seems to be down.

In some cases experts are recommending a reformat of a compromised system with this new rootkit. As with several rootkits, this is a given.

Media Coverage: Symantec - Wilders Security

Lack of posts again! I had a good reason though. It was a holiday weekend here. That is my excuse.

Anyway back to the action. You really should read this next article. It’s a victory once more.

“A California man whose online criminal ring hacked into hundreds of thousands of computers and disrupted operations at a U.S. hospital and several military installations was sentenced Friday to 37 months in prison for his crimes.”

Source: Security Fix

Once again Direct Revenue settle another case:

“Direct Revenue has settled another case relating to allegations that it improperly downloaded its software onto computers. This case was brought on behalf of California residents. A copy of the proposed settlement agreement is available here. (This is a PDF file)”

Source: Internet and Class Action Law Blog

…Then wonder no more!

Wephelper, a well know security researcher, has made a new page that lists many fake Desktop Warnings you may get when you have Spyware.

Most of the warnings listed are from rogue programs that trick you into buying their product and bascilly commiting fraud!

This list is a usefull one. If you ever want to learn for future referance, then this is a must see page.

CWS Gallery of Screen Shots <— Click here to view the page in question.

….Well I certainly think so. Their search results in Google are going down as fast as concorde did….Sorry bad joke there!

I think we can honestly say that we kicked their butt into touch! Kung-Fu style!

Will this be the last we hear from ESTDOMAINS and their crew? I doubt it! But what I will say if you are reading this M