Posted on 03/12/2005 5:48:37 AM PST by pickemuphere
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A software vendor that tried to drum up sales by offering to clean up nonexistent computer "spyware" has been temporarily shut down, U.S. regulators said on Friday.
The makers of Spyware Assassin tried to scare consumers into buying software through pop-up ads and e-mail that warned their computers had been infected with malicious monitoring software, the Federal Trade Commission said.
Free spyware scans offered by Spokane, Washington-based MaxTheater Inc. turned up evidence of spyware even on machines that were entirely clean, and its $29.95 Spyware Assassin program did not actually remove spyware, the FTC said.
A U.S. court has ordered the company and its owner, Thomas Delanoy, to suspend its activities until a court hearing on Tuesday. The company could be required to give back all the money it made from selling Spyware Assassin.
MaxTheater could not be reached for comment.
Why does that one usually make it past my pop-up blocker when logging onto Drudge?
Go to http://www.microsoft.com/ Right under the soccer player the 1st item under Popular Downloads is what you want to download.
Scammed and infected. Try post #23.
Post #23. XP supports it.
Yup those are currently the top two. And Microsoft has come out with its own an anti-spyware tool as well, which helps a little.
You really need to use lots of different (legitimate) ant-spyware programs.
Each one seems to find different things and you can't get keep yourself virus-free without using different programs.
I guess it is just hard for an individual company to keep with all this crap that is coming out now.
CWShredder is another free program that can kill some variants of the CoolWebSearch infection and About Buster can help rid the system of the about:blank infection. Those two scumware are right up there as being the worst of all the hijacks plaguing computers today.
This part is for sure a scam. Noway 3 anti-spyware progs would miss 413 infections.
You need a full arsenal. Anti-Spyware, Anti-Virus and Fire Wall and even then you may eventually be faced with the need to restore your computer to it's as delivered state. In the meantime it's Microsoft OS's that are bearing the brunt of these attacks and if they have become proactive in addressing the problem they are th 1's I will use to address the problem. PS: The price is right.
Sounds like Scammed, but you could be infected. Open your task list and compare the running programs in there to www.answersthatwork.com (click tasklist). Some trojans run hidden, but most things should be in there.
You also shouldn't be getting popups with Firefox which suggests you may have a pest. My FR homepage may have some information and links that could be of use to you.
Thanks. I was really suspicious when Housecall turned up a blank.
Trend Micro seems to have their heart and marketing dept in the right place. Do something usefull for a customer for free and they'll buy your gear.
My real wonder is why this popup is happening on Moz.
Is it a security vulnerability that ErrorGuard is exploiting or is Moz involved in viral marketing?
Check out Mike's Ad Blocking Hosts file. It will work wonders to cut down on pop-up ads.
http://www.everythingisnt.com/hosts.html
It is very easy to use/install. Be sure to read the info on the program.
Thanks. I looked and everything seems kosher. The pop unders are suspicious but I'll keep scanning and see what happens.
I bookmarked your homepage. Very helpful. You're a sport
Sounds like you probably were scammed.
What site is giving you pop-unders? I'll go there and see what happens.
Oh and sorry my Homepage is so disorganized, I started with a core bit of information about a year ago and keep updating the relevant parts. I should probably figure something out to make it easier to read. The links are in there and the instructions are accurate, so it's good in that respect.
I haven't had any spyware problems since installing the ms spyware. Of course I did have to change the settings, since it constantly called freerepublic a browser hijack because it wasn't the default msn homepage.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.