Posted on 08/29/2006 4:23:57 AM PDT by COBOL2Java
AOL LLC's free Internet client software has earned the company a slap on the wrist from StopBadware.org, a consortium set up to combat malicious software. In a report set to be released Monday, the group advises users to steer clear of the software because of its "badware behavior."
The report blasts the free version of AOL 9.0 because it "interferes with computer use," and because of the way it meddles with components such as the Internet Explorer browser and the Windows taskbar. The suite is also criticized for engaging in "deceptive installation" and faulted because some components fail to uninstall.
The main problem is that AOL simply doesn't properly inform users of what its software will do to their PCs, said John Palfrey, StopBadware.org's co-director. "We don't think that the disclosure is adequate and there are certain mistakes in the way the software is architected in terms of leaving some programs behind," he said. "When there are large programs, some of which stay around after you've thought you've uninstalled them, they need to be disclosed to the user."
Because AOL has taken steps to address StopBadware.org's concerns, the group has held off on officially rating AOL 9.0 as badware, Palfrey said.
Still, the report is not good news for AOL. Other software that has been the target of StopBadware.org reports includes Kazaa, the Jessica Simpson Screensaver and the Starware News Toolbar.
Backed by tech companies such as Google Inc., Lenovo Group Ltd. and Sun Microsystems Inc., StopBadware.org bills itself as a "Neighborhood Watch" of the Internet. It is run out of two well-respected university departments: Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and University of Oxford's Internet Institute in the U.K.
Monday's report states that AOL is taking steps to address StopBadware.org's concerns, and that the company has confirmed that there is a design flaw in its uninstaller software, according to a draft obtained by IDG News.
An AOL spokesman said that it is "clearly ridiculous" to categorize his company's software as badware. "No company has done more to fight malware than AOL, and millions of users are protected by our software every day," said AOL's Andrew Weinstein in an email message. "We're reviewing the suggestions made in the report, and we are taking steps to address them, as they mostly involve minor UI issues."
AOL has been struggling through some major changes of late.
It has opened up its once-private network, offering the AOL 9.0 software for free in a bid to attract new users and boost online advertising as its traditional subscribers have fled. The company now has 17.7 million U.S. subscribers, a drop of 3.1 million over the past year.
Last week, three AOL executives, including Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Maureen Govern left the company in the wake of a scandal over AOL's public disclosure of more than 2 million search queries made by 650,000 AOL users.
AOL has also come under fire for licensing its free antivirus software, called Active Virus Shield, with what anti-adware advocates view as excessive advertising and data gathering provisions.
Since the search disclosure, AOL has taken steps to restore consumer trust, said Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jon Miller in a recent e-mail to employees. "There is a tremendous responsibility that goes along with our mission of serving consumers online," he wrote. "We have to earn their trust each and every day and with each and every action we take."
StopBadware.org's reports can be found here.
AOL hell. Glad I've steered clear of it all these years.
AOL jumped the shark about 10 years ago, IMHO. It was a nice idea in the days of CompuServe (which it swallowed up), and Prodigy (remember that?). But anyone with a lick of sense ought to know AOL's baaaaaad.
What!? AOL is bad!?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
Wait, none of this happens if I've only been using those disks they keep sending as coasters, right?
And Delphi and Genie...
alternately - Ive had it since v1.0 (prodigy and compuserve before that) and never had a serious issue that required a call to service. The mail is filtered exceptionally well and the program despite the article is for the most part non malicious - my most frustrating problem is when I lose a wifi signal and it is insistent on restarting
Even a blind pig finds an acorn now and then.
Well, at least it partially uninstalls. From what I read, that's more than you can get accomplished by calling their customer service group and requesting account cancellation.
Hey, they're only about 4 versions late...
Delphi! I forgot about that one! I think it was my very first internet provider (of sorts). Dang, ran on my DOS-powered Tandy 1000...
It doesn't take a genius to realize AOL's software screws up the computer operations. When software is that unpredictable to the owner/operator, he has absolutely no sense of security or reliability in the software provider. It's a major reason we've switched to other vendors/SW systems. We also discontinued 10 year old service with the company because of their SW.
Good news to hear.
Now that this issue has been publicly brought to their attention and they have publicly asserted they are not as so alleged and they have chosen to publicly represent the professions, it seems to me that they may be liable to the public or a class action if they are fraudulant.
There's a shocker.
Personally, my biggest pet peeve is any software that tries to sneak a Google or Yahoo search bar into my browser.
Adobe Reader and RealPlayer are two that come to mind.
RealPlayer is especially offensive because it basically hijacks your computer for anything multimedia, and also installs "RealDownload" and "RealJukebox" and other unnecessary crap.
After all of that, they actually have the balls to try to charge you for the "full" version.
They're only realizing this now?
I first went online from Vashon Island in the summer of '81... TRS-80, hardwired 300 baud ( yea, I know it sounds antideluvian, but compared to a teletype's 60 words per minute, it blazed... ) modem, and terminal program on a cassette.
First BBS I logged on to was some kind of General Aviation thing, not my line, but the first time I saw "e-mail" mentioned.
I still remember the little eerie prickle I felt the first time I logged on to CIS with their
"Host is Online..."
stopbadware is a Google operation. I wonder if they'll do an expose on those googlebars? hahahahaha Maybe Yahoo, eh?
>>The suite is also criticized for engaging in "deceptive installation" and faulted because some components fail to uninstall.
Heck, you could say the same for Symantec's anti-virus suite.
Friends don't let friends install RealPlayer. If you need to play RealMedia streams, I suggest RealAlternative.
My AOL discs installed some software on my coffee table that I still can't remove.
AOL = Internet for dummies.
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