Originally posted here by Lansing_Banda
Prime example: Microsoft Messanger. Not only does it open you com open to many vulnerabilities, not only does it spam your system, but Microsoft made the damn program a hell and a half hard to uninstall. Now, if they can do it, then little fish will have no problem.

Another way that they can get past it is by putting a required key or something in it which is used to get a program to run. For example, the DivX player 5.0 came included with Gator and if Gator was uninstalled, the DivX program would cease to work.

Argument: it is a required piece of the program, and the program just can't work without it.

Wow working around contracts is fun!

Wow.... where to start... just because i'm in a bad mood tonight and I'm sick of the inaccuracies being posted on this site. I'm being to think that this site is a breeding ground for those with low IQs. Let's start with your "Prime Example".... There's nothing called Microsoft Messanger... primarily because it's Messenger but that's beside the point. There's Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger and Messenger Service. Windows Messenger is the program that MS made it hard to install but it's still a matter of editing an ini file. It is actually quite useful in corporations if you run an Exchange server because then you're employees can use it for conferencing. MSN Messenger is the downloadable IM program (which is compatible with Windows Messenger, using the MS Servers) that most people use today. The Messenger Service has had vulnerabilities released for it, and leaves your system open to spam. However the concept of it was good, just the implementation was bad. Linux systems have a way of messaging all the users, so why can't a Windows domain have the same thing? On top of that, it's actually quite simple to stop this server (however.. uninstall.. wrong!). You simply go into services and stop it. (Wow you're right that was damn near impossible). Hell there are even programs you can download (Shoot The Messenger from grc.com for example) that disable it for you.

As for your second point. There is no DivX Player 5.0. DivX player is at like 2.0. The DivX codec on the other hand has exceeded 5.0 and that is what is shipped with spyware. However if you simple want to play DivX encoded files, there is no spyware involved. It's only if you want the encoder that you have to install spyware (or pay for a clean version) and they openly tell you about this up front.

I really wish you people would think through what you are about to say. I'm sick of reading all this drivel.

Peace

HT