Good News - Testing Has Resumed
I have VMware running again on a fast computer and testing has resumed. If a program is not listed below, that means I haven't gotten to it yet but will in the next couple of days.
Wondering if your favorite peer-to-peer file-swapping program has spyware bundled into it? Chances are good that it does.
The information on this page is believed to be accurate. However, if any of this information is wrong, please let me know immediately. Do NOT expect an immediate testing and response. I'll do it when I get around to it.
The List
LimeWire
Version Tested: 4.12.6.0
Date Tested: 8/29/06
Requires Personal Information: No
Autoupdater: Yes
Autoupdates can be disabled: Forgot to check (sorry)
Ads In Program Interface: "Upgrade to Pro" nag screen when it loads. Otherwise, no ads.
Installs DRM: No
Third Party Bundles: No
Installation Log: limewire4.12.6.php
Notes:
A lot of email has come in about LimeWire, saying that it had gone back to bundling with adware. I ran 2 spyware scanners, 2 rootkit scanners, a packet sniffer, a hard drive/registry monitor and HijackThis. Not a single hit for any sort of malware.
RockItNet
Version Tested: 1.0
Date Tested: 8/30/06
Requires Personal Information: Says so in the license but it never asked for any information
Autoupdater: Yes
Autoupdates can be disabled: No
Ads In Program Interface: Unintentionally. It loads a page in an integrated web browser. The web site doesn't exist and has been replaced by a pay-per-click search engine imposter.
Installs DRM: No
Third Party Bundles: Yes
Third Party Bundles Optional or Required: Required
Third Party Disclosure: Yes
Disclosure Was Buried or Prominent: Very buried
List of Third Party Bundles:
Cydoor
Installation Log: rockitnet1.0.php
Notes:
1) Cydoor disclosure was buried almost exactly in the middle of an enormous license.
2) Crashed Ad-aware repeatedly and crashed my whole virtual machine at one point.
3) Seems the network this program uses has disappeared. The program's updater pops up a box that says "RockItNet is now Manolito" with a button to visit the new program's web site.
Audiogalaxy Satellite
Version Tested: N/A
Date Tested: N/A
Requires Personal Information: N/A
Autoupdater: N/A
Autoupdates can be disabled: N/A
Ads In Program Interface: N/A
Installs DRM: N/A
Third Party Bundles: N/A
Third Party Bundles Optional or Required: N/A
Third Party Disclosure: N/A
Disclosure Was Buried or Prominent: N/A
List of Third Party Bundles: N/A
Notes: Audiogalaxy's P2P network is no longer running and the old Audiogalaxy Satellite program is no longer available. The current installer for Audiogalaxy Satellite now installs RealNetwork's Rhapsody Jukebox.
The original Audiogalaxy Satellite installed all manner of garbage, including Gator and Transponder.
Audiogalaxy Rhapsody
Version Tested: 3.1
Date Tested: 7/30/06
Requires Personal Information To Use: No (There is an optional music subscription service that requires personal information and payment)
Autoupdater: Yes
Autopdates can be disabled: No
Ads In Program Interface: No
Installs DRM: Yes
Third Party Bundles: Yes
Third Party Bundles Optional or Required: Optional
Third Party Software Disclosure: Yes
Disclosure Was Buried or Prominent: Prominent
List of Third Party Bundles:
Google Toolbar
Google Desktop
Notes:
Imesh
Version Tested: 6.5
Date Tested 7/30/06
Requires Personal Information To Use: Yes
Autoupdater: Didn't see one
Ads In Program Interface: Yes
Installs DRM: Possibly. Dropped the following hidden folder containing several files: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\DRM
Third Party Bundles: No (Past versions did include third party bundles)
Third Party Bundles Optional or Required: N/A
Third Party Disclosure: N/A
Disclosure Was Buried or Prominent: N/A
List of Third Party Bundles: N/A
Notes:
Offered to reset browser start page to some Imesh/Google portal (optional).
FYI, Imesh has sent numerous emails to the address I used when I installed the program. When I tried to "opt out", I was taken to a page that set off ActiveX warnings.
OneMX
Version Tested: 0.2.4.0
Date Tested: 7/30/06
Requires Personal Information: No
Autoupdater: No
Autoupdates can be disabled: N/A
Ads In Program Interface: No
Installs DRM: No
Third Party Bundles: Yes
Third Party Bundles Optional or Required: Optional (Set to install by default)
Third Party Disclosure: Yes
Disclosure Was Buried or Prominent: Prominent
List of Third Party Bundles:
Mysearch Toolbar
Notes:
Freewire (AKA FreewireP2P)
Version Tested: 3.2.3
Date Tested: 7/30/06
Requires Personal Information: Unknown (see notes)
Autoupdater: Yes
Autoupdates can be disabled: Unknown (see notes)
Ads In Program Interface: Unknown (see notes)
Installs DRM:
Third Party Bundles: Yes
Third Party Bundles Optional or Required: Mixed
Third Party Disclosure: Yes
Disclosure Was Buried or Prominent: Mixed
List of Third Party Bundles:
nCASE (180solutions. Do they still make this? Disclosure was prominent)
CommonName (Disclosure was buried in the license. No option to decline in the installer menu)
Bargain Buddy (Not disclosed in the license. Shown on the installer menu)
Notes: The installer for this kept crashing. Apparently it was trying to download a file from a server and the file wasn't there. It wouldn't go any further without that file, so I quit with this. Several files were set to load at startup before the installer froze.
eXeem
Version Tested: N/A
Date Tested: N/A
Requires Personal Information: Yes. You have to pay to download the program.
Autoupdater: Unknown
Autoupdates can be disabled: N/A
Ads In Program Interface: Unknown
Installs DRM: Unknown
Third Party Bundles: Unknown
Third Party Bundles Optional or Required: N/A
Third Party Disclosure: N/A
Disclosure Was Buried or Prominent: N/A
List of Third Party Bundles:
Notes: Requires you to provide your name, country and email address before you can even download it. THEN you find out that you have to pay for this program.
An older free beta version included adware. I see no point in testing it to see what sort.
Bittorrent Ultra
Version Tested: 2.2
Date Tested: 7/31/06
Requires Personal Information: No
Autoupdater: Didn't see one
Autoupdates can be disabled: N/A
Ads In Program Interface: Sort of. Clicking on a bittorrent link opens the program and also opens an advertisement in MSIE
Installs DRM: No
Third Party Bundles: Yes
Third Party Bundles Optional or Required: Required
Third Party Disclosure: Yes
Disclosure Was Buried or Prominent: Not buried, but not particularly easy to see either.
List of Third Party Bundles:
Adblaster
Notes: This is just a crappy program. It is simply the original bare Bittorrent client with adware bundled into it.
FileCroc
Version Tested: 1.0.1.3006
Date Tested: 7/31/06
Requires Personal Information: No
Autoupdater: Didn't see one
Autoupdates can be disabled: N/A
Ads In Program Interface: No
Installs DRM: No
Third Party Bundles: Yes
Third Party Bundles Optional or Required: Required (see notes)
Third Party Disclosure: Yes
Disclosure Was Buried or Prominent: Prominent
List of Third Party Bundles:
Navexel/Navhelper Toolbar
Notes: This program set itself up to run when Windows restarts. Very annoying.
Navhelper can be uninstalled later without breaking FileCroc.
Kiwi Alpha
Version Tested: 2.7.1
Date Tested: 7/31/06
Requires Personal Information: No
Autoupdater: No
Autoupdates can be disabled: N/A
Ads In Program Interface: Sort of. It pops up a nag to buy the pro version every time it is launched.
Installs DRM: No
Third Party Bundles: Yes
Third Party Bundles Optional or Required: Mixed (see 3rd party listings)
Third Party Disclosure: Yes
Disclosure Was Buried or Prominent: Prominent
List of Third Party Bundles:
SaveNow (required)
RelevantKnowledge (optional)
Notes: SaveNow can be uninstalled without breaking the program.
