Blindly Accepting Terms & Conditions
Measuring just how complex today’s ‘terms and conditions’ are.
Search Results for: spycheck
It Pays To Read License Agreements (7 Years Later)
7 years after one lucky PC Pitstop customer won $1,000 by simply reading our End-User License Agreement (EULA) — our experiment continues to garner attention in articles detailing the dangers of unread EULAs.
4 Years Later – PC Pitstop EULA Experiment Still the Buzz
Hard to believe it has been 4 years since one lucky PC Pitstop Optimize user won $1,000 by simply reading our End-User License Agreement (EULA)!
Our EULA had a clause offering money to anyone who contacted us, but it took five months and more than 3,000 sales before the first person, Doug Heckman, dropped us a line asking about the clause.
In the time since word of our ‘easter egg’ got out, numerous tech columnists have cited our experiment in discussions of privacy. An article published today brought it up again.
PC Pitstop Top 25 Spyware and Adware
PC Pitstop has long been a source of information about unwanted software and how it spreads. Now we’re using our test results database to give you weekly updates about which programs are the most prolific. The prevalence numbers indicate the percent of PCs tested at PC Pitstop where we detected that file running. Our detection works by file name, so some products may be listed multiple times if they consist of two or more files. To check for spyware, adware, unneeded programs, and many other common PC problems, try PC Pitstop Exterminate or our full system scan.
P2P Programs: Popular and Perilous
It’s time for a confession. Many of us have peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing software on our home PCs. Teenagers most often use P2P to search for and download the latest songs from their favorite artists and adults can find the songs of their youth. PC Pitstop research has shown that many of us have P2P programs such as Kazaa, Grokster, and Morpheus.
Spyware Information Center
Since PC Pitstop opened in March 2000, we’ve tested and optimized more than a million computers. During that time, spyware has become a growing problem that threatens the stability and performance of your PC.
Our statistics indicate that more than 20% of PC’s have some sort of spyware active in memory, stealing CPU cycles, using up system resources, delivering unwanted advertising, and often creating system instability. Worse yet, spyware can threaten your privacy.
Fixing Security in Windows
It’s no secret that Windows has security holes so large you can drive a truck through them. My last article analyzed the difficulty Microsoft faces with Vista in winning acceptance of an improved security model. But this of course begs the question, what can Microsoft do to make a more secure computing environment for us all? Even if Microsoft is one of the most profitable companies run by the richest man in the world, I hope they can take a little constructive criticism.
Sony and Spyware
When I was going to high school in the late 70’s, required reading for all English students was George Orwell’s 1984. I still remember reading about the overly structured life created by a highly bureaucratic government dubbed Big Brother. The book is essentially an anecdote for many of today’s problems related to governmental power versus the privacy and self determination of citizens such as ourselves.
December 2005 Newsletter
Rob Cheng’s Take on Sony’s Spyware
Nearly One-Third of Portables are Wide Screen
PC Pitstop Detects Sony Spyware
Sony Rootkit: Number 14 on the Top 25 Spyware
The Sony XCP Rootkit
Sony Rootkit Quick Links
Sony XCP information
Affected CDs
Exchange your CD
Quick scan for Sony rootkit
In March 2005, Sony’s BMG music division began shipping music CDs that included a particularly strong form of digital rights management (DRM) software called XCP. These CDs play normally in a standard CD player, but when inserted into a PC they will attempt to install the DRM software onto the PC. The software limits the number of copies you can make and prevents transfer of the music to some music players such as the Apple iPod.