ark turtle said:
Something called zango has taken over my computer, can anyone tell me
how to get it off my back...
zango bad........
Ark Turtle
Good answer Savant.
Interestingly, Zango's (the result of combining of "180 solutions" and "Hotbar") spyware landed them in trouble with the FTC and were shown to be violating federal law by making it nearly impossible to remove their software.
http://www.betanews.com/article/Adware_Firm_Zango_FTC_Settle_for_3M/1162590576
Then, Zango sued PC Tools because they were uninstalling it with their program "Spyware Doctor". They also sued Zone Labs because their firewall blocked its operations.
Great job the Fed is doing with their judgment.
BetaNews said:
nternet advertising firm Zango -- previously known as 180solutions -- has settled with the federal government, agreeing to pay $3 million in fines to settle charges that they used deceived consumers into downloading adware and obstructed them from removing it, in violation of federal law.
You would figure that after that, Zango would disappear. Nope, as a computer tech I can assure you it has only gotten worse. I see it more now than before the suit.
BetaNews said:
"Consumers' computers belong to them, and they shouldn't have to accept any content they don't want," said Lydia Parnes, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "If consumers choose to receive pop-up ads, so be it. But it violates federal law to secretly install software that forces consumers to get pop-ups that disrupt their computer use."
Did you accept Zango's offer to install their software? I bet you didn't. I know that neither I nor any of my coworkers did, and yet it showed up on one of my machines at work.
Totally worthless getting a judgment against folks like that. The feds won't even enforce a judgment already in place, nor will they prosecute those who perpetrate such garbage on the public.
Spyware is written with the sole objective of tracking you and your browsing habits. They are not worried about how many security holes there are. Most of these programmers are rejects from legitimate businesses, so you know their coding is poorly done at best. Hackers know about the flaws and exploit them to attack innocent citizens for gain.
In a time where identity theft is destroying some peoples' lives, the government should be attacking these companies. I wonder why they don't? Maybe someone should follow the money.
Windows Defender? Hell, Microsoft bought one of the world's worst spyware companies: Massive Incorporated. They devised a way to put active ads in many of the commercial games for sale today. They record how often you see each ad, how far away you were when you saw it, how long your character looked at it, and from what angle. You pay for the game, and some business pays them for putting their ads in your game. They use your computer for storage, your bandwidth for pushing the ads, sell the data they collect from your computer, AND you pay them to do it. Great gig if you can get it I guess.
It's called Digital In Game Advertising. "DIGA" for short. For a list of games, you can go here:
http://r-force.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=16
