Comments on: Not all adware is badware

Hotbar.com CEO Oren Dobronsky issues a challenge to purveyors of legitimate adware and ad-supported software.

[CivilLiberties]

All adware IS badware

Dobronsky, and the rest of his crew are full of it. Do some research. It appears he will do and say anything to make a buck. Get hotbar on your computer and see how you like it....Then try to get rid of it.

[inthewoods]

A simple test

Who are you trying to convince? Colleagues? Competitors? Webster? Look beneath the semantics to what customers want. Simply, it's malware if the user doesn't want it. That's a lesson I've learned supporting every conceivable type of user over the last 25 years. Antivirus/antimalware vendors respond to those demands.

Disqualifiers can be, regardless of the product's intended purpose, obfuscation of installs, transfer or lockdown of data, tracking, scanning, other unauthorized sneaking. Sometimes being lumped with the bad guys is as simple as failing to providing working controls for removal. These flaws can immediately qualify a product for malware status in the eyes of customers. The Sony DRM fiasco was a great lesson about failing the tests on every possible level.

As a semi-retired tech I still receive two or three calls a week with requests to remove a leading AV product for reasons of obscurity and program obesity. It's out of control, tends to make a system exist for its own purpose, and can't reliably remove itself. It's ironic yet telling that opinion of a product can grow so similar to opinion of the attackers it's meant to defend against.

So, somewhat in agreement with the spirit of your piece, make your software's purpose and control obvious and make it easily removeable. Best of all, make it work as advertised.

[spywareBob]

Re: a simple test

I agree with Inthe Woods - I, too, am a technician and have the same issues with 'that' AV suite. As for Mr. Hotbar, get used to the term adware being interchangeable with spyware - on current general understanding this is simply so. You'll need a creative new name for your type of software; you'll also need to change your company name as it is also merging as a synonym.

Rob
http://spywarebob.blogspot.com

[aabcdefghij987654321]

The Adware makers all deserve to go broke

Since NONE of them follow ANY of the suggestions made by the author of this article there's no such thing as "good adware". For now as always "Adware IS badware" don't doubt it and certainly don't try to posture it as good. For now all that posturing is just a smokescreen covering their illicit support of their adware being installed on botnets. They all claim to be making sure it no longer happens but the truth is they're still paying for those illicit installs.

[bare--2008]

all adware is badware

if we dont stop one adware program from running what stops them from running hundreds of them,which adware compainy gets to put the program into my computer, how many are accpetable, and who picks which compainies win, so that makes all adware badaware

[whytakeiteasy]

Blood sucking leeches

Hotbar and the likes should be banned. Their perpterators should be chained in alcatarz. These are nothing but computer pests. They get into your computer by dubious means and then refuse to go away.

[wbenton]

Adware is NOT GOOD WARE!!!

I CANNOT BELIEVE that some people still think that ads are wanted because they're unwanted by the majority. I think that most people would agree that they DON'T WANT TO SEE ADS!

Thus forcing an unwanted on people who don't want them is NOT a GOOD THING... and if it's NOT A GOOD THING... then it's A BAD THING.

No two ways around it. Some people might want to try and paint the picture another color... but it's still one and the same picture regardless of which color you paint it!!!

Unwanted is unwanted is unwanted is unwanted is unwanted.

[wbenton]

Adware is NOT GOOD WARE!!!

I CANNOT BELIEVE that some people still think that ads are wanted because they're unwanted by the majority. I think that most people would agree that they DON'T WANT TO SEE ADS!

Thus forcing an unwanted on people who don't want them is NOT a GOOD THING... and if it's NOT A GOOD THING... then it's A BAD THING.

No two ways around it. Some people might want to try and paint the picture another color... but it's still one and the same picture regardless of which color you paint it!!!

Unwanted is unwanted is unwanted is unwanted is unwanted.