Badware

[mouser]

StopBadware.org is a "Neighborhood Watch" campaign aimed at fighting badware. We will seek to provide reliable, objective information about downloadable applications in order to help consumers make better choices about what they download onto their computers. We aim to become a central clearinghouse for research on badware and the bad actors who spread it, and become a focal point for developing collaborative, community-minded approaches to stopping badware.

http://www.stopbadware.org/home/help


[link from lifehacker]

[Edvard]

Now what would really be cool is if they listed some of these vile parasites like they do sex offenders.

[Innuendo]

Then they'd have to list every program Symantec sells.

[Edvard]

A long time ago, I considered working for a local startup software company. No programming skills needed, the ad said. I went to the place and took their aptitude test. They said I was smart enough but didn't have the level of programming skills needed. Here's the weird part; they offered programming classes for free with the promise that they would hire me at 8 bucks an hour when I graduated. The hours were funny, so I didn't bite and besides, the pay wasn't what I needed at the time. Anyways, about 3 months later I found their first software product, Stop-Sign Antivirus. I decided to download it and try it out. BIG MISTAKE. 3 download screens later, it installed more spyware and "phone home" trolls than I could count. I didn't even get around to scanning for viruses with it, it was so bad. A quick search on Google today shows Lavasoft (makers of Ad-Aware) had it rated as a level 7 spyware that was eventually downgraded to a level 3. I don't know about any of you, but Level 1 is too high!

[allen]

I see commercials for stop-sign on tv all the time, these two people with bad accecents talking about worms, protection and how scarry the interwebs are  I never download anything I see on tv, including AOL! 

[jgpaiva]

The ironic part about Stop-Sign Antivirus is that it is supposed to remove spyware

[mouser]

allen - hahahahahahah i've seen those commercials as well.