Technical Tidbits™

If the headline doesn’t get your blood boiling, probably what I have to say about this will!

The headline is actually one in the InfoWorld Today’s Headline Newsletter I just received. According to the article located here: http://www.infoworld.com/, the geniuses at M$ have come to this conclusion because of the information they receive back from their Malicious Software Removal Tool (MRT).

Okay, in case that just went right over your head for a brief second, read again what I said….”the geniuses at M$ have come to this conclusion because of the information they receive back from their Malicious Software Removal Tool (MRT).

I have advised all of my clients and family since day one, never to install that tool. The reason was that I actually tested it and found it trying to remove one of my third party pieces of software I use in web designing. Later, it started trying to remove components of the Norton Antivirus I was using! That was enough for me to call it quits early in the game. From then on, I did custom installs of the auto-updates and excluded that bad piece of junk! (So now that might explain to some of you why the he** your Norton or other software keeps screwing up!?)

But NEVER once did I know they used it to send back information! And I’ll bet NEITHER DID YOU!

According to the InfoWorld article (emphasis added by me):

Microsoft’s latest security data is particularly interesting because of the sheer number of machines that the company can electronically survey with one of its free security programs, the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT).

The MSRT is a low-end security tool that removes some of the most common classes of malicious software. The MSRT, which is an optional installation, scans machines once a month, and reports its findings back to Microsoft.

The software is on an astounding number of PCs: 450 million worldwide, according to Tim Rains, group product manager for Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group, which handles security issues. Rains made his presentation Tuesday at the Infosec security show in London.

First of all, might I say that putting Microsoft in the same sentence with TRUSTWORTHY anything is an oxymoron! Trustworthy Computing my A**!

So now I’m obviously peeved (as you can probably tell!) and on a whim I went back to this page: http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx to see if there was anything in that page that says that (And I printed it to PDF in the event M$ decides to change that page!) they also report back to M$. And it says nothing there!

So, I clicked the download link that takes me here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=AD724AE0-E72D-4F54-9AB3-75B8EB148356&displaylang=en#Overview

And again nothing mentioned there. (And yes, I printed that page to PDF too!).

So, on yet another whim, I download the miserable tool. That’s what they make ADD/REMOVE for right?

And I found it, sort of! See for yourself how it’s presented in the screen shot below:

Now, compare the statement: MICROSOFT MAY COLLECT AND PUBLISH AGGREGATED DATA ABOUT THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE to the article statement of: “…scans machines once a month, and reports its findings back to Microsoft.“

LIARS! You are no better than the alleged scumware you are telling us you are supposed to be removing!

Now that I have that out of my system, let’s continue….

The article goes on to state (emphasis again by me):

“Our customers choose to run some of this stuff,” Rains said. “Some of them get some value from it. Some of them don’t realize what they are doing. Some of them do. That’s why we call them potentially unwanted. Some of them are legitimate companies with legitimate products. We don’t want to make any value judgements on that.”

First of all, Mr. Rains, how the he** would you know that your customers choose to run them? Does your removal tool ask them WHY they are leaving it in? And does your software tool also report back how many of your users know what they are doing?

Maybe, just maybe, the poor people out there DON’T know what they are doing because you creeps have kept them so numb and dumb that they have no CLUE what to do!

The article cites that winfixer is installed on home computers up to five times more than any other rogue software program. For those of you who don’t know about winfixer, it displays a nagging screen much like the one I showed you in my REANIMATOR blog post.

Since it looks like a Microsoft Windows screen, and poor, unsuspecting users have been suckered into believing that Microsoft has their best interest at heart, why wouldn’t they click on it!

Little do they know that it’s the flaws in your “rush to market” operating systems that promotes this stuff! But oh yeah, that’s right, like Ballmer said about your VISTA, “it’s quality code!” How silly of me to forget that! It doesn’t matter if it’s secure or compatible as long as it’s first!

This latest article sickens me. How dare you – MICROSOFT – make a statement that some users may like adware! You arrogant, egotistical, spying, low-life, software pushers! You deceive the public with your propaganda and then wonder why users can’t make proper decisions? And then you have the nerve to judge them for it?

Shame on you!

Shame on the shareholders who continue to buy your stock!

Shame on the OEM system builders who continue to support your software.

Shame on us, the buying public, for not wising up sooner!

And shame on any Microsoft product user who continues to allow you to spy on us while lying outright in your privacy statements! There is a huge difference between the words “may” and “will” in a privacy statement. YOU KNEW you were going to use and collect that data. That’s not “may” – that is will.

I can’t wait until your Karma catches up to you! What goes around, comes around! And I’m waiting………

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