http://startupware.com Reversing the Model for Spyware Removal Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:07:39 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I've been getting some very specific complaints about Nero 7 Essentials. "The computer slows down. It crashes. Started with the new DVD writer." All the drives in question were bundled with the OEM version of Nero 7 Essentials. Time for another test. Test box for today is running an Athlon ... http://startupware.com/2008/02/22/nero-7-essentials/ Dell has had its share of bad press over bad decisions. Usually, they're like most big companies that just don't get it. Now, they're advertising a new series of computers, called "Vostro". No, I don't know how they could possibly trademark that in Italy, where it would mean "Your Computer". ... http://startupware.com/2007/07/27/trialware-and-the-dell-vostro/ Had a call from a client this week, describing a "Microsoft logo down by the clock with a virus alert." It wasn't, but that was the message. This is on a recent vintage Dell box, XP Home, fully-patched, with antivirus and antispyware packages from one of the major companies. A ... http://startupware.com/2007/06/09/contravirus-cleanup/ Ina Fried, of CNET's New.com, has posted an overview of 'Crapware' installations on new PCs. It's a good survey of the big-box companies' current and recent abuses, er, I mean practices. News.com Other news reports have been identifying this stuff as 'craplets' or 'crap applets'. Some craplets are also startupware, if ... http://startupware.com/2007/04/18/crapware-craplets-no-its-startupware/ Following up on the Dell commercial for Bonzi Buddy, well, OK, it's for a "custom" notebook that apparently is only available with "all" the stuff you could want... (here) Well, it gets stranger. The background music is fun to listen to. It's catchy. It's the first verse and the chorus of ... http://startupware.com/2006/09/09/catch-my-disease/ What's wrong with the marketing team at Dell these days? Here's the scenario for the new Dell television ad, apparently targeted at the 'Back to College' crowd. A young man is sitting on a sofa, calling Dell. Voiceover: "Thanks for calling Dell. What can we build for you?" The living room ... http://startupware.com/2006/08/06/separated-at-birth/ This Dell Dimension has had a rough time. It's been invaded, and although the hard drive was corrupted, I can't prove a strict cause and effect relationship between the bad directory entries and lost clusters and the resident of the system. When Dust Bunnies Attack Evidence found of PC Gremlins... Film ... http://startupware.com/2006/07/04/when-dust-bunnies-attack/ The web evolves. Software security isn’t what it was. There was a time when backing up a computer was a reasonably straightforward operation, if a little time-consuming. Just run Archive Backup and back everything up to DC2120 tapes. Of course, that old program later became Backup Exec, was bought out ... http://startupware.com/2006/06/14/backups-now-point-ohoh/ There is such thing as spyware, despite the news reports. No, really. I’ve been saying that since last year. But to review: Spyware is software that sends personally-identifiable information back to its publisher. But the software publishers involved all claim to send NON-personally-identifiable information back, and to be adware publishers. ... http://startupware.com/2006/05/10/programmer%e2%80%99s-challenge-reversing-the-spyware-model/ On Thursday, Microsoft released the patch to remove the "SETABORTPROC" functionality from WMF image processing. The patch is on Windows update as # MS06-001, and should be installed on all systems running Windows 2000 and above. Anyone who previously installed the unofficial patch should first install the Microsoft patch, and ... http://startupware.com/2006/01/07/wmf-patch-released-early/