A Holiday Warning

I wanted to pass along a quick warning about a source of possible trouble involving adware/spyware-laden software being offered for download. You may have read my earlier warning in this case [XP Slipstreamer and Logiccode.net- A Malware Warning!]. Well, consider this the second chapter in the story.

First off, I contacted Logiccode.net and told them I didn’t appreciate them sowing adware around via their software. They have since removed the offending code (so they claim). I don’t intend to do anything stupid, like take them at their word. Trust is a fragile thing and not easily regained.

Now for the REST of the story, as Paul Harvey is so fond of saying.

At the time, I also sent word to the source of the listing of that adware-carrier software. They have chosen to ignore my earlier letter, so I feel like I have to pass on that info, as well.

The listing for the program “XP SLipstreamer” showed up first in a daily newsletter called NewestShareware [from NewestShareware.com]. It’s a kind of minimal site and functions as the newsletter arm of a site called SharewareJunkies.com. They claim to be a member of ASP (the Association of Shareware Professionals), but after all this, I have to wonder either if it’s true or if the ASP is all it used to be, if the claim is true.

I’ve unsubscribed from their newsletter and I intend to have nothing more to do with a site that is willing to list such trash. There is a really short distance before you lose trust, these days.

MAybe I wouldn’t be so short-tempered with them, but they seem to make a go of it on the premise that they have hundreds of reviewers sitting around churning out ratings for the software they make available for download. That can’t really be true, because I can’t imagine anyone who installed that malware and didn’t report it. So they either don’t actually look at the software they spread or they’re in business with the malware sources.

They have a motto of “We test the programs for You…
The Oldest Software Review Site” on their home page. I leave YOU to figure out whether that’s true.