Is Viewpoint Spyware?

Viewpoint, in the form of viewmgr.exe and the Viewpoint Media Player, is the source of a lot of questions here on Ask Leo!. Most boil down to: Is it spyware?

No, it is not.

Then why are so many people concerned about it? Why is the next question most people ask “How do I get rid of it?”

Probably because they didn’t ask for it, they don’t know why it’s on their machine, and their firewall is suddenly reporting that it’s attempting to access the Internet. All things that have come to be associated with…

you guessed it…

Spyware.

I recently received e-mail from a marketing representative at Viewpoint pointing out that “Viewpoint has a clean bill of health from liutilities, hijackthis, Pestpatrol, Ad-aware, System Info, Computer Cops, Webroot Spysweeper, Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta, and more…”, and directing me to its FAQ.

The FAQ is very informative, and clears up many of the assumptions that people have been making, confirming some and stating others to be false. I encourage anyone with concerns to read it.

But from a consumer’s perspective, the problem still remains. Let me address the points I made at the beginning.

They didn’t ask for it. Viewpoint components are installed as a side effect of installing other software, most notably AOL and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). The software claims to be “required,” but I have a hard time understanding why I need yet another media player in order to chat with friends on AIM. The fact that Viewpoint is installed at all, and more important, how visible this fact is, is in the hands of these other packages. Personally, I would expect that a) Viewpoint would be optional, and, as such, b) I would be given a clear choice at setup time for these other software packages. Sadly that is not always the case, and Viewpoint can simply “appear,” seemingly without warning.

They don’t know why it’s on their machine. As I just pointed out, I have no clue as to why I would need another media player in order to chat with my friends on AIM. The same is true for many packages that include Viewpoint software. Some clearly need the technology to deliver their functionality. But for others, Viewpoint is used only when certain features are used. If you never use those features, or never even think about those features even existing, the presence of an unexpected package such as Viewpoint is at best, confusing, and at worst quite distressing.

Their firewall is suddenly reporting that it’s attempting to access the Internet. I understand why this happens, and from a technical perspective, it’s a good thing. Viewpoint, or, more specifically, viewmgr.exe, is checking for updates of the Viewpoint software. Many software packages now do this automatically as a way to ensure that as many of their users have the latest and most stable releases. The problem here is the cascading effect of the previous two points: you didn’t ask for it, you don’t know what it is, and all of a sudden it wants to access the Internet? Of course that’s going to raise concerns, as well it should.

So what’s the answer?

In my opinion:

• Viewpoint, and the other companies that package Viewpoint software, need to do a much better job of educating users at install time about Viewpoint, what it is, and why it’s being installed.

• Viewpoint should be clearly made an optional install in almost all cases.
• Viewpoint should be easily uninstalled. (Its FAQ seems to indicate that it is, but user experiences as reflected in the comments on my viewmgr.exe article report varying degrees of success.)
• Consumers need to pay attention to what we’re installing. In many cases packages like Viewpoint are called out on software installs and often are optional, if you’d only take the time to look. I, for one, rarely accept “default” installs for exactly this reason … without looking, I don’t know what I’m getting.

Related:

Ask Leo! - viewmgr.exe - What is viewmgr.exe?
Viewpoint - FAQ