Free AV from AOL

External Since: Nov 03, 2006 Posts: 21

"Art" <null.TakeThisOut@zilch.com> wrote in message
news:hg8rd2prjr9kmp00r5jtggi3d12e1fqjsg@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 11 Aug 2006 19:57:28 -0700, DaVinci <D.TakeThisOut@nospam.net> wrote:
>
>>> In spite of my own reservations, I changed my mind and decided to give
>>> the product a fair shake. So I activated it. You don't have to agree
>>> to the Taskbar thing during installation, which I instinctively did
>>> not do. Later, someone on alt.comp.freeware mentioned that the
>>> Taskbar is where the devil lies ... it allegedly causes pop ups and
>>> other undesirable activities.
>>>
>>> I'm not having any problems with it so far. I'm in the process of
>>> trying to determine whether or not it contains spyware. But that
>>> will require packet inspection sw and it might well prove to be
>>> quite difficult. KAV 6 rules your machine down at the lowest levels
>>> including the monitoring of (at least most) all internet traffic.
>>>
>>> Also, some people have complained about incompatibility with
>>> Sygate fw, but I'm not experiencing any problems along those
>>> lines.
>>>
>>> I'll report any problems I find here in this thread.
>
>>Art,
>>
>>I look forward to the report also. Take a look at the following
>>information. I've not read the EULA, so I don't know what it contains.
>> If the information in this article is accurate, there's more going on
>>than meets the eye.
>>
>><Quote>
>>
>>While AOL doesn't ask for money, Active Virus Shield users have to agree
>>to let AOL and its partners deliver ads to them. "As a condition for
>>your use of the software, you agree to receive promotions and periodic
>>e-mail messages from us and our affiliates," according to the fine print
>>in the license and user agreement of the software.
>
> That's an aspect that I'll not likely be able to evaluate since my ISP
> does a good job of spam blocking. I did see a different spam email
> sneak throgh this morning concerning low mortgage rates that I haven't
> seen in ages, but I obviously have no idea whether or not that spam
> email is related to having divulged my email addy to AOL.
>
>>Active Virus Shield collects a host of information that may be used for
>>marketing purposes, starting with the e-mail address required to
>>download and run the product, according to the fine print. Other data
>>collected include usage stats, responses to ads and details about the
>>PC, according to the AOL agreement.
>
> The question is whether or not that activity requires the Taskbar
> option, which I excluded.
>
> Another question or aspect is whether or not some sort of spyware
> is included "along side of" or "in addition to" or "independent of"
> AVP.EXE. I looked for that sort of thing last evening and didn't
> find anything unusual attempting to "call out". With the realtime
> monitor temorarily disabled (AVP.EXE not running), internet
> activity was dead as a doornail. On my machine, no ports were open or
> internet services active. Nothing unusual was trying for outgoing
> internet access that I could find.
>
> With the realtime monitor running, the port activity, etc., looks
> the same as with "the real" or regular KAV 6. AVP.EXE shows up
> in the same ways using netstat, Fport and Sygate.
>
> So I wonder about any unusual activities of AVP.EXE itself. Seems
> doubtful to me that the scanner itself without the Toolbar option
> included is doing anything underhanded, but who knows?
>
>>Alongside the antivirus software, AOL ships an Internet Explorer
>>toolbar. The Microsoft toolbar includes an indicator for the PC's
>>security status, a password manager, a pop-up blocker and a link to a
>>Web site for more information on suspicious sites, the Web company said.
>>It also includes an AOL Web search box, which can drive traffic to AOL
>>Search.
>>
>><End Quote>
>>
>>http://news.com.com/AOL+offers+free+antivirus+software/2100-7355_3-6102917.html?tag=nefd.top
>
> Again, I suspect the devil is in the optional Taskbar and in the
> spam resulting from divulging your email addy. If there's more
> to it than that, it may well be beyond my capabilities of finding
> out. We shall see.
>
> Art
> http://home.epix.net/~artnpeg

Look forward to hearing more of your analysis, Art. Except for the optional
taskbar, this looks to be fairly benign. And it's refreshing to see a EULA
that openly admits to everything. Are there active banner ads displayed
while the product is in using, during a scan?

Bob

External Since: Jun 06, 2006 Posts: 166

On Sat, 12 Aug 2006 07:42:32 -0400, "rjdriver"
<rjdriversNOSPAM.RemoveThis@cox.net> wrote:

>Look forward to hearing more of your analysis, Art. Except for the optional
>taskbar, this looks to be fairly benign. And it's refreshing to see a EULA
>that openly admits to everything. Are there active banner ads displayed
>while the product is in using, during a scan?

I've not yet let it scan my entire drive or drives. Only the "Critical
Areas" scan. No sign of any ads or anything. So far it behaves very
much like the regular KAV 6. One minor difference is that you can
disable the realtime monitor without having to supply a password as
you do with the regular KAV 6. But otherwise, you'd think you were
using the regular KAV 6 product (with the PDM and web scan disabled
since they're not present at all). Of course, the icons are different
as you'd expect Smile

Art
http://home.epix.net/~artnpeg