Required reading

[unixronin]

Go read this interview with Matt Knox, who wrote adware for Direct Revenue for a while.  Even if you aren't a computer geek.  Just go read it.  So you have some idea what you're up against if you're running Windows and using IE and trying to keep from getting 0wn3d.  Because Windows is working against you.

Comments

[cipherpunk.livejournal.com]

You may also want to link to this update (http://www.vitalsecurity.org/2009/01/direct-revenue-twisting-history.html), which accuses Matt Knox — with good substantiation, it seems — of doing an utter whitewash on history.

Based on the court documents I’m reading, I think my attitude towards Knox can best be described as “go die in a fire, you sociopathic prick.”

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm under no illusions about him being on the side of the angels. (As a matter of fact I think it's pretty telling just how he so casually mentions installing code on target computers, without the owner's knowledge, to remove not only viruses and worms but competing advertisers' code. That's probably just peachy for the unwise user with multiple ad-supported packages installed ... not.) I just thought it worth reading for the discussion of just how easy it is to pull the wool over Windows' (and apparently a lot of Windows AV software's) eyes, let alone the user's, and install something that will both hide fairly effectively from the OS and at the same time resist almost any effort to uninstall it.