Hit on trust

Story: CNet's Download.com Caught Adding Malware to Nmap & Other SoftwareTotal Replies: 7
Author Content
tushargok

Dec 17, 2011
10:06 AM EDT
CNet.com was the only site I used to trust for any windows software downloads, apart from Microsoft itself. Now I'm really really worried to download any software from CNet.com.
Fettoosh

Dec 17, 2011
11:28 AM EDT
Quoting:CNet.com was the only site I used to trust for any windows software downloads...


You trust MS! how could you? where have you been? Obviously you never heard the famous saying "Trust but Verify".



helios

Dec 17, 2011
1:13 PM EDT
Many of the packages that I cannot find in the repos or on the app website, I get from Softpedia. So far, no real issues.
JaseP

Dec 17, 2011
4:43 PM EDT
I trust M$,... I trust them to be completely self-serving, greedy, unethical, immoral, corrupt, ... and most of the time, ... incompetent.
BernardSwiss

Dec 17, 2011
10:11 PM EDT
I've just done some quick checking, and it appears the the "glossy" cumputer/Computing magazines are assiduously averting their eyes. I couldn't find any mention on ZDNet, PC Mag or PC World, not even using the sites' search function for terms such as "Cnet", "download.com", or "malware". (But ZDNet did have ads ("sponsored links") for Download.com).

I didn't realize they had sunk quite so low.

- - -

And this story broke over a week ago. I am seriously considering personally boycotting these publications, and an email to explain why. I might experiment with bringing it up in ZD story comments, but I doubt such comments would survive (I'm not sure my account would survive, either).

helios

Dec 17, 2011
10:26 PM EDT
I cannot afford to lose my only real free entertainment fix....the fistfights that occur on SJVN's article comments.
tushargok

Dec 18, 2011
2:22 AM EDT
Yes, If I can trust there Windows OS I better trust there softwares too! Just like on Debian Linux I trust debian repos. It is very difficult for common man like me to verify and understand if there are any malware/spyware inside softwares... for that I have to trust my anti virus to find it.... finally I'm dependent some or other softwares.
helios

Dec 18, 2011
8:40 AM EDT
for that I have to trust my anti virus to find it....

I think that is a common mistake we all made when we used Windows. Unfortunately, most antivirus and malware software is reactive and not proactive. We did an informal experiment at the HeliOS facility a couple of months ago, testing the ability of many of the free and trialware antivirus programs to detect and stop the virus/malware program known as AV Security 2012.

None of them, to include Microsoft Security Essentials were able to stop it from being installed and only reported it after it had made itself at home and set up shop on the computer. Once it had a foothold on the machine, we discovered that it has evolved into a rootkit and was almost impossible to remove without severely endangering the registry.

I personally do not think it wise to ever trust Microsoft Windows OR the software-in-the-wild that goes with it. Besides, if you ever actually read the EULA before installing it, I don't see how anyone can justify using it. Many will say "but Linux won't run X or Y programs." Yeah, that may be true but not as much as you might think. Between Wine, Crossover Office and VirtualBox, there really isn't much excuse to "need" Windows.

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