The Spyware Weekly Newsletter is distributed every week to 20,000 subscribers and read online by hundreds of thousands of visitors. Please read our Terms of Use for quoting guidelines. http://www.spywareinfoforum.info/newlsetter/dec2,2005.

Wherever the term "adware" is used, it is referring to a category of software, not to any particular company or product.

The contents of this newsletter is commentary. It should not be mistaken for unbiased, objective journalism.

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• Sunbelt Rescues Kerio Firewall From Abandonware
• SuperAdBlocker
• Stupid Spammers - SWI Email Form Disabled
• 180Solutions Sues ZoneLabs
• Your Papers, Grandma. NOW!
• How's This For Sleazy?
• Firefox 1.5 Released
• New Writing Project

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I have some fantastic news. Sunbelt Software will be purchasing the rights to Kerio Personal Firewall in the very near future.

As I mentioned briefly in a previous newsletter, Kerio is discontinuing their Kerio Personal Firewall (KPF). This was just awful news. In my opinion, KPF is the best software firewall available for home Windows users.

Sunbelt Software, maker of Counterspy antispyware, will buy the rights to the program and continue to develop and support it. The price for the full version will be reduced. Sunbelt also intends to keep the free version available. Existing Kerio customers will be able to receive technical support for KPF from Sunbelt, once the deal is closed.

This news is especially welcomed in light of the recent Sygate tragedy. Sygate also used to make an excellent software firewall. Sadly, the company was purchased by Symantec. Symantec announced last week that they will discontinue Sygate Firewall.

One excellent firewall is killed by an inferior competitor. Another is retrieved from the ashes and saved. Somebody should pin a medal on Sunbelt.

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Company: SuperAdBlocker.com
Program: SuperAdBlocker
OS Platforms: Windows 98, ME, NT w/SP6, 2000, or XP
Browser Platforms: MSIE 5.0 or above, AOL, MSN or Firefox


Purchase Options:
Buy 1, Get 1 Free (2 user license code)
http://www.superadblocker.com/shoppingcart.html?action=add&sku=SABSWI000&rid=1002

Purchase for $19.95 ($10 Off Regular Price)
http://www.superadblocker.com/shoppingcart.html?action=add&sku=SABSWI001&rid=1002

As you know, I test everything before I consider mentioning it here. Enough has time has gone by since the last time SuperAdBlocker appeared here that I wanted to see what had changed. What began as a very good ad blocker a year ago has turned into a whole antimalware security suite.

First, the ad blocker. Super Ad Blocker will prevent and control the following types of ads:

• Pop-Up and Pop-Under
• Flash and Rich Media Ads
• Fly-in and Slide-in Ads
• Common Ad Banners
• Web Page Dialog Ads
• Desktop Messenger Ads
• Spyware/Adware Ads
• Sponsored Search Ads

SuperAdBlocker is the best ad blocker I have ever seen. It works with Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer 7.0 Beta, Windows Vista Beta and now it even works with Firefox. I tested it out on www.popuptest.com and it passed 100% of the tests there.

Then I tested it out on two really nasty pop-up factory web sites, where I usually go to find new spyware. One little window did slip through on one site, a window explaining how to bypass Internet Explorer's ActiveX security so it could install spyware. I believe it was created by flash but I can't be sure. I reported it to SuperAdBlocker.

Considering it blocked 100 other ads on those same two sites, that is not bad at all. It has a nice statistics tool that tells you what kind of ads were blocked and on which web sites.

One new feature is called "Find out what's running on your PC". This launches your browser and opens fileresearchcenter.com. An ActiveX program scans to see which programs are running in memory and matches them to a database of known software.

If the program is benign, it tells you that and lets you know what it is. If the program is believed to be malicious, it gives you a warning. If it has no idea what a program is, it asks if you would like to submit it so that it can be examined.

Another feature will manage and delete cookies, browser cache, URL history and browser history. These options can be reached by right-clicking SuperAdBlocker's system try icon. If you open the program, you also can delete the listings for Recently Viewed Documents, Run history, Find history and you can empty the recycle bin. If you want, it can be set up so that this cleaning happens every time the browser is closed.

SuperAdBlocker also sports a spyware scanner now. When you first install the program, it offers to scan for any sign of spyware. If anything is found, you can send it to quarantine. The spyware scanner has a scheduler, so you can have it scan every night while you sleep.

This is a great program. I will be removing this from my test computer and transferring it to my main computer. We also have a great deal on it, until December 8th. You can buy two copies for the price of one, or you can buy one copy for $10.00 off the normal price.

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My web host has forwarded well over 300 spam complaints, received from AOL.com. It seems that someone figured out a flaw in the email webform that I use on SpywareInfo and a few other web sites. Spammers learned of the problem and were using some sort of header injection exploit to send spam from my site.

I have disabled the scripts for now. There is an update that fixes the problem. I'll need to upload it and redo all of my tweaks, since I have more than one person who uses the form. Until that is done, SWI has no email contact page. Even the "Send to a Friend" feature is disabled, since it uses the same mailing code.

I should have the email contact pages up again in a few days. I don't know if I can put the "Send to a Friend" feature back in place. I will have to examine the new email script and see if I can convert it.

Do everyone a favor, please? Do not buy things advertised in spam. All it takes is for one spam victim out of 10 million to buy something to make it worthwhile for spammers to do what they do. If you buy something from a spam email, you are directly responsible for the next 10 million spams sent out by that spammer.

If you know of someone who buys things from spam emails, take a hammer to their modem. You will be providing a much-needed public service.

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180Solutions has filed a lawsuit against ZoneLabs. 180Solutions software is targeted by ZoneLabs' new antispyware program. According to the lawsuit, 180Solutions claims that ZoneLabs makes false and misleading statements about their software. The suits says that ZoneLabs' software has caused thousands of people to remove 180Solutions software.

There is a very simple way to avoid having your software show up in a spyware scan. The process is simple and it doesn't involve a single lawyer. Are you ready? Do you have pen and paper in front of you? You there! In the back! Pay attention.

Don't allow "partners" to use deceptive means to install the software. When your "partners" exploit security flaws to sneak your software onto people's computers alongside rootkits and spam trojans, you really shouldn't whine when it becomes a target of antispyware programs.

180Solutions software has been caught numerous times, installing through deceptive means. Every few months, the company claims that they will stop allowing their software to be distributed in this way. Occasionally, they even make a show of filing lawsuits against a few affiliates.

Despite their press releases and their lawsuits against affiliates, nothing ever really changes. People continue to find deceptive and/or nonconsensual installations of 180Solutions software.

Spyware Warrior has an entire page exposing the company's antics during 2005. It is an interesting (if very, very long) read.

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Deborah Davis, a fifty year-old grandmother living Arvada, Colorado, must have thought recently that she had slipped through a time warp and appeared in the Soviet Union, circa 1950.

While Davis was commuting to work on a public bus, federal agents boarded the vehicle and demanded identification papers from everyone aboard. When Davis refused to produce any form of identification, they dragged her from the bus, slapped on the handcuffs and placed her under arrest.

Presumably, the president will be giving an award to these three brave federal agents. We all know how dangerous those unidentified grandmothers can be. She might have been packing a box of homemade cookies for all we know.

After sweating Davis for three hours in a police station, they released her. She left the building with two citations for "petty offenses" (whatever that means). The article doesn't say what charges were entered on the citations. I can't even imagine what they possibly could have charged her with, considering she never broke a single law.

Here is a little refresher course in American law. There is no requirement to carry identification aboard a public bus. No crime is committed by boarding a bus without your papers. The only law broken here was when this woman was abducted, shackled and carried away against her will.

I wonder what their own grandmothers think of what these federal agents did? I'll bet none of them have any cookies waiting for them on their next visit.

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After a lengthy beta period, the Mozilla Foundation has released Firefox 1.5.

The award-winning Web browser is better than ever. Browse the Web with confidence - Firefox protects you from viruses, spyware and pop-ups. Enjoy improvements to performance, ease of use and privacy. It's easy to import your favorites and settings and get started. Download Firefox now and get the most out of the Web.

Firefox has been my favorite web browser for years. It blocks most pop-up windows. It has tabbed browsing, which lets you load numerous web pages in the background, without having to open multiple windows. You can subscribe to a web site's RSS feed and view the titles of individual entries. It allows you to disable obnoxious javascripts, such as those which resize your window or disable the right-click menu. Best of all, there are hundreds of extensions that you can install to make web browsing much easier.

If Internet Explorer is the only browser you have used, you will be amazed at how much easier and how less frustrating the internet will become while using Firefox. Download the browser and give it a try.

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A number of stories have popped up recently about companies who sell information about cell phone usage. For a sizable fee, these companies will sell you a list of the last 100 phone numbers called by a specific cell phone.

Evidently, these companies use various shady techniques to find the information. In some cases, they will bribe an employee at the cell phone company. Another method is to call the phone company and impersonate the customer.

Cell phone users and providers alike are outraged. Verizon is vowing to sue any such company out of existence, if they violate the privacy of any Verizon customer. A Verizon spokesman is quoted as saying "If there's someone out there doing this today, they better sleep with one eye open because we're going to be coming after them."

Opinion is mixed on whether or not what these companies do is legal. If these methods are legal, I hope that it doesn't take long for someone to correct that little oversight. These companies should have no right to violate a person's privacy in this way.

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I have started writing a book. It has nothing to do with spyware or privacy. In fact, it is a horror book. I am setting it about three years in the future and much of it will be located in Savannah, GA, where I grew up.

Terrorists launch an attack on Fort Detrick, the US Army's main facility for researching chemical and biological weapons. During the attack, some very nasty viruses are contaminated by an old Soviet chemical weapon and then are released into the atmosphere.

The mutated viruses cause a worldwide plague that - get ready for it - turns people into zombies!

Like I said, this is a *new* project, so there is not very much of a book there yet. I am about 30 pages deep at this point. I took part of it and made it into a short story, which I have entered into a zombie-themed short story contest.

I probably will not try to publish this. It depends on what happens when I finish it, I guess. I have a blog for the book, where I post the newest version after I finish a section.

If you like books and movies about zombies, you should check this story out. I warn you, this will not be your typical zombies-show-up-and-the-world-collapses-in-thirty-seconds type of story. That is just boring and it has been done to death. If zombies want to take over the world in *my* universe, they are going to have to fight for it.

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SpywareInfo has a new(ish) feature, listing news headlines relevant to spyware, privacy and safely using the computer. There is a saying that "all politics are local". It seems that this also applies to the internet. It is a close community in that problems can spread from anywhere. If you see a local story that you think deserves attention, please let us know. Use this mail form, tell us some details and we will follow the story.

This Spywareinfo News Section is updated every day - and several times during the day. It is a section of Spywareinfo that we hope will keep you informed on a daily basis - and keep your internet time a bit safer. Go have a look.

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