Either Safer Networking Ltd. or Symantec leaving the Anti Spyware Coalition...

[rautamiekka]

I have always hated symantec just because its products are even worse than my bro is in annoying me. If symantec tells ya, Safer Networking, to bury or something the Spybot, just answer: "chill the f**k out **sholes" and don't care about them. Sorry for that bad language but that is what I think
And if you hate something or dislike it, write it with small letters, not with the first one being big. That's the way to show you don't like what you typed using small letters.

[Lynn1102]

Most of these programs do some good and some not so good. Example: My son downloads lots crap and recently got a trojan virus. I tried Nortons to get rid of it and Nortons said all it good. I tried SPYBOT which also said all is good. Panda and AVG all said no problem. I updated his Win xp pro and used the monthly Windows virus removal tool. No more virus.
All programs of similar types compete with each otherr on the computer - graphics programs are a good example. Each one tries to take over the computer by insisting on opening all graphics. Same type competition with I Tunes, Nero, Roxio etc. Each wants to rule the roost. You just have to tell each one which is the boss. They can work together, but we have to tell them how to do it. I do use Nortons and Spybot and AdAware. I have no problem with any of them. I do not use TeaTimer cause it won't let me upgrade my computer. I run Spybot when I want to, not when Spybot wants to. I do not run NIS, only the virus program on this machine. I have an older version of System Works on my other machine. The only thing I don't like, is the auto renewal that goes with the 2007 Version of Nortons. First thing I did was dis-able that part.
Merry Christmas or whatever.

Lynn

[macbd1]

I donated to Safer Networking this morning and went to this forum for the first time, being surprised about the controversy over Symantec. I have found their Norton Internet Security to be the best I have tested and read reviews about in recent years. I have never needed Norton Ghost although I considered installing it or another cloning program when my HDD went bad recently; however, I decided to bite the bullet and reinstall the OS and everything else so I would be rid of an accumulation of 'cyber-sludge' -- so I am not personally aware of any Symantec directives to first uninstall Spybot for this program.

Here is my experience with Norton Internet Security (NIS) 2007 that I recently installed when my subscription to NIS 2006 was expiring. Incidentally, I have never encountered any such 'incompatibility' issues with prior NIS installations (since 2002.) When I did encounter the warning about Spybot being incompatible with the installation of NIS 2007, and to first uninstall it, I was surprised. However, I quickly learned that this only concerned the 'installation' of NIS 2007 and that I could subsequently reinstall Spybot-S&D after NIS was installed, without causing problems for either program. I did this in short order without thoughts of any devious intentions by Symantec; I even thought to myself that Spybot must indeed be powerful for a large company like Symantec not being able to design an installation program to ignore the presence of Spybot -- also, why Spybot didn't have means for my disabling it temporarily.

So, in impromptu fashion, I voted 'None of the Above' in the poll, especially since the third option seemed to be misworded if not misleading -- with the words "DO NOT (waste)" being omitted from the option, "No, please waste our donations to go through legal channels, instead of using them to fight malware." How could such an omission or mis-wording be overlooked 'unintentionally' for an important poll when it changes the entire meaning of this option -- who would ever vote to waste donations...?

Now, having Scotch-Irish demeanor I have made plenty of phone-calls and written bunches of letters over the years concerning matters that I felt were important to be righted. And, if I had spent untold hours developing, managing and operating the Spybot program and web site (and caring so much about its quality and longevity) I would likely be taking action with Symantec myself.

However, having just now learned more about the Symantec company and its officers and policies from an internet search, I am wondering whether Symantec indeed has devious and possibly illegal intentions against Safer Networking's Spybot-S&D. Information in the following links may be pertinent to those feeling strongly enough about the subject issue to follow-up meaningfully:

Symantec's Corp. Officers:
http://www.symantec.com/about/profil...ives/index.jsp

Locations (found a surprise here):
http://www.symantec.com/about/profil...ions/index.jsp

Code of Conduct
(At least an indicator of their professionalism, much more than most companies):
http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_...duct_13106.pdf

From my experiences in contacting folks at both large and small companies, I should think that Symantec's people would be more than willing to discuss the 'incompatibility' issue with PepiMK representatives and resolve matters amicably. Conversely, if a case can be made that Symantec is (even with an unproved 'likely') intentionally attempting to harm Spybot and its developers, THEN THE WHOLE WORLD NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT IT, not just those at this forum or who may happen to read Spybot's home page info.

I intend to write a letter of inquiry to Symantec's CEO today, how about you? The bit about the whole world needing to know about any wrongful intentions, if true, will be highlighted but in a non-accusatory manner at this time.

It will also be interesting to read about any follow-up at the Spybot home page, or this forum.

Best Wishes,
Mac
PS - Everyone should be so fortunate as to live only 300 steps from their office.

Well...now a month later (12/18/06) and no response from Symantec. I am surprised; this is the first time in my history of calling and writing company CEO's that I haven't at least received an acknowledgement....and most times they've had specifics about their follow-up.

I also checked the ASC web site today where I find 'no' additions during the past six months or more. Neither do I find 'any' public statements or articles concerning ASC activities during this time. This makes me wonder if PepiMK's plans with ASC that started this thread are now moot, if ASC has gone to its demise like its predecessor. Regardless, the FAQ's that describe ASC and its purposes seem to preclude any means of their resolving the Spybot-S&D vs. Symantec differences anyway, check it out here:

http://www.antispywarecoalition.org/about/FAQ.html

I currently schedule Spybot-S&D to run at 3AM each day, and NIS 2007 at 5AM. Even though I'm usually around the web each day for quite awhile, Spybot usually finds nothing (I'm pretty well immunized) while NIS may find only a couple of additional tracking cookies.

So...with NIS 2007 (not 2006) now being found to be a decent if not good to excellent anti-spyware product (also proclaimed as such by professional reviews) I'm asking myself why waste memory/resources to run Spybot-S&D as well -- and, yes, I have read that running two anti-spyware products on a single computer can cause problems, much like running two anti-virus programs simultaneously.

Therefore, it seems that I need to continue with Spybot-S&D (having excellent personal results and reviews) and replace NIS 2007 with a 'straight' anti-virus program -- or continue with NIS 2007 and drop Spybot.

That's about all I can offer here that might be of any help to others. Competition in the anti-spyware world has certainly become more fierce with no end in sight.

Regards,
Mac
---------------------------
Today's popular (to some) tee-shirt containing the image of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara exclaims, "Fight Oppression," while in truth his great "revolutionary tribunals" murdered thousands of innocent 'enemies of the revolution,' while he proclaimed "Individualism must disappear!" His large mural hangs in Cuba's Ministry of the Interior, the headquarters for Cuba's KGB and STASI trained secret police of which Guevara was a founder. This setting needs to be added to the tee-shirt for all to see and understand the travesty.

[[HDRW]Smee]

Now, the biggest player in this game is Microsoft and I would be very surprised if they will add NIS to their detection list since their behaviour in the past has been far from impeccable, but if they did then Symantec might sit up and take notice.

And, with M$ purchase of Massive Inc. they have entered the spyware INDUSTRY. Massive's SDK is used by game creators to integrate ad pushing into the games and the gathering of personally identifiable information from gamers and others. The executables are infected, but m4d.dll must be present for it to communicate with the author. However, if it isn't there the software won't run. It is alleged that the coding for the data gathering is in that file. http://nationalcheeseemporium.org/

Bill got it and turned it over to the xbox bunch, but it infects PCs and all console games too. Wonder why Bill would need something like that?

[chpalmer]

I would also vote no confidence in the "Anti Spyware Coalition".

I personally, as well as many others I know have given up on Symantec products years ago, opting for other vendors products. There's just better written software out there.

[CalvinOZ]

Hi all,

One thing I have noticed in my part of the world (Australia) of late is that it may be VERY difficult to do anything about the Symantec invasion of systems. A LOT of machines come pre-installed with the 'free' (read trial for 90 days, and pester the life out of you for payment) versions of the Norton products.

This leaves any support person in a bad position - no way to easily remove the Symantec products You can't even 'reload' the machine from scratch because the only install media usually provided is a 'ghost' or similar image on a partition on the HDD, which 'puts the machine back' to the factory installed condition (complete with Norton products again !)

I suspect we have little hope of ever changing Symantec's behaviour whilst they are allowed to continue with practises like this !

Calvin.

[xmarket88]

Well,now 4 years,i bought form internet a symantec product,and guess what?i was infected once with the instalations kit,and when i send to support frmo norton,they answered that it was my fault.i reinstalled windows 2000,and then again i installed and guess what?dammit,my pc were more slow than ever,i deletes my symantec product from pc,and i sweared that i will not use anymore that product,i was very dissapointed:( my opionon is that they are trying to monopolize the marketing by "killing" first those free software which enourages the fight against the spyware and etc..my opionon guys,is that you should fight for your own rights,do not esitated,i will personaly rather donate to your campaign insteed of buyng stupid products from norton:( who destroy and slow your computes..good job guys keep the good job,i am proud to be one of Spybot users,and i am very pleased you do have my full support! Congrats!

[mike123]

Voted none of the above in the poll.

And found me a big issue with this so-called incompatibility - while it might say on a NIS 07 box about the incompatibility thing, I updated my 06 NIS about 30 minutes ago, online, downloaded the update, and discovered thta it's "incompatible" with my favourite security program bar none. Subsequently discovered this forum. Joy did not abound. Anyway, I naturally didn't uninstall Spybot, and carried on, and what eventually happened was that it corrupted the installation of nothing except AntiSpam, which is just about crap enough for me to live without it. Still, suffice it to say that I was n-o-t h-a-p-p-y. Next year? NOD32.

And about a posible cause of action for the Spybot team, seeing as I didn't vote for any of the other (cheeky!) ones?

(and despite the fact that it's either a massive oversight or a blatant attempt to crush competition under a mass of corporate flab to not ensure that NIS can install with Spybot in place)

Here's my solution: The installer picks up on SPybot v1.4 as incompatible. So, I figure a fundamentally identical new version with a slightly different name or number (may I suggest 1.5 as a catchy option?) might well slip through the net. Worth a go at least?

[Frank C]

I was running my Symantec subscription down to zero intending to switch my anti virus and firewall to Grisoft AVG. With fourteen days to go Symantec decided to renew my subscription and charge my credit card! This of course was a "service" to me. I wish I had gotten such good care when I attempted to report a false positive to Symantec. The Tech in (foreign country) didn't even know what a false positive was!
Frank C

[Lynn1102]

Frank, go to their web site and opt our of the auto renewal thing. I think you can do it in your profile settings. Hope the renewal starts after the old one expires instead of right away. Don't remember who, but someone just got into lots of trouble for something like that. People renewed the contract and lost the remaining time on their present contract.

Lynn