Microsoft Anti-spyware App Ignores Spyware

[Jeff_Wheeler]

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1834607,00.asp

@eWeek

Less than a week after published reports of acquisition talks between Microsoft Corp. and the Redwood City, Calif.-based distributor of the controversial Gator ad-serving software, security researchers have discovered that Microsoft has quietly downgraded its Claria detections.

Anti-spyware activist Eric L. Howes, who serves as a consultant to Sunbelt Software, discovered the default changes during a recent test that included four Claria applications: Dashbar, Gator, PrecisionTime and Weatherscope.

According to the results published by Howes, four different builds of the Windows AntiSpyware beta detected the Claria products, but the default recommendation was “ignore.”

Now, the Windows Anti-spyware app is set to ignore Gator ad-serving apps. It still detects them however.