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79 Comments
- opethlike, on 10/12/2007, -1/+46I have no idea, sometime yesterday I suppose.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+27it took them this long (version 9.0) to realize AOL is a "badware"??
reported as lame. - brentzilla, on 10/12/2007, -6/+26When did the term "badware" get coined?
- crilen007, on 10/12/2007, -6/+23Badware means spyware, malware, and adware.
http://tinyurl.com/l56oj - Namco, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17I love it when someone wonders why they were dugg down, and you look and they have a positive number of diggs.
- PotatoSalad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17Here's the actual report that describes why it is being accused of behaving like badware (I found it much more informative).
http://stopbadware.org/reports/reportdisplay?reportname=aol082706 - PotatoSalad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14"Forces users to take an action (Interferes with computer use)"
I especially like this one. It has a pop-up window with "Update Now" that stays on top and has no way to select "No." It's like Windows XP's post update "Restart Now" from hell. - zweben, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15Here is the list of their problems with it:
-Installs additional software without disclosure (Deceptive installation.
-Forces users to take an action (Interferes with computer use)
-Adds AOL toolbar in Internet Explorer (Makes changes to other software without disclosure)
-Adds additional icons to default Internet Explorer toolbar (Makes changes to other software without disclosure)
-Adds to "Favorites" in Internet Explorer (Modifies other software without disclosure)
-Adds AOL Deskbar to the user's taskbar (Modifies other software without disclosure)
-Updates software automatically (Deceptive installation)
-Fails to uninstall software completely (Unacceptable unistallation)
Personally, I hate AOL as a company and as a product, but even I think most of these are pretty minor things. Yeah, wow. It makes some shortcuts. And since when is updating itself a bad thing? - DiamondIce, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13AOL has software now? I thought they were a manufacturer of drink coasters, because they keep sending out all those free samples.
- Tetraca, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Not necessarily true with things like GIMP and Firefox around. Both are free, but can rival commercial programs.
- daofma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8IE toolbars are minor? Those things are soo annoying, taking up screenspace for nothing. And desktop icons, why must AOL create ads on my desktop?! The worst part is the failure to completely uninstall. Getting rid of AOL software completely is a pain.
- blueoysterdvp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7AOL=Sucks
- Tawni, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7If you did not realize this then you must have been under a rock for as many years as this program has been out. lame
- sebnukem, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7DUH.
- ganlet, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7The actual report is layed out very professionally, I'm impressed, I am just suprised it took this long for a report to surface labeling Aol as BADware
- gimianame, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6AOL snagged a buncha ignorants about 10 years ago with all their direct mail advertising, they've been riding that ever since...its a shame people still use that sh*t service
- Namco, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Dude, it's such a long list of ***** that the common layman, computer-illiterate user (AOL's target audience) will never get rid of most of it. It'll bog down their computer like digg on an apple story.
- andykram, on 10/12/2007, -0/+42) Compaq computers...
Ok, I jest...
2) 4th of July ;) (enough said) - evolseven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4sounds like cable tv
- crilen007, on 10/12/2007, -7/+11Not sure why I am being dugg down. I hate the term as much as anyone else here.
I was just explaining what it is. - millixaw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"Malware" includes spyware and adware. "Mal" is a prefix that simply means "bad" in Latin. I think they're just trying to start a new buzzword with "badware."
And it's bad. But not in the same way as the PowerGlove... - Namco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Although the term "badware" is new to me, I still gotta say... no ***** sherlock :) Been that way since the first Q-Link floppy that came with my C64 modem.
- Ibox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4How about a list of replys, about creative ways to destroy those free AOL CD's.
1. Microwave..
anyone else? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4WHERE DID ALL TEH GOODWARES GO!? ;(99
- blueoysterdvp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Badware is similar to using a phrase like Evil Do'ers!
- MacGyver2210, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Nope, you can dial-in to AOL using any PPP client. I used to do it using HyperTerminal back in like 1993-1994. It would then make a socket connection, and you could go on your merry way. You just need some way to recognize its not-so-clear prompts for UN and PW in the terminal(I always just did it manually).
...*****, it should say something that the AOL software itself was that useless even then. Sorry, I have better things to do than use AOL chat to phish for someone elses password. - ripismoney, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Indeed, I'm still recovering from AOL...
And for those that IM, use Trillian instead of AIM. AIM is about as worse as it can get right about now, clogging things up, and installing AOL Explorer and setting it as your default browser.
In my mind, it has already been accused of behaving as so-called "badware." I've hated AOL for a years now, and it was named the Worst Tech Product of All Time by PC World late May of this year. And this is just now coming through... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3aol has done this for years, i remember aol 6.0? i think? for dialup, when you went to disconnect it would say "downloading updates" but it was really just downloading new ads to show you, on top of a service you were PAYING FOR.
- DigeratiPrime, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3many people still give me their email and neglect to mention the domain bit "@aol.com" so apparently they still think AOL is the internet/email. *sigh*
- GliTCH82, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think it's all relative really. My definition of badware includes software that's so bloated and inefficient and coded in a hurry that just installing it immediately has a performance impact on your dual core 3.6 GHz machine with 2 gigs of RAM. It's software that leaves 5 processes running all the time all starting with "hpz" and ending with a random number, processes that still inexplicably want to run even after you've told Windows it's time to close up shop, software that on a 1 hour old cloned ghost image installation of Windows XP SP2 with all the updates craps out on installation with an "ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE" message that leaves you scratching your head and your balls, wondering how on earth a huge rock solid company with thousands of employees and millions of dollars in revenue could produce some of the slickest hardware around but can't write *****'s worth of software to run it. You think AOL is bad? This software company released a patch to correct a problem that can delete your boot.ini file off your C: drive and leave you without a working OS. A gentleman with the name of "Henry Peterson" might be ashamed to bear the same initials as the aforementioned assmunch of a corporation.
The word "badware" just doesn't even come close to describing some of the ***** that's out there. - adolfojp, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Since they decided that Malware sounded too "Mexican".
Yes, I got asked by a client if malware was a Mexican term.
Yes, I know Mal is from Latin.
No, I am not Mexican but from PRUSA - omaryak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This is news? I've never gotten more technical support requests for a single program other than Windows itself.
- crawfishsoul, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"and that the company has confirmed that there is a design flaw in its uninstaller software."
When does a "design flaw" become an issue? They've had a "design flaw" in their uninstaller for over a decade. - eoecho, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3AOL sucks. The majority of emails sent to AOL don't even get delivered even if you"reply" to a message sent to you. Did I mention, AOL sucks
- evolseven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3we could just call it crapware.. or *****.. or *****.. or many other things.. they are all just as good.. personally when i refer to any of the "badware" I call it crap.. (your computer is full of crap because you cant stop surfing the porn sites, please download firefox and continue your surfing safely)
- negativenancy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Oh it's not badware, it's just how AOL works
- skymt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I call it slimeware, scumware, or (for the worst cases) devilware!
- MacGyver2210, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Amen. AOL has always suxored up your computer, ever since like version 3 or 4. Even their tiny(or should-be-tiny) little AIM program that was once so cute and inocuous is now gumming up the works.
Thank god for MSCONFIG and Macs! - crilen007, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3No, since Malware, AdWare, and Spyware are all different things. They aren't going to make a site called stopmalwareadwarespyware.com
That's just retarded.
As for why I was dugg down, I think people figured my TinyURL was a blog link.
And to Popularme, the review site (Stopbadware) has great detail on what AOL is doing wrong and it also helps technies tell people who aren't as informed as to why it's bad, without having to explain so much.
Thats why it was submitted. - andykram, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Actually, believe it or not, not only "ignorants" were "snagged" by AOL. AOL for quite some time did, and to some extent still do, bundle their software with computers which were/are sold at vendors such as BestBuy, Circuit City, etc. On top of this some of these vendors offered discounts on the new computer if you signed up for a contract with AOL/CompuServe for x many years... I'm sure a lot of people thought either "Hey, it came with the computer, so it MUST be good!" or "Well, I can save $200, so why not?"
- gpsblake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I was running AOL 9 on top of my bellsouth connection. Frankly, it did take over my computer, install all sorts of stuff and crap. Not including the fact it is a absolute memory hog. Even when I closed down AOL, it still would have a half dozen programs running taking about about 40 megs of memory.
I finally couldn't take it anymore and uninstalled the whole thing. And just like the article said, several processes were still running chewing up RAM and who knows what else. I was able to get rid of them by finally deleting out the entire AOL folder and unchecking the start up programs on msconfig.
This is malware - iJump, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3That's what Ctrl+Alt+Delete is for!
- sdubois92, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3does anybody actually use AOL? Except maybe old people who are still running Win95 and think that AOL is the internet.
- MessedRocker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Also a story on Wikinews about this:
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Watchdog_group_StopBadware.org_warns_against_free_AOL_software - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I once collected all the AOL CDs that I received in about a year - there were about 300 of the damn things. I used them as nice shiny ceiling tiles!
- kodek, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3"AOL=Sucks"
You fail at pattern recognition. You should have said AOL.sucks() - iJump, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Erm...... *chews on a carrot* Did you forget your sarcasam tags when you typed that, or did you actualy mean it?
- meepus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I don't think it matters if he was intentionally being sarcastic or not. It came off that way.
- mabhatter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1when they got tired of trying to figure out which one it was... spy, ad, nag, etc.
- mabhatter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1like it wasn't it was any better when people were actually PAYING for it! What I want is all the AOL tools put into non-invasive, portable, Java or .Net... I'd prefer Java. I understand AOL wanting the whole "walled garden" thing, but their software is junk.. I'm a customer and I don't have it installed on any of my machines. There's just a few things they need to do to "free" up AOL and then it'd be "ok".
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