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Kazaa labeled top spyware threat

26 November 2004 10:40 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 16 comments

One of the worlds most used P2P applications, Kazaa has been named as the number 1 spyware threat by Computer Associates International. To date, Kazaa has been downloaded a whopping 214 million times. CA's PestPatrol research came to this conclusion while assessing how programs slow down a machine by adding unnecessary registry entries and directories. However, CA does admit that labeling Kazaa as spyware in the first place is a bit complicated. "Kazaa does something useful," said Simon Perry, vice president of security strategy for CA. "I'm not going to say that it doesn't. But turn that around--you're allowing millions of strangers onto your machine. (Kazaa) is No. 1 because of the amount if copies it's got out there."

CA also warned about similar P2P networks including WinMX and Blubster because of software that they have bundled with them. Adware program Ezula came second in the company's top five, beating Adopt.hotbar.com and GameSpy Arcade. Perry said that some programs that have been labeled pests have been given that name because it is not yet clear to the computer world what exactly spyware is. It seems every different anti-spyware program you download has differences in what it classes as spyware. Kazaa coming somewhere in the list was not a surprise but many could argue that it didn't deserve the #1 spot. You can download clean versions of Kazaa called Kazaa Lite (Resurrection) and Diet Kazaa.

Source:
News.com

Permalink to this article

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Australian court rejects Sharman's appeal (8 October 2004)

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Kazaa appeals raid ruling (11 March 2004)

Kazaa loses the first court round in Australia (4 March 2004)

The raid was illegal, says Kazaa (10 February 2004)

Music industry raids Kazaa offices (6 February 2004)

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Post your comment

Discuss this article!
pcshateme (Inactive) 26 November 2004 14:48
thats why only fools use regular kazaa [ + quote]
Toiletman (Senior Member) 26 November 2004 18:51
They ain't even fool enough to be a fool. n_n [ + quote]
daemonzx6 (Senior Member) 27 November 2004 15:30
kazaa is bad. k-lite is bad. bit torrent is the best around. [ + quote]
Pop_Smith (Senior Member) 27 November 2004 16:07
There is no "Best" P2P, but, KaZaA is bad, it is cramed with spyware (like the article says) get KLR (KaZaA Lite Resurrection) if you use KaZaA. Dell Dimension 8100 Pentium 4 1.3 GHZ Williamette Core 640MB RDRAM @ 400Mhz (PC800) 40 GB HD and 120 GB HD (both 7200 RPMs) Nvidia GeForce2 Ultra 64MB Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Sound [ + quote]
llongtheD (Member) 27 November 2004 16:23
Newsgroups, and a good newsreader are the only way to go for me, I still use bittorrent once in a while though. opinions are like a**holes, everyones got one. [ + quote]
djscoop (AfterDawn Addict) 27 November 2004 18:39
IRC is by FAR the best way to go [ + quote]
Pop_Smith (Senior Member) 27 November 2004 18:48
IRC = Newest Files @ Fastest Speeds (waits required) KLR = Music (when bundled with MP3 Shield and Protowall) eMule Plus = odd files (at least for me). BT = little bit of everything. Dell Dimension 8100 Pentium 4 1.3 GHZ Williamette Core 640MB RDRAM @ 400Mhz (PC800) 40 GB HD and 120 GB HD (both 7200 RPMs) Nvidia GeForce2 Ultra 64MB Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Sound [ + quote]
djscoop (AfterDawn Addict) 27 November 2004 18:55
sounds like a well rounded group to make everyone happy! 2200+ Athlon XP / 1GB DDR333 / MSI KT3 Ultra 2 / Win2k Pro & WinXP Pro / 1.5 TB SATA / DVR-105 / Pro Tools 6.4 [ + quote]
meta1 (Member) 29 November 2004 4:06
P2P has been going downhill for a long time now, no suprises here. [ + quote]
Player816 (Newbie) 29 November 2004 5:06
mIRC all the way. [ + quote]
Toiletman (Senior Member) 29 November 2004 11:27
Hehe, not really, unless you like waiting in queues. Everyone is entitled to their own true opinion. Either respect that or don't. [ + quote]
daemonzx6 (Senior Member) 29 November 2004 11:53
I still wish I knew how to use IRC for downloading. I can't seem to find anything out... [ + quote]
Pop_Smith (Senior Member) 29 November 2004 12:14
go here to get it to work on XP: http://www.newircusers.com/xp.html there are tons of tutorials on the web, just Google the term "Configure IRC" [ + quote]
djscoop (AfterDawn Addict) 29 November 2004 13:09
Toiletman: True, you have to wait in ques for some busy files, but the majority of the ones I find don't require any wait. Besides, even with the ques, P2P doesn't compare to IRC as far as amount and variety of files, from apps to games to music...just about everything. 2200+ Athlon XP / 1GB DDR333 / MSI KT3 Ultra 2 / Win2k Pro & WinXP Pro / 1.5 TB SATA / DVR-105 / Pro Tools 6.4 [ + quote]
daemonzx6 (Senior Member) 29 November 2004 14:59
Thanks for the link, Pop_Smith, but the screenshots it has do not accurately reflect what I am seeing in my mIRC DCC Options window. The box that should say "DCC Ports" is not there and two checkboxes with "Flush Files" and "Show Warning" along with a "Max. Sends:" space are there instead. Should I be using an older version? [ + quote]
djscoop (AfterDawn Addict) 29 November 2004 15:17
try these sites: http://www.wellmashed.co.uk/modules.php?name=XDCC-Search-Engine http://www.ircspy.com/ http://www.packetnews.com/ [ + quote]