Warrning! More Spyware In 1.9b
 

WATCH OUT!
1.9B INSTALL SOME PROGRAMS W/O ASKING INTO:
C:\PROGRAM FILES\ADS...SOME STUPID GAME WHICH CRASHED ON START UP :-\
C:\PROGRAM FILES\CLICKTILLUWIN
C:\WINDOWS\dlder.exe
STILL SAME CYDOOR
BUNCH OF PLACES IN REGISTRY..I WASN'T FAST ENOUGH TO RECORD THEM.
SOME MORE FILES IN NT PROFILE, WINDOWS DIR AND PROGRAM FILES!
AT LEAST 5 ICONS ON DESKTOP!!

NO MATTER HOW GOOD FEATURES OF LIMEWIRE IS, THEIR BLATANT DISREGARD FOR USER PRIVACY AND WISHES IS ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE!

yes you need to pay for development, but so is every other developer. yet i don't see so much spyware("adware") being SHOVED down user's thoat.

UNLESS YOU DON'T MIND ALL THAT SPYWARE ON YOUR SYSTEM, STAY AWAY FROM LIMEWIRE UNTILL THEY SHAPE UP

Get over it. That's the way it is. If you don't like it - don't use it.

That’s not the point. LM should let one know before they download.
I don't mind banners etc. but I like to make the decision up front.

As we've covered quite a few times now, Cydoor is simply an ad-engine -- it does not collect any information about you or invade your privacy. "Click Till You Win" is a lottery game -- it also does not collect information about you.

Every other major file sharing application installs similar programs on your computer and/or displays ads -- until a couple of months ago LimeWire was the one major program that didn't. Many include far more bundled software than LimeWire. I also urge you to keep in mind that these programs are free, so we do need some way to make money to continue development.

So, I understand your concern, but please be aware that LimeWire does not install any programs that collect information about you (i.e. Gator and TopText) without asking you first.

Other alternatives should also soon be available.

Thanks.

Adam Fisk
LimeWire Developer

ADS/SPYWARE
 

The ads really don't bother me personnaly. Of course, I'd rather they were not there but, there's obviously nothing any of us can do about it now. :) As long as LimeWire isn't tracking what websites I'm visiting, and selling that information to another company, I'll stay happy with the program. I've seen repeated posts with people flying off the handle about LimeWire installing spyware, then a moderator or developer says, " Hey, it's just some ads, no spyware." The issue stays mute until a new release comes out, and then the same person just flips out all over again. I don't know if people are expecting LimeWire to get rid of the ads or something but, it's obviously a neccasary evil. As far as the spyware, LimeWire reps have repeatedly said there is none so, no problem right? Unless someone has proof that LimeWire is selling personal information to some other company I think the issue is closed.

yes, other programs bondle even more stuff.
but look at bearshare, they give you CHOICES. they are not forcing spyware(fine, "adware") down your throat.
and especially they don't install anything without letting user know about it and making it very clear or ****ting on my desktop w/ stupid icons.
i really do not appreciate that.
i wouldn't know about all that extra crap if i wasn't monitoring limewire install with CleanSweep.
i still rip out all cydoor and other spyware guts and remove all stupid icons. so why not make it easier and GIVE BLOODY OPTION not to install it?

this is my 2nd post on this forum.
spyware issue comes up with each release because people think that LimeDev are listening to users on their concerns...but apparently they are not...

when i install a program i expect to get what i downloaded, not a "pleasant" surprise of "adware" stuff all over my computer.

i know i won't be installing 1.9c or perhaps any version until i know that limewire won't do same trick again.

There is really too much spy/ad/crap ware bundled with LimeWire. I think the last beta set a record by itself regarding how much third part. software one can bundle with their application. Bearshare is really bs, gator is regarded as spyware by the industry and as very intrusive software by the publicity industry on the net (it superimpose new pub on top of the pubs you watch on a given site, all this driven by keywords). The other crap 'clicktilluwin' is another contest scheme, wich is considered illegal in some part of Canada (Esp. in Quebec). I don't know for other coutries.

Anyways, the software itself is better than the previous versions.


Cheers.

Well, but Adam said that tose programs are just ads delivery engine... So let's find out how to confirm this. Personally I think Adam is sincere saying this, but I don't know if it is really the truth, since some webmasters think really different about Cydoor.

Additionally, LW beta 2.0 is installing Aureate in my system folder. Ii didn't see any messages, warnings, or options for this in the installation. Am I missing something?

(I don't what I'd do without adware)
:-)

oh common, did you really expect anything less from our favorite developers?

don't be surprised if next version will come bondeled with gator and even more spyware...i mean they need money, and spyware pays good money for selling out.

I agree. Flashing ads and spyware distract from the fine product.

LW already comes with Gator.

And they want you to install BonziBuddy too.

BonziBuddy?! What are these people smoking?!!!
I'd like to shoot that stupid excuse for a purple Barney clone.

Greetings,

Can we use AdAware ?
 

Can we use AdAware to remove the various ad-ons that LimeWire 1.9c installs? In other words, will LimeWire still run if we remove the other stuff?

===

Also, slightly off topic, on the main screen of Limewire, does 1.9c still no longer have visually displayed the #Hosts/#Files/#Bytes? I really like having this information in from of my face.

J

Re: Can we use AdAware ?
 

nope
LimeWire bitches if you remove cydoor w/ adaware. there are however ways which are as popular. it basicaly castrate cydoor and fool LimeWire to continue to work:D
i haven't bothered w/ any version over 1.9b so i don't know if that'll work w/ other spyware they include

Re: Can we use AdAware ?
 

nope
LimeWire bitches if you remove cydoor w/ adaware. there are however ways which are not as popular. it basicaly castrates cydoor and fool LimeWire to continue to work:D
i haven't bothered w/ any version over 1.9b so i don't know if that'll work w/ other spyware they include

Re: Can we use AdAware ?
 

Can you share some of these other ways with us?

maybe
 

Maybe you can just go to limewire.org and download the sources to the FREE PRO VERSION and run it yourself using the JDK?

Personally I think $6 is a totally reasonable fee for 6 months of free product.

Yes!

Or wait a little bit... there will be other solutions in future!

Morgwen

open source right?
 

I thought Limewire is considered open source now days. Shouldn't that mean you can download the source code and compile it without the spyware. Or at least change the code slightly to allow removal of the spyware. I would imagine that the code that renders Lime Wire inactive if the spyware is removed may be only a few lines long. Or perhaps just an if statement that checks if the spyware exists. Since I havn't looked at the code I really have no idea. If anyone knows anything about this please let me know because I will not download any software to which bundled applications can not be individually removed without de-activating the original software.

WARNING - dlder.exe is a TROJAN HORSE, not spyware!
 

See
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/rema...=flat;start=60
for the details! Your system is WIDE OPEN if you've installed a recent version of Limewire.

WARNING - dlder.exe is a TROJAN HORSE, not spyware!
 

See
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/rema...=flat;start=60
for the details! Your system is WIDE OPEN if you've installed a recent version of Limewire.

Check this out...

Clean LimeWire

The server is slow and will be easily overloaded, so check back again if you can't download it.

Uhh...Virus?
 

I ran into the same virus mentioned earlier... I didn't realize I got it from limewire though. Why or how was Limewire distributed with a virus?

That spyware thingy is totally out of controll, also for the developers. Hmm... trust isn't somthing I have to LW/BS/Kazaa/Grokster after this spyware fiasco.

Upload Bandwidth Solution?
 

Very, very out of control! (echoing Moak) As soon as one piece of spyware has been removed, they see if they can sneak another one in without anyone noticing... Who knows...

Has anyone noticed that the installer size for 2.0. is 3.78 MBs? Isn't that huge?! I remember when version 1.7c was only 1.62 MBs!!

I keep hearing that the earnings from the spyware are 'almost 'covering the cost of bandwidth. Well, let's consider this: If LimeWire made their installer smaller (closer to the size of 1.7c - which believe me, it's possible once you get rid of all the spy/ad/crap), they wouldn't have to pay nearly as much for their bandwidth costs - that's less than half of the current bandwidth used!

Couldn't there be a more innovative way to cover download costs, or even avoid them (and spyware/3d party crap)altogether? I have an idea that could work....

There would be 3 components:

1) Implement a new feature into LimeWire. Each node would share the installer it was installed from. Also, a representative UltraPeer from a chain or cluster of UltraPeers would keep a connection open with a central LimeWire server (if you're skeptical, please keep listening).

2) Set up a special "download bootstrap" server for downloads. The server sends a special ping to its representative UltraPeers, and results (pongs - but compacted and simplified just for this purpose) are returned to the server (directly or through the representative UPs). The server then compiles an updated list every few minutes (using caches so traffic to UPs is reduced). The frequency of updating depends on how many people are trying to download the prog at the current time - also, the searches should cycle through all known UP reps and not do it all at once - that is, unless, LW.com absolutely needs a Denial of Service attack;))

3) Create a simple, compact downloader prog (Netscape-like concept - anyone got any better examples?) for the end-user to use (downloaded from LW.com). The installer would be extremely small and limited in function, but it's only job would be to connect to the LW.com server and download a current list of available hosts. There will be many, many results because every peer (ideally) will be a mirror. This would require a more intelligent file-naming convention (or something similar) so that all the LimeWireWin files can be sorted in the version category. So anyways, the download prog receives these results, sorts them into version categories and filters out erroneous files (corrupted or altered [virused?] files). The downloader prog could then download the correct version of LimeWire (assuming they are using the newest installer). The dp could use advanced features like resuming (a must-have) and even swarming. Swarming would evenly distribute the burden of uploading as much as possible, and these downloads should be made so that they don't take up a normal LW node's upload slots (I mean, everyone just has to chip in a tiny little bit, and all the downloaders will their file). This would be fairly transparent to the downloader. And most users would be thrilled with the speed at which they can download the program on a DSL or Cable line (as opposed to a traditional server).

But there are some issues:
What happens when a new version needs to be released? There will still need to be an initial hosting by LW.com until enough users were using the current version. Otherwise, upgrades would be an interesting ordeal. Perhaps discussions will create some new ideas....

This way, LW.com has much less traffic. Obviously, this will not eliminate it, but it could reduce the amount of it quite drastically.

Any comments? Ideas? Corrections? Let's seriously consider the possibilities...

:-)

Wasted talent
 

You have made some excellent suggestions there TruStar,Xolox did something very similar in their updates,and it worked flawlessly....yet I don't think there is a cat-in-hells chance of Limewire implementing them,which is a shame.

i wouldn't like to download an executable from anyone through a decentral network. you have no idea who you are downloading from, and sooner or later there will be files infected by real dangerous viruses...if you really think about this, then i would recommend the following ideas:

- integrate an update checking mechanism in limewire (by calling home to limewire.org, this is far less bandwidth than downloading the whole installer...alternative would be proprietary messages like bearshare, but that could eventually flood the network)

- integrate a public limewire PGP key into the update tool

- integrate an "update" button which automatically starts a search for limewire and downloads the update files. make sure that these files are used if and only if the archive is digitally signed with the corresponding private key. if the archive file is not signed that way, it should be deleted at once - the update has failed.

at last, i'd like to agree with moak and tru - this adware thing must be stopped. i don't mind banner ads, but i'm sure you will find a way to use them without cydoor (i think you already do that in the non-windows versions, don't you ?) if you bundle any third party software with limewire, this MUST be optional. i don't mid if you bundle a dozen programs like BonziBuddy with your installer, as long as i can choose not to install them. this crap has really damaged your honour more than enough...you cannot install things like aureate on users' systems without explicitly telling them. even if cydoor is nothing but an ad engine, the other stuff is not. we don't have to tell you that an installer containing trojans is simply not tolerable.

Re: Warrning! More Spyware In 1.9b
 

Hi Abaris!
I will quote myself:
I did take this into consideration. I really like your idea of uniquely tagging installers (w/digital signatures) so that fakes cannot be made as easily. Unfortunately, any key like that can probably be reproduced, and so altered files could still be mistaken as legit ones.

The trojan (yes, it is a trojan) which is installed may be for addware purposes, but why isn't this properly disclosed in the setup. Also, the trojan is not removed with the application uninstall procedure.

Using addware is fine, but only when it's fully disclosed and removed with the application.

About the distributed downloading of the LimeWire installer of course a number of things would need to be worked out but the idea of using the network to download the app is very cool and thinking of this some time ago I did a search for LimeWire on LimeWire and I did get some results for what looked like the installer or the .exe file.

Considering what applications do for somewhat related things, AOL for a period of time, maybe currently, placed a duplicate copy of the installer in the Mac System Folder to allow a reinstall in case the user deleted the original installer. The Lime installer could place a copy of the installer in the shared directory or better yet in some less user-prominent location to discourage tampering and be used for the distributed download. I give this extra step even with the extra disk space needed as some people delete or move the installer they downloaded soon after installation.

Hashes or keys or something along those lines would be very important to avoid bad copies.

On upgrades, I started using LimeWire at version 1.3 and when version 1.4 came out I was eventually going to upgrade but one time when I opened the app it asked to upgrade automatically. I let it do so and the upgrade was problem free. I was very impressed. For some reason or maybe the later versions I used were too old from the current version I never got one of those helpful dialogs about upgrading since then. Unless if there are very major changes with the software, upgrades are smaller than full applications so future full installers should also share the download page with upgrade installers. Sometimes upgrades can get messed up but at least provide the option and make smaller (upgrade) files available.

For the compact downloader prog, the QuickTime installer/updater for the Mac at least is a small piece less than 100 K that figures out what is needed for the particular system and then downloads the data to a download cache of sorts and then does the installation.

But for now if more copies of the LimeWire installer were available on Gnutella or just by adding regular mirrors that may reduce load on limewire.com slightly. Most of the challenge is trusting a binary download from a host that is not the original source of the software.

hi tru!
sure, it is possible, but technically, using strong encryption, i think one would need a decade (using at least a cray) to reproduce the private key from the public key. and if the user wants to update limewire, we should assume that he trusts limewire.com. therefore, this mechanism should be pretty safe, it very much resembles the security concept for signed java applets.

however, there will always be the chance that users download viral versions using standard gnutella or web search, there is nothing you can do about that...

as for the DLDER trojan: (Quotation from Symantec AntiVirus Center)

>> This Trojan is known to be installed (as part of the normal
>> installation) by two "freeware" file-sharing programs:

>> Grokster, which is a file sharing system.
>> Limeware, which is the LimeWire Gnutella Client.

>> During the installation process of these programs, you are
>> asked if you want to install the (spyware)
>> program "Clicktilluwin." Regardless of whether you click Yes or
>> No, the Trojan code is installed.

this behaviour can hardly be called legal. it is nothing but a viral invasion of your system supported by deception of an installer. if limewire was not aware of this, they should consider legal reactions regarding the clicktilluwin developers.