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from the now-I-am-going-to-need-an-anti-antivirus-tool dept.
Avast packaged detailed user data to be sold for millions of dollars:
The popular antivirus program Avast has been selling users data to giant companies like Google, Home Depot, Microsoft and Pepsi, a joint investigation by Motherboard and PCMag found. Avast reportedly scraped data from its antivirus software and handed it off to its subsidiary Jumpshot, which repackaged the data and sold it, sometimes for millions of dollars. While Avast required users to opt-in to this data sharing, the investigation found that many were unaware that Jumpshot was selling their data.
The investigation incriminates a lot of big name companies. We don't know for certain which are past, present or potential clients, but the list includes Expedia, Intuit, Keurig, Condé Nast, Sephora, Loreal and more. Microsoft said it doesn't have a current relationship with the company. Yelp said Jumpshot was "engaged on a one-time basis," and Google did not respond to Microsoft[*] and PGMag's request for comment.
The data sold includes everything from Google searches, Google Maps location searches, activity on companies' LinkedIn pages, YouTube video visits and data on people visiting porn websites. The data is supposedly anonymized and does not include personal information, like names or contact info, but experts fear that it could be possible to de-anonymize certain users.
[* From context, I can only presume they mean Motherboard here -- Ed. (FP)]
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @11:35AM (4 children)
Why at all install something like Avast or AVG or any other free anti-virus when Microsoft is offering you Security Essentials? With Microsoft Security Essentials you are not without an anti-virus and you know the anti-virus comes from the same source as the operating system, which means Microsoft could already get all your information if they wanted. In Windows 10 it is already included automatically but you can install it for free to Windows 7.
(Score: 1) by zugedneb on Tuesday January 28 2020, @11:52AM (3 children)
does not work.
the windows crap disables itself at random times for random reasons.
i gave mom a laptop that she can use for 5-6 years now, and installed her legit copy of W7-home on it.
The windows crap would not even update, but kept complaining about some shit i could not find info on.
And that was an unmodified, clean install...
old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @12:57PM
Maybe with a bootlegged activation key? While I have no love for Windows, nor Microsoft, I wouldn't fault them for refusing to service a bootlegged copy of Windows (if that were indeed to be the case)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by engblom on Tuesday January 28 2020, @01:18PM (1 child)
Some years ago Microsoft broke Update (I do not know if it was an intentional change or a bug that got triggered a certain date). Thus if you have a clean installation you need to fix this problem. I think there is a KB article about which 3 updates you need to install manually before Update will work again. Most users never got affected by this as their computers had those 3 updates from before Microsoft broke the Update. Working for a computer shop I had downloaded those 3 updates and kept them on a USB drive so I could easily reinstall customers computers.
I have installed Security Essentials on many customers computers and never had any problem with it, but make sure the computer is updated before attempting to install.
(Yes, I also hate how Microsoft and I do not defend them for doing so, I just tell that there is away out of the mess and that Security Essentials actually work well)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @10:37PM
I initially did the same thing with those updates in question. Later I moved to keeping a copy of Wsus offline on a 32gb USB stick, let it load nearly all updates before the machines even got connected to the internet.