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Re: [Full-Disclosure] Cool Web Search

Dave Horsfall <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Not really "new", in the scheme of things.  Over 30 years ago, some bored
prgrammer wrote something for one of the mainframes of the day (ICL?
IBM? Burroughs?) called "Robin Hood and Friar Tuck".

Yeah, I was aware of this story; the Jargon File attributes it to Moto staff working on Xerox CP-V. A few Win32 viruses copied the idea (notably Gemini, see Virus Bulletin Sep02); this is what I meant by parasite vendors stealing ideas from VXers.

The first parasite I saw using this trick was CommonName/Comwiz, but the recent HuntBar/WinTools takes the biscuit by installing two processes, one service and one BHO, all looking out for each other. Charming behaviour for software purporting to be a search enhancer from a 'legitimate' company, eh?

I preferred viruses. You knew where you stood with viruses. They printed a quote from a TV show and wiped your discs, you laughed at the funny gag and reinstalled, everyone was happy. (Well, ish.)

Malware attaching its tentacles onto your machine to make a few dollars from advertising and spam is just so much more offensively sleazy.

--
Andrew Clover
mailto:and@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.doxdesk.com/

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