Thursday, October 20, 2005

Warning: Beware of installing "Secure Service Pack" on your computer

Warning: Beware of installing "Secure Service Pack" on your computer
 
Unless you know and understand what the "Secure Service Pack" actually consists of, we strongly recommend against installing it or anything that may popup and ask for permission from you to install it. Just because you have some trust in the site you are visiting does not mean you need or want what is being offered. If you are concerned about the security of your computer, only install things from the manufacturer's site, or the creator of your computer's operating system.
 
By the time you read this, "Secure Service Pack" may be called something else, so don't be fooled. Our understanding of this item is that it installs software that changes how your browser functions and you may or may not like what it does. You may be able to un-install it once you realize it's there, but do you want to trust something that will not even tell you what it is?
 
"Secure Service Pack" sounds like it's a Microsoft Service Pack that will upgrade your software, but in fact the software is designed to deliver advertisements in the form of web sites that you may be interested in. Part of the "benefit" of this software is to let you just type in keywords and not URLs to find sites. What they don't tell you is that they only sites they show you are paid advertisements and may or may not be what you are looking for, and might not even be a good site if they do have what you are looking for. It's the same old "Keyword browsing" scam that has been around for years. It's pure crap and should be avoided at all costs. Seriously!
 
I have seen at least one page that has a number of browser plug-ins and says " This page contains links to the Windows Authenticode family of plugins for Internet Explorer". If you want to upgrade your Internet Explorer, go to the Microsoft site and make sure you are getting the real deal.
 
Again, if you don't know for sure what you are installing, don't just trust the name of the application that you see, since it could be a trick and your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs WILL NOT PROTECT YOU OR WARN YOU!!
 
(hris

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