An idea.... re Zango.
 

It seems to me that perfect solution is to get rid of the bloody program from surfers computers.

If a small exe or activex could be coded that did just that, it would be ez to distribute it - between us we probably have the webs biggest distribution network.

The surfers we are talking about have already shown they will download and install - thats how they got Zango in the first place.

Simplicty would be key - no install script - just run it and show a message saying Zango is no longer on the sytem - end.

No lost traffic as it can be downloaded str8 from your site.

There is a similar prog for that CoolWebSearch spyware.

Fight fire with fire.....

Now come and tell me all the reasons it wouldnt work :upsidedow :winkwink:

I think it's good in theory, however I wonder how many companies would take advantage of this and create unsafe versions of the uninstall... possibly something that hi-jacks or overwrites Zango.

I agree a wide level of distribution is possible, but with this being the equivelant of the wild west, it would surely turn into a nightmare.

I thought the same - but it would just be a small % of sites pulling that stunt.

It would be a numbers game - we could get it off faster than they can put it on :)

If it only reduced the figure of Zango infections by 10% that would be a conciderable amount of money.

the problem is that I would imagine zango doesn't even have 10% of spyware marketshare, there are 100s of other spyware products that do even more damage than zango does...

It sounds like the worm wars that took place a couple years ago where one worm virus would infect a computer and remove any trace of the blaster worm I think it was.

you mean a loooooooot more damage...

shit sucks

I say you start zangoo.com and sell popups on any popup zango sends.


That will foil their plans until someone releases zangooo.com.

So we all just bend over and hope they have plenty of lube?

I just dont think we are acheiving much bitching at each other on here (not you personaly woj, in general).

we should donate some money to lavasoft

If someone develops something worthwhile I will donate either of these 2 domains to the cause.

http://zangocleaner.com
http://zangoremover.com

But who is going to step foward and code such program?

And who would trust the guy who coded it?

I talked about a similar idea with anti-scumware companies a couple of years back. Two ideas were discussed:

1. Have an automatic scanner that would pop up a window to let the surfer know their computer is clean and/or which spyware got in and needs to be removed with a possible option to remove it without buying or installing the program

2. Have an automatic scumware removal tool that would do this for them as soon as the page loaded if they were infected with anything

Conclusion:

There were a lot of spyware programs using technique #1 already. They used a popup window with fake spyware infections so the surfer would click to clean up their computer. Once they clicked, they got infected with even more crap. The legit sites that used this feature were no longer seen as being legit because surfers were getting smarter, knowing that it was a setup to install more crap. It still exists, but not as widely as it used to.

Option #2 wouldn't work either because if only ONE idiot in a million installed the program on purpose, he wouldn't want another program to remove it without his permission no more than we want this crap to be installed that way.

Missie

Isn't there software out there that's dependant on Zango being installed in order to run? You might piss off more then one surfer by 'helping' them.

It cant be that hard - its just a case of locating files and registy entries and deleting them - I think.

Beyond me Im affraid, but someone must be albe to do it here?

As far as the trust issue is concerned you can only do your best to find someone we know the background of. Also, what have we got to lose?

Or is there a already a freeware or GPL program we can push on our sites that will get rid of Zango?

I will have a look.

yeah... that could be nice punch in zango ass... not deadly but significant :thumbsup