Re: FirstLook.com pop-up application; installed via SP?

From: blink (blink@blink.com)
Date: 09/01/02 

From: blink <blink@blink.com>
Date: Sat, 31 Aug 2002 15:47:03 -0700

I guess you have the inside scoop on the service packs, as you're so
unequivocal about it.

And I agree with you, if they did install it themselves, MS should
"maybe consider making some security enhancements that give us better
control over this type of thing." You said their response would be "we
do", which I can't make any sense of, but whatever.

In article <O6c6H4RUCHA.3924@tkmsftngp12>, hesterloli@hotmail.com
says...
> Hocum. It is not put in by a Microsoft Service pack. You picked it up in
> your Web browsing behavior. I sure hope that Microsoft does NOT do anything
> about it other then maybe making some security enhancements that give us
> better control over this type of thing. But their response would be, "we
> do!."
>
> --
> George Hester
> ______________________________
> "blink" <blink@blink.com> wrote in message
> news:MPG.17da95625cb50971989748@msnews.microsoft.com...
> > Quite a number of people are getting a mysterious application installed
> > by a company called FirstLook.com without their foreknowledge or
> > permission. It is getting installed as a application, and is listed in
> > the control panel Add/Remove Programs section as "FirstLook Portal".
> > Each day when an infected machine is started, IE opens and displays
> > their ad. People have reported difficulty in uninstalling it; other
> > programs getting disabled; and data being transmitted over broadband
> > connections when it appears.
> >
> > There is a thread here discussing the FirstLook.com invasion:
> > http://www.computing.net/networking/wwwboard/forum/8981.html
> >
> > No one has been able to figure out where it comes from; but one likely
> > candidate seems to be that it's in one of the recent Microsoft service
> > packs. I sure didn't install anything other than the urgent SP's from
> > Windows update, including Win2K sp3, the IE update that was available
> > last week, and the Media Player one. I've had this for about a week, and
> > have not installed anything since it appeared. I use Norton AntiVirus on
> > all email and it does a weekly scan of the system.
> >
> > I've written to FirstLook.com and all they say is "The Firstlook Service
> > was delivered to your computer when you downloaded any number of
> > popular, free software applications via the internet". I don't think
> > so.
> >
> > I believe that the application that FirstLook.com is installing without
> > permission represents a new low in intrusive behavior by a firm. And it
> > really worries me that this sort of rubbish is going to become part of
> > our lives. Even if the FirstLook Portal is not installed by one of the
> > Microsoft service packs, at the very least Microsoft should contact
> > these idiots, determine the mode of distribution, and either patch the
> > exposure or in some other way find a way to put the brakes on it.
>
>
>

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