This is spyware. Don't install anything you see a TV commercial for that will "clean" your computer

Over the course of the last 15 years I’ve learned a lot of tricks to keep spammers from getting my email, and spyware from getting installed. I do my best to create informative posts like these on this blog, but not everyone has access to it, and some don’t even realize how much they have put themselves at risk, and don’t consider it to be that big of a deal.

In my post about Improving Commercials, I take the position that commercials are useful to some extent, but have room to be improved. The other side of that coin are the commercials that are not useful: the ones that would be considered SPAM and SPYWARE-inducing if they were in email format.

I’ve seen the movie “Love & Other Drugs” – I know this is people’s livelihood to get the new drugs on the doctor’s shelf to give to patients, especially if it’s better, has fewer side-effects, or costs less. I get it. However, I don’t need it. I don’t even need to know about it.

There is no reason for a Cialis commercial after 5pm. Its target demographic is already in bed.

Asking people to treat their doctors as legalized drug dealers is one thing. Blatantly lying to people about what your service does is completely different. There is no software out there that will “double your speed”, there is no software that “fixes registry errors”, and there is no software that can “remove popups” that aren’t already removed by your browser.

All of these issues have real solutions, but they do not involve installing 3rd-party software.

Cable companies should allow user-feedback on the advertisers they sell spots to, or at least have some sort of ethics-in-advertising guidelines before letting someone come on. I know they can do this – I’ve seen the local broadcaster preempt national HD commercials with local SD commercials (And I hate it by the way – if it’s an HD channel, only HD commercials should be aired).

There should be a button on the remote that allows the viewer to mark this commercial as SPAM, False Advertisement, or (if you want to get granular) Irrelevant.

I realize this leaves the door wide open for every commercial to be marked as SPAM by some viewers, but the cross-sectional results of which commercials were marked as SPAM by *a majority* of viewers would have more value than the “dirty” data from abuse. And then commercials could be tailored to the household receiving them so that the ad-expense is actually worth the cost for the advertisers (and the ad-revenue can be increased due to the increased relevancy the cable company’s system can offer).

Seems like a win-win from my view. Customers don’t have to see SPAM commercials, and can vote-down false-advertisements, and potentially vote up relevant ads. Cable Companies can generate more ad-revenue from advertisers who would likely do better as a result of only broadcasting to interested customers.

Technorati Tags: ads, advertising, advertising innovation, commercial innovation, commercials, false-advertisements, spam, Spyware, television, tv, tv commercials, tv innovation

Apparently they switched it back to the spyware method. I thought they learned their lesson. I guess not.

It looked like they replaced the download link that went to coupons.com with a pdf file. However, I think someone defaced the site and put that link on there because they were sending people to coupons.com.

Each coupon has a unique identifier though, and it’s the number under the Expiration Date and the Black/White squared barcode. You can’t pass around the same coupon to all your friends because those numbers are unique. That was my concern with the earlier update that they just linked to one PDF – it had the same barcode.

UPDATE:

You no longer have to download the software with spyware in it. KFC apparently realized the backlash, and made it so you can simply download the coupon: http://www.unthinkfc.com/.

If you happened to download the software, please keep reading to find out how to remove it properly.

Continued…

Yesterday, Oprah announced on her show that she was going to give everyone in America a Coupon for Free KFC Grilled Chicken. And all became well in the world…

Until a friend told me how his spyware detection program found some issues with the software they had you install.

See, to get the coupon, you have to install a program from Coupons.com that generates a hash based on your system configuration, and sends the coupon directly to your default printer, without any user intervention.

I read through the privacy policy, and it mentioned nothing about installing other programs, so I figured it would be safe. However, it doesn’t need to install other programs to do its thing.

Here’s what Spybot Search & Destroy says about it:

Spybot S&D on CouponBar

Functionality: Install a tool which provides “Over $100 in printable coupons right from your browser. Keep informed of the latest offers. Contains no adware or spyware. Coupons from companies like General Mills, Kimberly Clark, Nestle, and Johnson & Johnson.”

Description: The downloaded file installs a toolbar and a Browser helper object (BHO). The BHO connects to coupons.com at every Internet Explorer startup in order to download latest updates. The toolbar displays bonus vouchers which can be printed or used online. When uninstalled, nearly all the files and registry entries remain on the system.

Privacy Statement: [...]Coupons, Inc. uses the information that we collect to operate, maintain, and provide to you all of the coupons and promotional offerings found on the Sites and for other non-marketing or administrative purposes such as notifying you of major service updates or for customer service purposes.
Coupons, Inc. uses all of the information that we collect from our Consumers to understand the usage trends and preferences, to improve the way the Sites work and look, to improve our marketing and promotional efforts, and to create new features and functionality.
Coupons, Inc. uses “automatically collected” data to (a) process and record coupon printing and redemption activity; (b) store information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you use the Sites; (c) provide custom, personalized coupon promotions, advertisements, content, and information; (d) monitor the effectiveness of marketing campaigns; and (e) monitor aggregate usage metrics such as total number of visitors and pages viewed. [...]
Coupons, Inc. discloses “automatically collected” data (such as coupon print and redeem activity) to its Clients and third-party ad servers and advertisers. These third parties may match this data with information that they have previously collected about you under their own privacy policies, which you should consult on a regular basis.
[...]

Spybot S&D's Detected Registry Entries for CouponBar

Spybot S&D found 7 registry entries. They’re in the picture at left so that you can manually remove them, since according to their analysis, “when uninstalled, nearly all the files and registry entries remain on the system.”

If you want to remove the threats, go download Spybot Search & Destroy from www.safer-networking.org. Do the updates, and then a “Search & Destroy”…check all the boxes it finds, and tell it to “Fix Selected Problems.” Once you’ve done that, go uninstall the software from your Control Panel in Windows. You may need to go to C:\Program Files\ and delete the folder “Coupons” and all its contents.

Free food is great and all, but not at the expense of the regular user unknowingly signing up for adware. If you told any of the mom’s who went to get their free coupon that installing the software required by KFC would put a program on your computer to track what you do on the web, most probably wouldn’t do it.

Plus, it says you have to cover any applicable tax on the food – they slip that in to the fine print on the actual coupon itself. However, the person before me in line did not have to pay extra tax. I bought something in addition to my free meal, so I don’t know if I was charged.

Technorati Tags: adware, coupon, coupons.com, free, kfc, Oprah, Spyware