| Bad or Undisclosed Behavior |
| Installs additional software without disclosure (Deceptive installation) |
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ABC Scrabble installs additional applications -- namely, the webHancer Customer Companion and webHancer Survey Companion --
without disclosing to the user that these programs will be installed. While the bundling of the webHancer Customer Companion
is mentioned in the EULA, neither it nor the webHancer Survey Companion are otherwise disclosed to the user during
installation.
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| Installs spyware (Transmits personal information without disclosure) |
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ABC Scrabble bundles the webHancer Customer Companion and webHancer Survey Companion, which are commonly considered
spyware (see Symantec, DoxDesk, and Spyware Guide). WebHancer monitors websites visited by the user and reports this
information to a remote server. This potential transmission of personal information is not disclosed to the user during the
installation process.
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| Attempts to install additional software after initial installation (Deceptive installation) |
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Several restarts and a couple of hours after initially installing ABC Scrabble, Comedy Planet Free Jokes Software attempted to install itself on our testing computer. ABC Scrabble's EULA mentions that "THIS SOFTWARE CONTAINS THE COMEDY PLANET FREE JOKES SOFTWARE," but the bundling of Comedy Planet is not otherwise mentioned to the user during installation or at any other time. While Comedy Planet is downloaded with the rest of the ABC Scrabble bundle, it apparently does not attempt to install itself until well after the rest of the bundle has been installed. There would be no indication that this delayed installation is taking place unless the user is running anti-badware applications that detect the installation, or she is able to decipher the error message that Windows displays after the installation fails.
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| Downloads badware components (Deceptive installation; Potentially interferes with computer use) |
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ABC Scrabble downloads components of the Integrated Search Technologies Toolbar, or ISTbar, which is widely acknowledged to be
a badware application. The ISTbar is a toolbar that, when installed, typically engages in one or more of the following
behaviors: adding a toolbar to Internet Explorer, hijacking searches, changing the user's home page, and displaying pop-up
ads for adult websites. Although these components did not appear to be immediately installed, and we did not witness such an
installation during our testing, ISTbar may be installed at a later time (as occurred with the delayed installation of Comedy
Planet (above)). In fact, the ABC Scrabble EULA indicates that "INTEGRATED SEARCH TECHNOLOGIES TOOLBAR" is a bundled
application, but the downloading or installation of ISTbar is not otherwise disclosed to the user.
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| Adds programs to Windows startup folder (Modifies other software without disclosure) |
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Two WebHancer processes -- whAgent.exe and whSurvey.exe -- are automatically added to the Windows startup folder without notifying the user during the installation process.
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| Uninstalling ABC Scrabble does not remove bundled applications (Unacceptable uninstallation) |
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Uninstalling ABC Scrabble does not remove the bundled webHancer applications or the ISTbar executable. If the user wishes to be rid of the entire ABC Scrabble bundle, they must uninstall the webHancer Customer Companion and webHancer Survey Companion separately using Add/Remove Programs -- that is, if the user is aware that these applications were installed as part of the bundle in the first place (which is doubtful, given the lack of disclosure discussed above). The ISTbar executable is also left behind on the user's machine, and could be installed at a later time without the user's knowledge (although, as noted above, we did not witness such an installation during our testing).
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| Recommendations |
| We recommend that the producers of the ABC Scrabble do the following: |
- Clearly disclose on a main install screen all of the applications and components that will be downloaded, as well as what those bundled applications will do.
- Inform the user during installation that webHancer will be transmitting personal information and provide a link to the privacy policy that will govern these transmissions.
- Disclose during installation that webHancer will be added to the Windows Startup folder.
- Either provide a comprehensive uninstaller that will ensure the uninstallation of all bundled applications and executables when ABC Scrabble is uninstalled, or clearly disclose to the user during installation what applications are included in the bundle and make sure each bundled application is easily uninstallable via Add/Remove Programs.
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We currently recommend that users do not install the version of ABC Scrabble that we tested,
unless the user is comfortable with the level of risk we identify or until the application
is updated consistent with the recommendations in this report.
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Badware Behavior