| BAD OR UNDISCLOSED BEHAVIOR |
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Software does not fully, accurately, clearly, and conspicuously disclose the principal and significant features and functionality of the application prior to installation (Guideline II.A.a.iii)
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The AntiVirProtect and AntiSpywareShield installers do not inform users that they will register the applications to load continuous background processes at startup, which will repeatedly report exaggerated security threats to users in order to persuade users to purchase the software.
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Software uses deceptive behavior that would force the average user to take an action they would otherwise decline. (Guideline III.F)
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AntiVirProtect and AntiSpywareShield report exaggerated security threats to induce users to purchase registered versions of the software which, they claim, will remove these infections. In fact, many of these reported security threats were not present on our testing computer.
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Software is not easy to uninstall completely, because it fails to use the system uninstall tools, or requires the download of an additional uninstallation tool. (Guideline III.G.2)
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AntiVirProtect and AntiSpywareShield cannot be completely uninstalled using the Windows Add/Remove Programs tool. The uninstall tools that are bundled with the software also fail to remove the applications.
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| Recommendations |
| We recommend that the producers of AntiVirProtect and AntiSpywareShield make the following changes: |
- Inform users before they install AntiVirProtect or AntiSpywareShield that the applications will automatically and continuously run background processes on the computer which repeatedly prompt users to purchase registered versions of the software, or allow users to set the programs to not load at startup.
- Stop reporting exaggerated system vulnerabilities to users, to induce them to purchase the products.
- Ensure that the applications can be clearly identified and completely removed using system uninstallation tools, such as Windows' Add/Remove Programs tool.
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We currently recommend that users do not install the versions of AntiVirProtect and AntiSpywareShield that we tested,
unless users are comfortable with the software behaviors we identify or until the applications
are updated to be consistent with the recommendations made in this report.
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This alert represents StopBadware's findings during our initial testing period. Additional badware behaviors that were not initially detected may exist in the applications.
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