|
 Badware Behavior |
|
| Employs deceptive tactics to coerce the user into installing the software (Deceptive installation) |
|
| Installs adware (Deceptive installation) |
|
| Components of the software automatically run on startup (Interferes with computer use) |
|
| Bad or Undisclosed Behavior |
| Employs deceptive tactics to coerce the user into installing the software |
|
Drive Cleaner 2006 uses fear tactics to convince users to download their software. The free version of
the software is usually advertised in pop-up ads. These pop-ups range from websites with flashing
alerts that warn the user of "critical files" to webpages that masquerade as a Windows folder,
complete with a fake dialog box asking the user if they want to "get rid of" critical files on
their system. With the latter pop-ups, clicking "Yes" or "No" both redirect the user to a download
page for Drive Cleaner 2006, thereby completely disregarding the user's response. Other pop-ups for
Drive Cleaner 2006 demonstrate similar tactics.
The text of these advertisements (many of which mimic legitimate system warnings), are almost uniformly
alarmist and exaggerated. One advertisement is entitled "WARNING!!!" and looks almost identical to a
Windows' generated warning. According to this box, "Drive Cleaner found 948 dangerous files in your
system." Other advertisements claim that the user has "compromising files" on their system that are
being "tracked" by employers and government agencies that could potentially jeopardize the user's
life. The number of "compromising files" that DriveCleaner claims to have "found" on the user's
computer is always the arbitrary, but exorbitantly high number "948." The home page of the product
further plays on users' fears by claiming that the files that have been discovered on the user's
computer "could compromise your career, your marriage or your overall status quo."
|
| Installs adware |
|
Drive Cleaner 2006 is reported to behave as adware mostly based on the aggressive tactics that it
employs after installation to coerce users into buying the registered version of the product. Although
we did not see visible advertisements and exaggerated alerts during our tests, the application is
known to display threats constantly to coerce the user into purchasing the registered version.
However, we did note that Drive Cleaner 2006 connects to an ad-server in the background during
installation. The user is never made aware of these behaviors prior to or during installation.
|
| Components of the software automatically run on startup |
|
Installation of Drive Cleaner 2006 results in the addition of certain components to the startup menu,
which means that these components run automatically in the background whenever Windows is started.
Since Drive Cleaner 2006 itself did not actually work when we attempted to run it after installation,
it is both interesting and suspicious that Drive Cleaner 2006 would have components that are running
continuously without the user's knowledge. In essence, these processes could run forever in the
background and the user would have no idea. Drive Cleaner 2006 never attempts to inform the user
of this behavior nor seeks their consent before adding these entries to startup.
|
| Recommendations |
| We recommend that the producers of the Drive Cleaner 2006 (Free Version)
do the following: |
- Do not give users false and exaggerated threats about system vulnerability.
- Do not install adware without seeking the user's informed consent.
- Do not run components automatically on startup or in the background without the user's knowledge and consent.
|
|
We currently recommend that users do not download the free version of Drive Cleaner 2006 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.
|
|
|
|
