| BAD OR UNDISCLOSED BEHAVIOR |
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Software does not identify the entity responsible for the software (Guideline II.A.a.ii)
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XP Antivirus 2008 does not inform the user at any time that it is a product of INNOVAGEST 2000 S.L. (http://innovagest2000.com)
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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 XP Antivirus 2008 installer does not inform users that it will register the application to load a continuous background process at startup, which will repeatedly report exaggerated security threats to the user in order to persuade the user 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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XP Antivirus reports exaggerated security threats to induce the user to purchase a registered version of the software which, it claims, will remove these infections. In fact, many of these reported security threats (eg. Spyware.IMMonitor, Zlob.PornAdvertiser.ba, Infostealer.Banker.E) were not present on our testing computer, and registering the software appeared to simply cause the next scan to report that the computer was clean, even if we never actually ran the XP Antivirus 2008 'remove infections' process.
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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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XP Antivirus 2008 cannot be uninstalled using the Windows Add/Remove Programs tool. The uninstall tool that is bundled with the software failed to remove the program in one of the two publicly-released builds of XP Antivirus that we tested, and the online 'help' document for both builds instructs users to download a separate uninstallation tool to remove the software.
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| Recommendations |
| We recommend that INNOVAGEST 2000 S.L. makes the following changes: |
- Inform users at the time that XP Antivirus 2008 is installed that the application is a product of Innovagest 2000.
- Inform users before they install the software that the application will automatically and continuously run a background process on the computer which repeatedly prompts the user to purchase a registered version of the software, or allow users to set the program to not load at startup.
- Stop reporting exaggerated system vulnerabilities to users, to induce them to purchase the product.
- Ensure that the software 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 XP Antivirus 2008 that we tested,
unless the user is comfortable with the software behaviors we identify or until the application
is updated to be consistent with the recommendations 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 application.
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