The antivirus software conspiracy

reply to post by reject

i use avast too. i never have any trouble. i also use a handy little free download called NOADS for pop ups. i've used noads for years and almost never get a popup.

AntiVirus Programs as well as spam programs are all a scam. You pay to subscribe every year and on top of that your constantly buying into new software. Add up all of that you have spent so far. It's a complete rip off.


These programs were brought on by the main OS software company.



As Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have confirmed.


The age of the PC is nearing it's end. All of us are going to be subscribing to the Matrix. No more software piracy, hacks, virus's. Just a straight up feed from your bank account to your tv screen.


GOOD BYE COMPUTERS!! BYE BYE!!

reply to post by WISHADOW




Now slowly step back into reality...

Feel better?

Here's one for some software conspiracy...This is going to sound silly but bear with me it is relevant to the conversation:

The Game boy(Nintendo) is a handheld video game device that has been around over 20 years. But it was not the first. The first was a handheld called the Sega Game Gear, which boasted a 365 color screen, and a 16 bit processor.

The Gameboy outsold the Game Gear 2 to 1 for the better part of the early 90's. Even though the Gamegear was cheaper and better in every way, people still chose to buy and use the nintendo gameboy which boasted a duotone backlit LCD and an 8 bit processor which they used as standard until the year 2000. But it isn't as if Nintendo was having problems figuring out small color screens and incorporating better processors. This is more of that "Market White Wash" I had mentioned in an earlier post. You see, if you hold back the market, tell the population that it is the best you've got and can get, then you can corner the market for a decade or more on crap technology.

Ok, now where's the relevancy you ask?

Here it is:

Antivirus companies have a similar approach, they tell people that 50,000 new viruses are being created and sent out each day by hackers around the world. (This actually isn't true), And even though under these condition an anti virus program(even with heuristic analysis, and crypto enabled engine) will always be playing catch-up, it guarantees a cornering of the market for the largest companies...Like Semantec. The only way to uncorner the market is to either offer an antivirus with behavioral recognition and a bit detector, or create your own viruses that only you can clean. Even the big boys have to play by these rules because after they've cornered the market, they can only follow a standard model for so long before people begin to ask for better software. This is what Microsoft does with windows...It intentionally engineers flaws into the software and holds back the market while doing so and selling people fixes to make even more money from their crappy code which could have been executed much better(If Windows actually worked like linux does no one would ever complain)...But this goes back to Sega. They were a better company with better technology, and they were phased out by corporate propaganda. Kinda like microsoft calling Linux a "Hackers tool no normal person would ever use".


The conspiracy involves anyone writing code at this point. welcome to the 21st century, enjoy your stay and watch you wallet.

Originally posted by projectvxn

The Game boy(Nintendo) is a handheld video game device that has been around over 20 years. But it was not the first. The first was a handheld called the Sega Game Gear, which boasted a 365 color screen, and a 16 bit processor.

The Gameboy outsold the Game Gear 2 to 1 for the better part of the early 90's. Even though the Gamegear was cheaper and better in every way, people still chose to buy and use the nintendo gameboy which boasted a duotone backlit LCD and an 8 bit processor which they used as standard until the year 2000. But it isn't as if Nintendo was having problems figuring out small color screens and incorporating better processors. This is more of that "Market White Wash" I had mentioned in an earlier post. You see, if you hold back the market, tell the population that it is the best you've got and can get, then you can corner the market for a decade or more on crap technology.

This wasn't a conspiracy, or "holding back the market." This was good marketing by Nintendo. This is the result of Nintendo out-spending Sega in marketing. Sega obviously failed to successfully promote their product. The best product doesn't always win. This is business and it gets right down to salesmanship.

Edit: The Game Gear had an 8-bit processor, like the Game Boy, and was released a year later than the Game Boy. Some major drawbacks were a comparative lack of titles and the GG had about half the battery life of the GB.

[edit on 11-5-2008 by spaznational]

Originally posted by spaznational


It's same kind of mentality that causes one to spray graffiti. Graffiti is also functionally useless (except for gangs perhaps) but it nonetheless widespread.

Yeah, similar thing. Good point. Though graffiti would seem to be more fun.

Originally posted by WISHADOW

GOOD BYE COMPUTERS!! BYE BYE!!

Actually, PCs are a thing of the past...although most dont realize it yet.

There will be no more harddrive, it will all be webbased. You will only buy a monitor that hooks up to the web.

reply to post by projectvxn


Interesting.

They all use creating-artificial-problem / creating-artificial-lack, dont they?

And even if they dont, many are subconsciously not too keen on providing solutions so good they will make their product obsolete.

reply to post by Tuebor


So you admit marketing a new disease like the jimmy legs shaking during golf swing.

ID the problem, overstate reaction, provide cure ?

That is how conspiracies are scientifically outlined beforehand.
Marketing is a group of like minded folks with agenda to manipulate ignorant into a false need to provide an unwanted product.

Who had to have an Iphone 10yrs ago ?

Nobody, they had to create a market , a trend, a fashion, a necessity first.

[edit on 12-5-2008 by vanosman]

Have you acually tried to view advapi32.dll with notepad?

here is some readable text from the file

D i s a l l o w e d C S o f t w a r e w i l l n o t r u n , r e g a r d l e s s o f t h e a c c e s s r i g h t s o f t h e u s e r . U n t r u s t e d ³ A l l o w s p r o g r a m s t o e x e c u t e w i t h o n l y a c c e s s t o r e s o u r c e s g r a n t e d t o o p e n w e l l - k n o w n g r o u p s , b l o c k i n g a c c e s s A d m i n i s t r a t o r a n d P o w e r U s e r p r i v i l e g e s , a n d p e r s o n a l l y g r a n t e d r i g h t s .
R e s t r i c t e d ‚ S o f t w a r e c a n n o t a c c e s s c e r t a i n r e s o u r c e s , s u c h a s c r y p t o g r a p h i c k e y s a n d c r e d e n t i a l s , r e g a r d l e s s o f t h e a c c e s s r i g h t s o f t h e u s e r .
B a s i c U s e r œ A l l o w s p r o g r a m s t o e x e c u t e a s a u s e r t h a t d o e s n o t h a v e A d m i n i s t r a t o r o r P o w e r U s e r a c c e s s r i g h t s , b u t c a n s t i l l a c c e s s r e s o u c e s a c c e s s i b l e b y n o r m a l u s e r s .  U n r e s t r i c t e d G S o f t w a r e a c c e s s r i g h t s a r e d e t e r m i n e d b y t h e a c c e s s r i g h t s o f t h e u s e r .

And heres a chunk of words from the file.

I_ScIsSecurityProcess I_ScPnPGetServiceName I_ScSendTSMessage I_ScSetServiceBitsA I_ScSetServiceBitsW IdentifyCodeAuthzLevelW ImpersonateAnonymousToken ImpersonateLoggedOnUser ImpersonateNamedPipeClient ImpersonateSelf InitializeAcl InitializeSecurityDescriptor InitializeSid InitiateSystemShutdownA InitiateSystemShutdownExA InitiateSystemShutdownExW InitiateSystemShutdownW InstallApplication IsTextUnicode IsTokenRestricted IsTokenUntrusted IsValidAcl IsValidSecurityDescriptor IsValidSid IsWellKnownSid LockServiceDatabase LogonUserA LogonUserExA LogonUserExW LogonUserW LookupAccountNameA LookupAccountNameW LookupAccountSidA LookupAccountSidW LookupPrivilegeDisplayNameA LookupPrivilegeDisplayNameW LookupPrivilegeNameA LookupPrivilegeNameW LookupPrivilegeValueA LookupPrivilegeValueW LookupSecurityDescriptorPartsA LookupSecurityDescriptorPartsW LsaAddAccountRights LsaAddPrivilegesToAccount LsaClearAuditLog LsaClose LsaCreateAccount LsaCreateSecret LsaCreateTrustedDomain LsaCreateTrustedDomainEx LsaDelete LsaDeleteTrustedDomain LsaEnumerateAccountRights LsaEnumerateAccounts LsaEnumerateAccountsWithUserRight LsaEnumeratePrivileges LsaEnumeratePrivilegesOfAccount LsaEnumerateTrustedDomains LsaEnumerateTrustedDomainsEx LsaFreeMemory LsaGetQuotasForAccount LsaGetRemoteUserName LsaGetSystemAccessAccount LsaGetUserName LsaICLookupNames LsaICLookupNamesWithCreds LsaICLookupSids LsaICLookupSidsWithCreds LsaLookupNames LsaLookupNames2 LsaLookupPrivilegeDisplayName LsaLookupPrivilegeName LsaLookupPrivilegeValue LsaLookupSids LsaNtStatusToWinError LsaOpenAccount LsaOpenPolicy LsaOpenPolicySce LsaOpenSecret LsaOpenTrustedDomain LsaOpenTrustedDomainByName LsaQueryDomainInformationPolicy LsaQueryForestTrustInformation LsaQueryInfoTrustedDomain LsaQueryInformationPolicy LsaQuerySecret LsaQuerySecurityObject LsaQueryTrustedDomainInfo LsaQueryTrustedDomainInfoByName LsaRemoveAccountRights LsaRemovePrivilegesFromAccount LsaRetrievePrivateData LsaSetDomainInformationPolicy LsaSetForestTrustInformation LsaSetInformationPolicy LsaSetInformationTrustedDomain LsaSetQuotasForAccount LsaSetSecret LsaSetSecurityObject LsaSetSystemAccessAccount LsaSetTrustedDomainInfoByName LsaSetTrustedDomainInformation LsaStorePrivateData MD4Final MD4Init MD4Update MD5Final MD5Init MD5Update MSChapSrvChangePassword MSChapSrvChangePassword2 MakeAbsoluteSD MakeAbsoluteSD2 MakeSelfRelativeSD MapGenericMask NotifyBootConfigStatus NotifyChangeEventLog ObjectCloseAuditAlarmA ObjectCloseAuditAlarmW ObjectDeleteAuditAlarmA ObjectDeleteAuditAlarmW ObjectOpenAuditAlarmA ObjectOpenAuditAlarmW ObjectPrivilegeAuditAlarmA ObjectPrivilegeAuditAlarmW OpenBackupEventLogA OpenBackupEventLogW OpenEncryptedFileRawA OpenEncryptedFileRawW OpenEventLogA OpenEventLogW OpenProcessToken OpenSCManagerA OpenSCManagerW OpenServiceA OpenServiceW OpenThreadToken OpenTraceA OpenTraceW PrivilegeCheck PrivilegedServiceAuditAlarmA PrivilegedServiceAuditAlarmW ProcessIdleTasks ProcessTrace QueryAllTracesA QueryAllTracesW QueryRecoveryAgentsOnEncryptedFile QueryServiceConfig2A QueryServiceConfig2W QueryServiceConfigA QueryServiceConfigW QueryServiceLockStatusA QueryServiceLockStatusW QueryServiceObjectSecurity QueryServiceStatus QueryServiceStatusEx QueryTraceA QueryTraceW QueryUsersOnEncryptedFile QueryWindows31FilesMigration ReadEncryptedFileRaw ReadEventLogA ReadEventLogW RegCloseKey RegConnectRegistryA RegConnectRegistryW RegCreateKeyA RegCreateKeyExA RegCreateKeyExW RegCreateKeyW RegDeleteKeyA RegDeleteKeyW RegDeleteValueA RegDeleteValueW RegDisablePredefinedCache RegEnumKeyA RegEnumKeyExA RegEnumKeyExW RegEnumKeyW RegEnumValueA RegEnumValueW RegFlushKey RegGetKeySecurity RegLoadKeyA RegLoadKeyW RegNotifyChangeKeyValue RegOpenCurrentUser RegOpenKeyA RegOpenKeyExA RegOpenKeyExW RegOpenKeyW RegOpenUserClassesRoot RegOverridePredefKey RegQueryInfoKeyA RegQueryInfoKeyW RegQueryMultipleValuesA RegQueryMultipleValuesW RegQueryValueA RegQueryValueExA RegQueryValueExW RegQueryValueW RegReplaceKeyA RegReplaceKeyW RegRestoreKeyA RegRestoreKeyW RegSaveKeyA RegSaveKeyExA RegSaveKeyExW RegSaveKeyW RegSetKeySecurity RegSetValueA RegSetValueExA RegSetValueExW RegSetValueW RegUnLoadKeyA RegUnLoadKeyW RegisterEventSourceA RegisterEventSourceW RegisterIdleTask RegisterServiceCtrlHandlerA RegisterServiceCtrlHandlerExA RegisterServiceCtrlHandlerExW RegisterServiceCtrlHandlerW RegisterTraceGuidsA RegisterTraceGuidsW RemoveTraceCallback RemoveUsersFromEncryptedFile ReportEventA ReportEventW RevertToSelf SaferCloseLevel SaferComputeTokenFromLevel SaferCreateLevel SaferGetLevelInformation SaferGetPolicyInformation SaferIdentifyLevel SaferRecordEventLogEntry SaferSetLevelInformation SaferSetPolicyInformation SaferiChangeRegistryScope SaferiCompareTokenLevels SaferiIsExecutableFileType SaferiPopulateDefaultsInRegistry SaferiRecordEventLogEntry

reply to post by vanosman


Yes, unethical but legal.

What most ppl are saying in this thread is the AV companies are infecting software sold to the public and then offering a cure. ILLEGAL

What I'm saying they don't need to infect the software. Fear alone will drive sheep to Staples. NOT ILLEGAL

Originally posted by Skyfloating

Actually, PCs are a thing of the past...although most dont realize it yet.

There will be no more harddrive, it will all be webbased. You will only buy a monitor that hooks up to the web.

So you believe we will go backwards back to the Terminal? That's what the software makers want so they can charge us for our usage rather rather than a one time license for use until we discard. The main goal being you cant use their software if you don't pay. (Their control the world solution to piracy).

I'm sure the record companies would have an orgasm if they could sell music that way too.

I don't think so - maybe there will be some systems like that, but that's like saying everyone will ride the bus and cars will become obsolete. People will aways want some privacy and anonymity and though more expensive if they can afford it they will.

I think once a better voice & visual interface is made computers will be worn like a watch or in the pocket like a phone. With a better voice command there will be little need for the large keyboard and with a holographic projection display there wont be a use for the big bulky screen to lug around.



[edit on 12-5-2008 by verylowfrequency]

Originally posted by verylowfrequency
I think once a better voice & visual interface is made computers will be worn like a watch or in the pocket like a phone. With a better voice command there will be little need for the large keyboard and with a holographic projection display there wont be a use for the big bulky screen to lug around.

In fact, this is already happening and has been happening for years now. The iPhone and the various iPhone clones are just the most recent and obvious examples of it. Expect to see computers continue to get smaller, more portable and more pervasive. I realize this is completely off the original topic, but I think the topic has degenerated to the point where it doesn't matter anymore.

reply to post by verylowfrequency


I dont really know. I was under the assumption (from reading various mags) that thats the direction its going? I certainly hope not.

I imagine my future home to have a room in which one of the walls is the screen and acts as a terminal for all media, from TV to Internet to Phone to Video-Conference.

Something like Orwells 1984...but without the spying and oppression.

im sure this has been mentioned before but ill mention it anyway...
Opensource is the way to go, you can tweak the software fit your need, you can write your own stuff... and the software that is produced it written be developers that actually care about the users/buyers. thats why its free and or by donation.

start using opensource software, learn how to make things better, submit suggestions to the developers. build your own stuff and advertise it.

its the way to go especially for AV.

thats my $0.02

viruses are just another form of art, much like graffiti. It's a shame they both get bashed on so heavily in this thread.

I don't even understand why spray art got dragged into this discussion, but whatever, that's how the intertubes work I guess.

For the most part, a virus exploits a weakness in a system, that has been otherwise sold and marketed as "safe." Without a virus here and there, we would just be full of holes and naive.

Just like the human body, a booster shot / vaccine is useful from time to time, so that you are prepared should a horrible contamination happen.

reply to post by scientist


thats certainly an interesting re-frame of this entire thread. I havent looked at it that way yet.

all good code is art, and the best, hardest to detect viruses are typically short and sweet, like any good nuggets of wisdom.

on your conspiracy angle, there is most certainly something going on, although I could only speculate on whether viruses are created by anti-virus developers, or if they just end up hiring lots of reformed virus makers.

Another thing to bring up are the politics behind anti-virus. For example, certain anti-virus suites have been known to declare other companies' software as malware / trojan / virus / etc because of some corporate grudge or whatever. Other examples of this are pirated software being marked as infected, keygens, and even freeware security tools such as PeerGuardian has been listed as malware by various companies, for not being a team player.

All must be taken with a grain of salt. It's also important to note there are virus toolkits out there, so that anyone with a mouse and keyboard can click around and make their own mutation, so it's not exactly hard to create new ones these days.

Originally posted by Peepers
Another thought from the realm of Peepers. If you love your windows, get a copy of Norton Ghost like 2003 or if you have vista, get ghost 12 or 14.

Than, do a clean install of the OS, install all your clean virus free softwares and than ghost it to DVD. Peepers thinks that maybe you could be a little mentally traumatized from the infestation experience and can offer this suggestion, set the hard drive you just re-imaged with ghost to slave, than plug it into another clean PC with anti virus and run a sweep. Than your mind will be relieved and you can get on with your life.

Next time you infest your PC from visiting porn sites and DL warez, you can ghost image the old to new and by by infestations.

No matter what you read here today, use precautionary measures and get a firewall & anti virus. Right now I recommend ZoneAlarm suite 2008.

Unless you know how the internet works and the dark forces that live within, keep your PC and your vital information safe.

Please dont use norton ghost; it will never again be uninstallable; a friend of mine just related his experiences to me; he and a friend of his had to totally go thru evry bit of his computer and still this ghost is stuck on his machine; he deleted it a million times.

It is, I believe, prudent to never install any symantec-product.

Originally posted by Skyfloating
Actually, PCs are a thing of the past...although most dont realize it yet.

There will be no more harddrive, it will all be webbased. You will only buy a monitor that hooks up to the web.

This is actually true. I worked on a project at a national laboratory wherein I implemented over thirty of these diskless nodes (also called network computers or headless nodes) back in 1998. For every 10 or so (at that time) there was a computer in another locked room (my office) to which no one had access.

The concept was (and is) simple enough: you farm out the jobs so that if a computer became overwhelmed by usage you transferred it's work over to another machine that was doing less work. This was the "disk farm" or "server farm". This way there was complete control over the machines and the security, etc. could be controlled from a single location (as well as updates, upgrades, etc. All of which happened "transparently" and "automagically" overnight - by me. )

The project was a huge success in that other than noticing that they didn't have local hard drives (and only a couple did) their machines worked as expected. Not many people noticed since everyone had a beige box in their office - the only thing was, it did not have anything in it but a small processor and a network card that did a "boot off network" via tftp "trivial file transfer protocol" - which is already built into your network card and/or BIOS right now. All computers and network cards (of the consumer type) have had this feature for years.

So, yes, this is a reality. How many people have WebTV? WebTV is a headless node. There is a tiny processor in the thing to get it going, but all data is stored offsite.

Personally, I am somewhat of a hoarder of older computer, mobos and components just for this reason. It's not very easy to hack a machine that you do not have total access too (i.e. it takes away some of the obvious paths to getting root - we used Linux to do this - and those would be doing a "boot from network" to divert the boot a machine of your choice - but that was already set up and could not be subverted - or boot to a rescue CD-ROM and get root - there was a race condition that existed at the time though, however no one managed to figure that one out - I left the systems unpatched for that to see what would happen (yes, "sendmail", again)).

So, in a "race" to understand this nextgen of computing, if you are of the hacking breed, then I suggest you understand "selinux" which is being used on many of the server farms out there right now. Selinux is a tough nut to crack, but not impossible. It must be taken down by understanding the source code (and getting a good copy of wireshark running on a promiscuous ethernet port doesn't hurt either - get to know and understand your network traffic and the network traffic that passes through your box(es)). I have a small cluster and about 10 TB of disk space dedicated to these types of research (plus my day job, being self-employed now).

Good comment Skyfloating!

Woody