How many ‘vendors’ can ‘convince’ Microsoft to allow their adware/spyware? Some interesting articles can be found at the following websites (a paragraph or two from each one immediately follows the link):
http://www.pchell.com/reviews/msantispyware.shtml
“Out of curiosity, I ran Ad-Aware SE and SpyBot Search and Destroy after MS Antispyware said it was completely spyware free. Ad-Aware still found 145 instances of registry entries, cookies, and files remaining that needed to be quarantined, while SpyBot found 109 problems remaining.�
“Microsoft's Antispyware utility is a solid start for the giant software company; however it didn’t completely remove several threats and left Hotbar completely intact. As expected, Weatherbug was also left on the machine. However, its failure to remove some programs put it currently a notch below Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE Personal in my opinion.�
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/200...044223_F.shtml
“While certain adware companies have been looking to bribe anti-spyware companies into taking them off the list, Broadband Reports wondered how Microsoft would respond to such an approach. Already, the company faced just such a question, as the anti-spyware software identifies Weatherbug as a possible threat. Weatherbug, of course, used to be a big adware provider, but claims that they've reformed from their earlier ways and no longer do such things. As such, they were peeved about the classification --
even if it's described as a small threat. Microsoft quickly backed down and agreed to remove Weatherbug from the list.�
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1749409,00.asp
“A Microsoft spokeswoman said the beta product included a vendor dispute-resolution mechanism to deal with complaints from third-party companies.
In the case of WeatherBug, the dispute-resolution process paid immediate dividends. On Friday, the company received a response from Microsoft with the good news that the current signatures for Minibug will be removed.�