Member Avatar for ronnie_vman

I do have a genuine problem for this blog. I cannot open, edit or view these 32bit extraction files that seem to fit in with other legitimate ones of the same type that are necessary for proper functioning of the ATI radeon 128mb 300x (in a Dell computer - sorry to say) My first angle at this problem is whether my devices and software tools are really at issue. Are there any know identified malware that is target oriented at say the ATI radeon and Dell (Dimension 5100) or other.

I have a legal backround; maybe this thread is misplaced to some extent but it is on point in that I have a genuine problem with my ATI card being used in RAID mode and broadcasting private information without my knowledge. I need a fix, new drivers or maybe I should dump the Dell or at least the Motherboard by Intel. I also hope to engage a tech with a backround in the legal issues, (privacy and Intellectual property and proprietary issues).

The suspect software I downloaded from a disk (UK) was Ati-tools. There was also 7Zip. There are suspect files in my computer that appear to have utilized my ATI Radeon card. In more than one occasion I have had my files broadcasted or stolen. I knew of the vulnerablity and I accept the consequences of mis-use of free software or my distaste of anti-virus software. The resut is that I regularly contract malware and study their methods and purpose.

Could anyone point me to sound sound advice about privacy issues, intellectual property issues, free adult site material downloading issues, Freeware downloading, ect. as these relate to/ or are connected with MS Agent, Dr. Watson, Port 80, Dell Computer-Default (*)files, Internet Explorer, Telenet, Borland or any other system operated means of monitoring a registered or unregistered windows machine that accesses the internet on a broadband cable service provider (i.e Comcast).

Issues relating to modifications of Signatures, System Keys, Preferences, adultered Attributes, un-warranted stack dumps, I.E. script downloads, etc. are key areas in which I am researching legally. Also of interest are alliances, partnerships and licensing -say between Network Associates-Microsoft, Symantec-Microsoft, Dell-Intel, or the like. I appreciate a legal minded tech with experience in this area of discussion. My aim is educate myself and others on the bounds of internet users, providers, and Proprietary Services like some discussed above.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by alc6379
Member Avatar for alc6379

I'm not entirely sure what exactly you're asking, here.

From a legal standpoint, if a company does things to your computer without your consent, like install spyware, that's illegal. If you checked a box or clicked "Yes" to a license agreement, that's enough to count as consent, though.

The partnerships that you mentioned are entirely legal, and the practices those companies take part in are entirely legal in themselves. It's perfectly acceptable for companies to share marketing data with one another; if you have given consent to a program to gather marketing data and provide it to the company, you're part of the scheme.

More than likely, your ATI video card is not actually being utilized to perform any type of task. If something was downloaded called ATI-Tools, and it's not actually from ATI, it could be attached to some accessory software, or it could use the elevated priviledge afforded to driver software to gain a different level of access to your system RAM, or something.

No offense, but you might want to study up on how components in a system interact. Your post comes off as a bit of conspiracy theory which I, as a member of the computer industry, am pretty certain does not exist. If you'd like to clarify some of your questions or request, please do so; otherwise, we can address some of your more specific concerns. I stick to these three points:

  • If you agree to allow it to happen, then it's entirely legal.
  • If you didn't explicitly agree to have something happen (infection of an RPC-style virus, or a drive-by download), then it's not legal.
  • Despite the legality of the actions, users should be held primarily responsible for what happens on their computers. Firewalls can be installed, AV software can be run, and users can watch what websites they visit and what software they download. As such, the primary burden of protecting your privacy and system health should be placed on the user, as no one else is going to know how exactly a system is used or configured.
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