# SPYWARE Warning!!



## brushmaster1 (Jun 15, 2002)

My wife (after using the shareware version) purchased Rahjongg from egames.com for $29.95. Not only is the paid version only a very slight improvement over the demo version, it contains (and won't run without) Timesink Ad Client.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Thanks,

That is as bad as it gets when you pay for software and get spyware.


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## Davey7549 (Feb 28, 2001)

brushmaster1
That really would be terrible if it is a requirement run. All I could find referencing Timesink to Rahjongg is associated to the Demo version of it. When Your Wife purchased the product did you receive a CD or just download the install .exe? If so if you uninstall the demo then use spybot to remove the traces, does Timesink reinstall with the purchased setup exe?

Dave


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## brushmaster1 (Jun 15, 2002)

She received the CD while I was at work today, and installed the full version. When I came home, I uninstalled both versions and ran Spybot to get rid of timesink. I then rebooted and reibstalled the full version of Rahjongg...timesink was back! I removed timesink again, and Rahjongg wouldn't run.

Next, I reinstalled Rahjongg and crippled timesink by removing it from startup in msconfig and I moved the tsadbot.exe file. Rahjongg now works, but I DON'T like paying for spyware, and if I remove the timesink folder or several .dll's, or the registry entries, Rahjongg won't run.


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## Davey7549 (Feb 28, 2001)

brushmaster1
I agree with you 110% and yet some! Fortunately you found a way most people will not find to disable Timesink and still enjoy what you bought! I believe it is time to place some reviews about the net to force change to activity like this.

Again glad you found a work around!

Dave


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## pyritechips (Jun 3, 2002)

I would love to see a test case, or a class action law suit where consumer(s) sued software companies for adding invisible and unwanted spyware into our computers to mess up the settings and spy on us (invasion of privacy?).

Sorry for the rank but I and several of my friends have been victimized by this incidious crap! I would like to see the suits wons and new legislation declaring hidden spyware as virii!


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## bassetman (Jun 7, 2001)

I agree! Let's get Rep on it! 

John


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## Davey7549 (Feb 28, 2001)

I agree Jim! 
This type of activity I expect with Freeware but attached to as prerequisites for running of purchased programs is outrageous!

Dave


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## suzi (Dec 27, 2002)

That's really bad! It should be illegal. Not to mention Turbo Tax and C-Dilla... 

Think of the hundreds and thousands of people who use Turbo Tax without knowing about the spyware.


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## gameman (Mar 15, 2002)

Sheesh! I am sorry to hear of your problem and I hope that someone gets the companies where it hurts. That is just crazy. It is bad enough to have the stuff exist but in software you PAY for? SHEESH!

Always apprecate the warning though, I will make sure not to do business with that company.

-Gameman


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## bassetman (Jun 7, 2001)

Suzi, are you saying that Turbo Tax comes with spyware?

John


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## jdemnyan1116 (Mar 18, 2000)

Until the companies quit paying people to lobby our great leaders to allow this spyware to continue, then we will have it. Maybe it is a good idea to think about suing for mega bucks.


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

> _Originally posted by bassetman:_
> *Suzi, are you saying that Turbo Tax comes with spyware?
> 
> John *


Its possible, being debated. I doubt it though.
Look for the thread, its a few pages into random.


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## Rhettman5.1 (Sep 25, 2002)

A quick google search found this : "Turbo Tax Spyware

This one comes from Ghost in the Machine. Reviewers at Amazon are reporting that Turbo Tax 2002 has two bad features. The first is a product activation feature that prevents you from filing more then one e-return. Bad enough but there's also this:

have used Turbo Tax for the last five years. I had nothing but praise for the software. But now Inuit has decided to use a HEAVY HANDED approach to Turbo Tax 2002. I understand the need to protect their software however Intuit went to the extreme. Not only does Intuit require product activation, but a piece of Spyware called C-Dilla is placed onto a section of the Hard Drive that is hidden and is unmovable by the user. Since it is on a section of the Hard Drive that is not normally used I doubt doing a reinstallation of your operating system and reformatting the hard drive would remove it. When you uninstall TurboTax 2002 the Spyware remains on your system. It does not eat up much CPU time but it does consume 1 mega-byte worth of memory. Nowhere on the product's packaging does it tell you about C-Dilla being installed on your system. After the backlash Inuit has received from users, they have a small uninstaller you can download to remove C-Dilla, after you uninstall Turbo Tax 2002. For a company as large as Intuit this should have been included with the unistaller originally. It does not give customers information about product activation except in fine print under the system requirements section. F or past users like me it will come as a shock when you open the box and see the Product Key.

So this year I'll be using Tax Cut. I've no patience for weasels.

January 24, 2003


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## gameman (Mar 15, 2002)

Sheesh! That is crazy. But I recently had trouble with Inuit and a client recently. The client baought quickbooks 2000 and their bookkeeper used it for a few years. And even downloaded the updates to keep the tax info current. Well that person left and quickbooks had to be moved to another system. The kicker is that upon installing quickbooks and trying to restore the customers data, it would not read the data.

Come to find out due to the upgrades the old version that the customer had on CD would no longer read the "newer" data files. And the updates that the previous bookeeper we no longer available! This was quite a suprise to me, but then i didn't know that updates via the net had been done, and neither did my client. 

Anyway my client ended up buying a new version of Quickbooks ($99) to use the old data files! Then I was called to install it. Well what a hassle THAT was!! The install went fine, it asks for a old Quickbooks CD becuase this was a update CD, ok no problem there. But the activation bit where you have to call them and get it got interesting. They kept wanting to sign my client for services they didn't need and did not want to take no for a answer! 

Then they wanted to create a new account rather than use the old one. And for a new account they "had" to sign up for certain features such as many online payroll etc. I tried to explain to them that this would be of no use due to the fact that the bookeeping computer is NOT online, and never would be. This whole bit took about oh 1.5 hours before they would FINALLY do what my client needed by giving the code and not signing them up for services they didn't need. But this was ONLY after patience had run out and my client was ready to go back to pen and paper bookeeping lol. That threat did the trick.

In short they have gotten too big for their backsides thinking they can force users to do whatever they want, and I will certainly not buy any more of their products or recamend them.

-Gameman


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## bassetman (Jun 7, 2001)

Did M$ buy them out?  

John

PS Thanks B!


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## gameman (Mar 15, 2002)

LOL! Makes one wonder. 

-Gameman


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## KathaMm (Apr 22, 2007)

I've been so busy fixing other people's computers (trying to)
And just busy I've neglected my own. 
I had a day off yesterday and decided to clean up my computer. When my daughter is home she is up to no good with music sites. I told her if she downloaded any shareware music she'd be locked out of this computer.

I have so much music (legal) and so many pictures it's going to take a long time to organize this thing. I started that process yesterday. 

I then went to add remove programs and every single game there I got an error with.
Most of them are the ones you play free for one hour. 
I purchased 3 games for $20.00 a piece called Dinner Dash. I never thought I'd have any problems with these. I didn't have the cds I just dl from the sites. 
Pogo games were also on here from someone in my family. 
My nephew also had some games on here. 

Anyway, I clicked on a game, a box would come up with Ghost Uninstaller -
Uninstaller log not found!!

I got on here and did a search as well as another tech site. I tried the fixes for hours and couldn't get rid of these games.

I gave up last night. Really very frustrating. I just read this though about someone else having a problem here. 

I'll try the fixes again when I get home later. I would love to reinstall Windows on here but, there is no way I can do that now. I have too much stuff and so does my daughter.

Not sure what to do but, I am writing to these game sites (there are 3 of them) and I'm putting in a big fat complaint. 

I'm really ticked off.  

Katie.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

MyUninstaller may help you out some by showing added info like product name, company, version, uninstall string, installation folder and more. So this added info may help you out.
But MyUninstaller simply run the uninstall module provided by the software that you want to uninstall.
MyUninstaller utility is a standalone executable. It doesn't require any installation process or additional DLL's. Just copy the executable file to any folder you want, and run it.


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## xico (Jun 29, 2002)

gameman said:


> Sheesh! That is crazy. But I recently had trouble with Inuit and a client recently. The client baought quickbooks 2000 and their bookkeeper used it for a few years. And even downloaded the updates to keep the tax info current. Well that person left and quickbooks had to be moved to another system. The kicker is that upon installing quickbooks and trying to restore the customers data, it would not read the data.
> 
> Come to find out due to the upgrades the old version that the customer had on CD would no longer read the "newer" data files. And the updates that the previous bookeeper we no longer available! This was quite a suprise to me, but then i didn't know that updates via the net had been done, and neither did my client.
> 
> ...


Thanks for this and all the other posts!  I hate that, when you have to go thru 20 hoops not to go thru one hoop. :down: Yeah, I've heard bad things about Turbo Tax. I think PC World, or TigerDirect sent me a free copy, but I didn't use it.


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