Tags: Microsoft

Microsoft, Claria and the Anti-Spyware Application

Rumors are floating around that Microsoft is considering acquiring Claria Company known more for the infamous Gator software. Claria develops applications, which monitors user’s activities on the computer to display relevant advertisement in ad-supported applications. However, people associate it more with being a nuisance and Spyware. The reputation of the company is so bad in the market that even the insiders at the Microsoft Corporation are said to be against this rumored deal.

However, the latest reports in (and we have tested it here at TechWhack), Microsoft has quietly downgraded the warning levels for Claria applications in their popular Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta Application. We ran a test on an infected system and the application displayed the Claria developed applications on ignore mode! There is no official statement from the company explaining this action.

The recommended step until now for the applications from Claria was set to quarantine, which simply locked away the application files from harming the system in any form. Now, the user is manually required to change the action step to be taken on these applications, which is not favorable to the computer security. In fact, a recent Spyware report from Webroot Software Incorporation found Claria to be the second most prolific adware install, appearing on more than 2 percent of consumer desktops. Even, Webroot counts it to be one of the biggest threats to computer security.

Let us see if Microsoft comes out with a statement clarifying these troubling actions from their side. If computer security firms start favoring certain companies, it certainly does not benefit the end user in any form.