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Subject: HTTrack: watch out rogue 'freeware' sites!
Author: Xavier Roche
Date: 04/28/2013 11:21
 
Hi folks,

It has been reported that some rogue freeware sites are embedding free
softwares and freewares inside 'badware' installers. These customized
installers are not official version of the corresponding softwares, and may
harm your computer.

The method is always the same: pick up popular free softwares (such as Open
Office, VLC, etc. ... or HTTrack), and 'repackage' the installer with
'crapware' (search toolbar, plugins that redirect you your searchs to other
locations, etc.) which vary from adware/spyware programs (possibly spying on
your browsing habits) to viruses/trojans (possibly stealing information or
turning your machine into a botnet slave)

Please ALWAYS, ALWAYS, download HTTrack from the main site (
<http://www.httrack.com/page/2/> ), and please report rogue sites to proper
location (browsers such as Firefox or Chrome now have tools to report
dangerous sites)

If you downloaded HTTrack from a suspicious location, you may want to check
the checksum of the installer (check out md5 files at
<http://mirror.httrack.com/>) before executing it. Preferably, erase the file,
and download it from the main site.

We (free software/freeware developers) are defenseless against these rogue
websites, so raising the awareness is the only thing we can do.

EDIT: It has also been reported that free softwares such as HTTrack were being
sold on various auction websites (ebay) without informing the buyers that the
software they were buying were actually freely downloadable (and under the GPL
license). These scams are likewise difficult to shutdown (ebay has no specific
policy against that)
 
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HTTrack: watch out rogue 'freeware' sites!

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