AVG ceases accidental DDoS: webmasters cheer

It's IT Blogwatch: in which Grisoft, maker of the AVG anti-virus package, backs down in its attempt to DDoS the entire Web. What now? Oh, err, I mean protect its users from sites hosting malware. Yeah, that's it. Not to mention more Error'd...

G'day, Darren Pauli:

The deluge of false traffic triggered by the LinkScanner Search-Shield component of AVG anti-virus will dry up after the company axed its Web trawling function. AVG was berated by furious Webmasters who likened the scanning functionality of Search-Shield to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. The component, built in to Version 8 of the popular anti-virus program, scans all results returned by Google for malware, effectively hitting at least 10 Web site pages for every search query. The company came under fire after Webmasters reported a surge in zombie Web site hits ... IDG Australia, the publisher of Computerworld, was also hit by multiple requests. more

Cade Metz addz:

After howls of protest from countless web masters, AVG has promised to quit spewing fake traffic across the internet. Earlier this year, the Czech-headquartered security company paired its new anti-virus engine, AVG 8, with a real-time malware scanner that vets search engine results before you even click on them. If you search Google for "depressed tigers," for instance, the AVG LinkScanner automatically visits each link that appears on the results page. Downloaded by more than 20 million people worldwide, the tool has caused considerable traffic spikes on sites large and small, and because it attempts to hide itself behind the user's IP address, web masters are struggling to filter this fake traffic from their log files - if they're even aware it's fake. Meanwhile, some site owners complain the tool is forcing them to pay for extra bandwidth. more

AVG's Peter Cameron 'fesses up:

The latest update for AVG Free edition has addressed and rectified the issue that [you] (and others) have brought to our attention. This update has now been released to users and has also been built into the latest installation package for AVG Free ... We thank you for your feedback. You can see that we do listen to you and take appropriate action as required. We are totally committed to providing maximum protection for our users and for the Internet eco-system as a whole without causing unnecessary disruption. more

The Oracle sees all:

Seems that the normally carefree people of Australia get really worked up when you mess with their internet access ... Many places were complaining, and I saw a couple of places where the authors defended their stance. It seems that the pressure got to be too great, because the last thing a software author wants is his software taken off machines. more

Daniel Brandt et al cheer (and jeer):

We tested the 138 version and it no longer prefetches from websites. It looks the same as the earlier version to the user, and pretends to fetch every link from Google. It even says, "This page contains no active threats" when you mouseover the green check mark. But it's not fetching the page. All it's doing is the DNS lookup. So while it still hammers your local DNS provider pointlessly, and then lies about what it just did, at least it doesn't steal bandwidth from websites. We also reinstalled the old version (build 100, June 5) and let it get all the updates on July 6. We expected that the updates would stop the prefetching just like in the new version, but it went ahead and stole bandwidth from websites just like it did ten days earlier. more

So Jurily's still worried:

AVG took a serious wrong turn somewhere. It used to be a no-questions-asked-use-me-please virus scanner of the highest quality. I used to recommend it to everyone. I used to start fixing my friends' computers by uninstalling the bloated virus scanners they had and installing AVG. Now they've gone corporate (for lack of a better term). Anyone know of an alternative to fill the role? more

But xtracto sees the silver lining:

I certainly won't be looking. There are just a handful of companies which listen to its customers. There fewer that listen to the users of their product which use it for free. AVG shown that at least they do listen to their users, and are likely to rectify when they screw up. Similar to what happened with Netflix. A bad company is not one which makes wrong choices, we all make wrong choices. But when the company is not able to acknowledge their errors and rectify, is when you should start looking for someone else to make business with. more

And finally...

• Error'd: A Y2K Holdover (and other curious IT perversions)
  

Buffer overflow:

• Ed Bott: The last Windows 95 user is defiant
• David Marshall: Parallels collaborates with HP to deliver container-based virtualization
• Michael Hugos: Who’s Making the Operating System for my House?
• Coding Horror: Investing in a Quality Programming Chair
• Heather Clancy: Texas Instruments pulls power management efforts under new division

Other Computerworld bloggers:

• Seth Weintraub: Rogers receiving reduced iPhone shipments based on reduced demand
• Mike Elgan: Japan's Eee PC killer now available in U.S.
• SJVN: We're number two: Firefox grabs more market share
• Seth Weintraub: MacBook Air price drop clearing inventory for new models?
• Shark Tank: Priorities
• Shark Bait: First!

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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 21 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You can follow him on Twitter, pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use boring old email: blogwatch@richi.co.uk.

Previously in IT Blogwatch:

• Independence from HDDs? MBA with SSD is $500 off!
• Firefox keeps on growing and growing and growing and...
• Forsaking Yahoo, Microsoft <3 Powerset