Right StartMenu: Anyone here use it? Friend thinks it's spyware.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Machine messiah
  • Start date Start date
M

Machine messiah

I've been using Right StartMenu (http://www.backtec.com/free.htm)
for years. After my rave reviews, a friend decided to try it. He claims
it immediately tried to access the internet after he installed it. Now
he insists it's spyware. I think he needs to read his Zonealarm
documentation more carefully.
Has anyone here had RSM do anything sneaky?
 
Machine messiah said:
I've been using Right StartMenu (http://www.backtec.com/free.htm)
for years. After my rave reviews, a friend decided to try it. He claims
it immediately tried to access the internet after he installed it. Now
he insists it's spyware. I think he needs to read his Zonealarm
documentation more carefully.
Has anyone here had RSM do anything sneaky?
Click to expand...

None of the Backtec progs, in my experience, are the least bit sneaky.

RSM is a menu utility, so my initial theory would be that it involved your
friend having a program on their menu that calls home. Although I don't
see how it could come about for the firewall to identify the wrong program.
I tested putting UltraReader on the RSM menu. Kerio told me ultreader.exe
wanted to phone home, not RSM. I don't use Zonealarm, but cannot imagine
it reporting the wrong program, any more than Kerio. Or perhaps it is
related to this -- combined with what you indicate. That your friend has
a communication problem with Zonealarm. They only notice the timing --
that there is a message from the firewall when they've used the RSM menu
to launch a program which calls home. But they fail to note which program,
and blame RSM.

My other theory is that your friend is experiencing symptoms of a deeper
infestion of malware that has integrated itself into their system. So they
need a good cleaning immediately.
 
None of the Backtec progs, in my experience, are the least bit sneaky.

RSM is a menu utility, so my initial theory would be that it involved your
friend having a program on their menu that calls home. Although I don't
see how it could come about for the firewall to identify the wrong program.
I tested putting UltraReader on the RSM menu. Kerio told me ultreader.exe
wanted to phone home, not RSM. I don't use Zonealarm, but cannot imagine
it reporting the wrong program, any more than Kerio. Or perhaps it is
related to this -- combined with what you indicate. That your friend has
a communication problem with Zonealarm. They only notice the timing --
that there is a message from the firewall when they've used the RSM menu
to launch a program which calls home. But they fail to note which program,
and blame RSM.

My other theory is that your friend is experiencing symptoms of a deeper
infestion of malware that has integrated itself into their system. So they
need a good cleaning immediately.
Click to expand...
I suspected as much.
He also failed to note the ip address that RSM was suposedly trying to
contact. It's possible he launched something that was pinging his own
computer.
 
Back
Top