I'd like to start off by saying that Patchou and his fellow programmers/testers have done a wonderful job with this software in it's 'glory days' (more info on that later..) which earned them a status (atleast in my mind) of an extremely professional GNU application.

Now, ofcourse, at some point a software developer has to take advantage of the popularity of their program - which is obviously the case here.

I'd like to comment on the fact that Messenger Plus has bundled various third-party software with their most recent releases.. I have absolutely no problem at all with the quote-on-quote 'Adware' which is bundled quite openly.. which can be rejected upon installation of the plugin. However I'm strongly against the inclusion of spyware in ANY distributable application without our knowledge.

I recently reformatted my hard disk entirely in preparation for going back to school. Among various important system drivers.. messenger plus was among my FIRST installations.. immediately following which I had problems with various 'Warning!', 'Screensavers!' etc.. pop-up ads.. (which have also been associated with other computers i've used Messenger Plus! on (no, I did not decide to install the adware mentioned in the installation). I then scanned my computer with Spybot and noticed atleast 7 hidden 'Spyware' installed in conjunction. I would suggest all users of recent Messenger Plus extensions do the same:

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

These files will NOT be caught by Adaware b/c they are Spyware. Notice the discrepancy.. which is why Messenger Plus proudly states their software is adware free upon request.. which it is, to an extent.

Messenger Plus is completly adware free if you so choose. I have never had a problem with spyware being dropped on my PC by MsgPlus and have gone as far as to test it repeatedly by doing re-installs rejecting the sponsor program and then running Adaware, Spybot S&D, Bazooka, HiJack This and have never had any infections on a PC as a result of msgplus. I recomend you un-install msgplus and do a re-install and make sure you selected to no install the sponsor program, I've seen so many people come and say they selected not to install it, but they did, and an uninstall and re-install without it fixed everything.



On a side note, make sure you install MsgPlus from an offical download site (http://www.msgplus.net) to ensure you have the real authentic installer and it hasnt been altered.

Dear WJohnson,

First of all, thank you for pointing this out at these forums.

Secondly, Messenger Plus! does not contain spyware - that's for sure, if you downloaded the setup file from the official page. Of course, I realise it's now your word against mine, but this software is being used by millions of people. If spyware had been bundled with this program, it would have been noticed before.

quote:

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Originally posted by WJohnson
I'd like to comment on the fact that Messenger Plus has bundled various third-party software with their most recent releases.. I have absolutely no problem at all with the quote-on-quote 'Adware' which is bundled quite openly.. which can be rejected upon installation of the plugin.

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quote:

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Originally posted by WJohnson
I recently reformatted my hard disk entirely in preparation for going back to school. Among various important system drivers.. messenger plus was among my FIRST installations.. immediately following which I had problems with various 'Warning!', 'Screensavers!' etc.. pop-up ads..

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Prove please? However, i did such tests too when i was beta testing on complete fresh Windows installs and it never came up with anything. Give us a screenshot of the log/status screen from SpyBot.