Shoutbox

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.