“Microsoft’s Windows AntiSpyware application is no longer flagging adware products from Claria Corp. as a threat to PC users. Less than a week after published reports of acquisition talks between Microsoft Corp. and the Redwood City, Calif.-based distributor of the controversial Gator ad-serving software, security researchers have discovered that Microsoft has quietly downgraded its Claria detections,” Ryan Naraine reports for eWeek.

“Anti-spyware activist Eric L. Howes, who serves as a consultant to Sunbelt Software, discovered the default changes during a recent test that included four Claria applications: Dashbar, Gator, PrecisionTime and Weatherscope,” Naraine reports. “According to the results published by Howes, four different builds of the Windows AntiSpyware beta detected the Claria products, but the default recommendation was ‘ignore.’ Prior to the recent tests, Microsoft’s AntiSpyware tool detected Claria’s products and presented users with a recommended action of ‘Quarantine.’”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Par for the course. Sleazebags.

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