To Team (better: Gang) XoLoX:
You bloody liars, you despicable crooks.
I hope you get bolder and more brazen as time goes by so that all of you guys eventually end up in jail where you can't use any of the money your unethical ways of 'doing business' have earned you.
Show this letter to you corporate lawyer, perhaps he can put some common sense and a tiny bit of decency into your bird brains. You also should keep in mind that the Netherlands' 'liberal' laws don't protect you from liability and prosecution elsewhere.

Below is my letter to CNET's User Opinions, read it!

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Jan. 29, 2004

Today I downloaded and installed the 'XoloX 1.57' P2P file sharing program.

The software's vendor:
Fun - XoloX automatically detects your computer settings and connects for fast, hassle-free installation.

Safe - automatically scans downloaded files for viruses, allows users to preview files before downloading and performs smarter searches by blocking bad and malicious files.

!!!!! Spyware-Free - XoloX does not trick its users into installing anything
they don't want. Any additional software is purely optional !!!!!
And tons more... See Features.

Yeah, right; tons more, what a joke, what a bunch of lies...
By installing this program one also gets this bloody bundle of spyware (and who knows what else) without being made aware of it or being given a choice to not to install this/their rotten stuff.

If you did install XoLoX, run (the hopefully updated) Bazooka and Spybot Search & Destroy (Ad-aware did not find any of the entries - updated as of today).
Having WinPatrol installed to prevent the browser object from being installed wouldn't do any harm either.

Found the following in my system after the install of XoLoX:
My Search Bar,
My Search Bar.B,
no less than 27 'MyWay.MyBar/MyWay' registry entries, an 'Onluck Casino' shortcut on the Desktop, and a browser helper object 'My Way Speedbar for IE & Netscape' (if I wouldn't have had WinPatrol installed).

The install program tells you (using the 'Show Details' button) that it installs 17 items. When uninstalling, XoLoX shows that only 7 of them as taken out, what a bloody mess.

I also ran a Windows search for files and folders and found the folder 'MyWay' (242KB) that XoLoX installed in C:\Program Files. Had to delete it, the XoLox folder and its sub folders, and the Onluck Casino shortcut manually.
Now run Bazooka and Spybot again, just to make sure...

By the way, I checked for spyware just minutes before installing this crooked piece of crap and had absolutely nothing of that sort in my PC.

My advice:
DO NOT INSTALL XoLoX 1.57! (Not unless you are prepared to get rid of all the spyware junk it installs BEFORE using the program and BEFORE it tries to go on line and spreads your address all over the Net.)

Questions:
Why does CNET (for example) accept trash programs like XoLoX that are submitted by unethical software developers and/or their marketers?
What's the use downloading something from a 'respectable' site if this site introduces programs like XoLoX?
What if a dummy like me goes directly to the vendor's site instead of first reading a download site's whole spread including the user opinions part, a newbie, or an otherwise somewhat technically challenged person downloads and uses this program???

Check out the software's site and see what they say CNET's opinion is, you'll be surprised.

CNET's 'Editor's note' is a commendable feature but I suggest that you put an additional red spyware warning label directly into the 'Download Now' section, right below the 'Free"... Or better still, remove this program and programs like it from your downloads section!

Peter E.

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Ps.:
Found 6 e-mail addresses on the XoLoX site, mailed this letter to all of them.

All (but one) did not accept my mail and had the same message:
<bugs@xolox.nl>
213.133.33.154 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 552 Message would exceed quota for <bugs@xolox.nl>
Giving up on 213.133.33.154.

The one and only exeption was an autoreply:
Hello,
Thanks for emailing XoloX Support. At XoloX we pride ourselves in a simple and painless client, but none-the-less if you need help please check out our forums and FAQ.

FAQ: www.xolox.nl/client/faq.html

Forum: www.xolox.nl/forum/

If you still need help after browsing the FAQ and forum, feel free to email us at help@xolox.nl and we'll try to answer your question in a timely manner.

Thanks,

Team XoloX

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As expected, the link to help@xolox.nl does not work...