WebProNews

Microsoft writes the next chapter in the story behind anti-spyware program secrets, as it quietly delists rumored takeover target Claria.

Five weeks ago, we looked at the dirty secret behind anti-spyware programs. Some software vendors, under pressure from makers of adware programs, secretly removed some of those makers from being detected as spyware.

Claria, better known to the Net community as the company behind Gator, has had its listings in Microsoft's anti-spyware program downgraded from 'quarantine' to 'ignore'. The change was made with no notice to users; Claria can now place any program it pleases on an unsuspecting user's system without tripping the Microsoft program.

It's a change that users can reverse back to the original 'quarantine' setting. But without any notice of the change, very few typical users would think to check the program in the first place.

Even though Microsoft has been rumored to be interested in acquiring Claria and its behavior tracking technology, this change may have nothing to do with the clandestine discussions. It could be a simple glitch in an update to the program. It could be the result of lobbying from Claria as described above.

Or it could mean the two companies have begun working together, a viewpoint put forth by Sunbelt Software president Alex Eckelberry. Whatever it means, it has been found in tests by Sunbelt that Microsoft's program now ignores four Claria applications that it had quarantined previously.

Claria has taken steps to repair its public image. The fact remains that its Gain applications still rank very high in the Webroot spyware survey, a report that contends Claria's products appear on more than 2 percent of all the computers in the world. And not everyone necessarily wanted those products tracking their every move.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.