Comments on: CNet Download.com Scandal: Virus-laden Files

By: Hans Mast

Hans Mast — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:02:38 +0000

I certainly allow the possibility of a false positive. I am curious how you determined that was the case? And how was it that multiple DLL files in the same program would all have the same false positive? That doesn’t really make sense.

By: Peter Butler

Peter Butler — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:23:04 +0000

Hi, Hans. Thanks for the note about Wave to Text.

We determined that the virus detection from certain security vendors was a false positive for that older version of Wave to Text, and we updated its listing to the current 7.0 version.

However, the trial of the current 7.0 version of Wave to Text unfortunately does not allow any functionality without registration/activation, so we have removed the product from our catalog on those grounds (lack of functionality).

Thanks again for the notice. I can reiterate that every file we host on Download.com is scanned for malware by multiple security services, but you make a good point about better monitoring of our user reviews. We have a very large library, but you are correct in that we should notice when any program gets a disproportionate number of 1-star ratings.

Cheers,
Peter
—–
Peter Butler
Senior Content Manager
CNET Download.com
http://download.cnet.com/

By: Shoaib Hashmi

Shoaib Hashmi — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:16:14 +0000

This is certainly alarming especially due to the reputation CNET has earned now. People trust them and download stuff blindly without knowing that the file being downloaded is malicious or not.

By: Nicolas Parziale

Nicolas Parziale — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:05:01 +0000

Can’t believe it, good work man