Is Snopes pushing Adware? Urban legend or fact? by ZDNet’s George Ou

Claim: The popular urban legend debunking site Snopes is pushing Adware on to its readers.

Status: True (No longer true since their shaming from Alex Eckelberry and this blog on 1/28/2008).

Origins: Blogger Adrian W Kingsley-Hughes pointed out this post from Alex Eckelberry of Sunbelt reporting how Snopes is pushing Zango Adware. Apparently it’s 1 of 2 popups that Snopes runs and the other popup is some sort of “registry cleaner” according to Eckelberry. I [More...]

There’s been quite a bit of chatter and noise over the December 2007 Windows Vista Application Compatibility Update.

There has been a lot of dismay over the update of Vista, apparently allowing it to be more compatible with a known Rogue Anti-Spyware Application. This is not the case. English can be such an ambiguous language, at times. Especially when word choices and combinations are not carefully considered.

I’m not going to post the entire Update notice, but instead use the relevant portion:

This update is cumulative, and it supersedes update 935280. In addition to the fixes that are contained in update 935280, this update improves application compatibility in Windows Vista by implementing a block on the application, by providing a notification that the application is not Windows Vista-compatible, or by providing an update to improve functionality for the following applications:

•	Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0 - 7.07
•	WinAntivirus Pro 2007 v5.0.356
•	Webroot Software Spy Sweeper 5.0
•	Omniquad Total Security 2.0.3.0
•	Windows Internet Explorer

Emphasis mine

The manner in which the emphasized portion of the above quote is worded, would lead you to believe there is increased compatibility between Vista and the listed applications.

In Fact what the compatibility update does is one of three things:

1. Block an undesirable application.
2. Inform you that a given application is not Vista compatible.
3. Improve functionality between Vista and a Vista compatible application.

So, depending upon the application, listed in the compatibility update, what action is taken. In the case of WinAntivirus Pro 2007 v5.0.356 it is blocked by Vista.

So, lay your fears to rest Microsoft is not making Vista compatible with Spyware applications, instead they are taking steps to make Vista more secure; by blocking known Rogue applications.