, 1 min read
Winfixer got to me, but I had the last word
I run Linux with Firefox exclusively. Hence, I don’t need a product which supposedly fixes Windows. Such a product, called Winfixer, has managed to install a popup in my Firefox. Every time I start Firefox, a Winfixer popup tells me they found several problems on my machine (yeah! right!), I searched on the web for help, but all I see are ways to seek and destroy a trojan under Windows. The thing is, under Linux, I only run Firefox as an unpriviliged user, so it is very unlikely that a Linux trojan written by Winfixer infested my system. What is more likely is that Firefox, or an extension I use, has a fault of some sort allowing web sites to leave JavaScript commands to be executed whenever I start Firefox. I suspect the SessionSaver extension to be guilty.
In any case, why should I tolerate these popups?
To get rid of them, I added the following line in /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 www.winfixer.com
(You can do something similar under Windows by editing the LMHOSTS file. I suspect you can also do something similar under MacOS.)
That’s it. No more insanity. It is now impossible for any script on my machine to query their domain.
Hint to system administrators: blacklist the winfixer domain now.
This leaves two questions:
- Is it morality acceptable for a company like Winfixer to use such means to sell their product? Is it even legal?
- Who are the idiots buying Winfixer?