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SCI: Tech Fears Arise Over Norton and Pifts.exe

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posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 03:03 AM
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Now THIS is an interesting thread. This may all be something benign or something serious, but it seems pretty clear that Norton's trying to hide something by deleting threads on their community forums and giving no reasons as to why.

My question is if Norton is doing something shady, why wtould they allow their AV program to notify you that pifts.exe is trying to access the internet? Really, if they were up to no good, I'm sure there are "slealthier" ways to accomplish whatever it is that they're trying to do.

I guess the real question is why Norton is keeping quiet about all this? Ignoring consumer questions is just making them look bad.. Not a very good idea.

I went ahead and created a username for the Norton forums and asked about pifts.exe. I expected to see some sort of forum announcement about it on there but there was nothing so it seems as if Norton is still ignoring it. I took a screenshot of my thread; it appears someone else had posted a thread about pifts.exe right before I did too. I'm gonna wait and see if the threads get deleted or what happens.

UPDATE:
Well, I can confirm that these pieces of # are deleting threads related to pifts.exe. I posted my thread about it on their forums at 247am central US time. As of 304am central US time my thread - and the other one that got posted a couple minutes before mine - is gone.

This is very troubling, not necessarily because something "sinister" is going on here, but simply because Norton is obviously trying to sweep "something" under the rug. And as long as they keep quiet and don't respond to questions, consumers' imaginations are going to run rampant with regards to what's going on.

Could it possibly be that an AV company has finally been caught red handed trying to infection computers or steal some type of information?

UDATE to UPDATE:
Just noticed that they're not allowing me to create new threads anymore too. I guess deleting my thread was pretty simple. All I did was ask what pifts.exe was... Pretty lame and kinda scary.


Cool; this one's still alive. Had to remake an account to post this one; I'll make it quick. Deny it any access whatsoever; it's logging some kind of info and sending it to Google, for all we know. Whatever you do, DO NOT ALLOW IT TO RUN. Oh, and don't bother calling them. They're giving the run around. Hey Moderator, when you go to nuke this one, think for a minute: Aren't you curious what your overlords are hiding from you?


I don't believe that my thread on the Norton forums received any replies; at least I couldn't check before Norton decided to delete it and remove my posting priveledges, but the above was posted in yet another pifts.exe related thread that was just created.

I don't know how true what the poster is saying about pifts.exe. I don't understand why Norton would want to send anything to google since (I believe) Norton is owned my Symantec who is owned by Yahoo. Very interesting nonetheless.


[edit on 10-3-2009 by zephyrs]

[edit on 10-3-2009 by zephyrs]

[edit on 10-3-2009 by zephyrs]

[edit on 10-3-2009 by zephyrs]



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 03:04 AM
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This is plain wild. Now all the posts on the zone alarm threads are being deleted referring to pifts.exe , aside from the norton forums deleting each thread or post within a minutes time now zone alarm's site too? As well google shows misleading results in the terms of pages of results only 2 are actually there, most of the pages lead to how do i say bad websites that install viruses immediately. Do not attempt to go there if your not on a safe browser with protection the pages are akin to the winantivirus 2005 smitfraud advertisements. just plain evil to non computer savvy people. the pages actually look like your my computer window in a windows xp machine.

[edit on 10-3-2009 by Localjoe3]



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 03:26 AM
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reply to post by Localjoe3
 


They deleted the thread from Zone Alarm?! Wow... And just earlier they said they had no association with Symantec...


Mark my words... We won’t delete this thread unless they prey it from my cold dead hands...!



Flag it guys!



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 03:36 AM
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forums.zonealarm.org...

This thread's still on the Zone Alarm forum, if that's any help.



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 03:38 AM
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reply to post by Gemwolf
 


The thread I linked to in my post on the previous page, at the ZoneAlarm forums, has been deleted. This one is still active:
Anyone know what PIFTS.exe is?

Dunno why one thread was deleted and not the other. Should note that there might not be a conspiracy of deletion there, but simply ZoneAlarm not wanting people slagging their competition too harshly on their message board. It is, after all, off-topic to ZoneAlarm, since it seems to be something that is being distributed by Symantic as part of their 'live update' process.


Edit: and someone seems to have an agenda of quieting the issue, at Yahoo Answers. Check out the posts by 'CaptainTorin' in these answer threads:
answers.yahoo.com...
answers.yahoo.com...


[edit on March 10th 2009 by Ian McLean]



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 03:40 AM
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Starred and flagged.

Im finding DOZENS of websites regarding this "Pifts.exe"
File. Almost all of them are being systematically deleted.

There is an OPEN (for the moment) thread on ZA's site the Mod swears he won't delete. Zone Alarm posts

Still up as of posting.


Edit: Damn, I was beaten to it.



[edit on 10-3-2009 by broadway_baby1983]



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 03:43 AM
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reply to post by Ian McLean
 


Aah... Perhaps they just deleted the "duplicate thread"...

And if they're bad-mouthing Norton on Zone Alarm, it could be good for business, so if I was a businessman on Zone Alarm I would push the thread...

Edit to add: But I do admire their civility towards the issue...



...
Any thing resembling guessing and conjecture is just fear untrust and doubt.
Until there is any real proof of anything or an answer from your vendor.
...

Source

[edit on 10-3-2009 by Gemwolf]



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 04:12 AM
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Originally posted by sadisticwoman

I know 4chan isn't everyone's idea of a good news source, but this is being talked about all over the internet...


4chan is beyond "not a good news source", 4chan is a place for liars, pranksters and general trouble. Do you have any proof this is a real issue beyond the posting of anons across the internet starting with 4chan?

This is probably some sort of large scale prank and that is why board admins are removing these threads.



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 04:15 AM
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Just found this... A company owned by Google's founders has just bought a 1982 light attack Dornier Alpha Jet.....Maybe he knows something.


www.universetoday.com...



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 04:21 AM
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reply to post by wixx24
 


I'm missing how this is related...



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 04:22 AM
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reply to post by Mainer
 


If it was a prank,why not make an official statement and get it over with? why delete threads? I think anyone should know that symantec with such a large market share of preloaded pc's etc etc has the potential to be nefarious,dont know why they made it so obvious though and the padding in the code? doesn't sit well with me im afraid.Common sense says its simple spyware for yahoo,the conspiracy part of me says it goes deeper than that.



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 04:33 AM
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Just some speculation here, could it be a program written by a Nigerian to gain access to your info so they can siphon your credit cards and bank accounts???



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 04:38 AM
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From what I understand, and correct me if I am wrong, but it is scanning your files, your searches, and sending that info out someplace else?

What are the chances that this is more about sending your info to a Government that is hell bent on regulating the internet?



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 04:39 AM
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I asked about this topic on the Norton boards , the post was up for about 2 mins and then deleted and I was banned.....they wont even let me view their forums now let alone post!





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Return to my original page


Mod Edit: Added ex tags.

[edit on 10-3-2009 by Gemwolf]



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 04:41 AM
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Norton is going to get caught with its pants down....
I cannot wait to see how this pans out.


+2 more 
posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 04:43 AM
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For anyone on these boards who does use Nortons, might I suggest (for at least while this strangeness is occurring) that you disconnect your internet, uninstall Nortons and replace it with one of the free, lightweight and far more reliable virus scanners out there.

The 2 most trusted and reliable are:

Avast! Antivirus

AVG Antivirus

I use both of them, one on each of my PCs, and have not had a single virus since I started using them.

If you are a devoted Nortons fan, then just be careful what you allow through the firewall.



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 04:45 AM
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PFFFFT!!!!

Thanks alot. Now i just put it into google to check it out and on my first click i visited a website..
hey:

DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK ITS A WEBSITE THAT TRIES TO INSTALL VIRUS's/TROJANS ON YOUR COMPUTER!!!!
scanmain4.com...
IT ACTS LIKE THERE IS SOMETHING ON YOUR COMPUTER THAT IS WRONG AND WANTS TO INSTALL A FILE CALLED Install.exe DO NOT GO TO THIS WEBSITE!!!!!

hey:


Anyways after going to this website, who knows what they've taken of mine, I know i had to close down my web browser by fore and then reopen it and all my coookies were deleted requiring me to log in to ATS again...

:


Now im downloading avast!
[edit on 10-3-2009 by DaRAGE]

[edit on 10-3-2009 by DaRAGE]



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 04:46 AM
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reply to post by sadisticwoman
 


Its just on Norton web/forums that threads with PIFTS.EXE are deleted, all other sites are beoynd the Norton control. Relax.



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 04:48 AM
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i usually dont post. but this is very interesting.. mod please keep this in the front burner until there s an answer... talk about a conspiracy!



posted on Mar, 10 2009 @ 04:50 AM
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Whats their problem? How can they sue your site just for talking about some exe file?

What do your attourneys say about it?


Cheers!!!!




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