ITinfo: Stop Brilliant Software From Hijacking Your PC

Site Directory
Membership
Train-the-Trainer
Trainer Certification
Certified Training Materials
ITinfo E-zine
Responsible Training
White Papers
Trainer Resources
What's New
Speaking Engagements
Onsite Training
ITrain Gear

Kazaa Add-on Will Surprise You

Your PC is now an unwitting part of a massive P2P network

ITinfo Sponsor

ERROR: Random File Unopenable

The random file, as specified in the $random_file perl variable was unopenable.

The file was not found on your file system. This means that it has either not been created or the path you have specified in $trrandom_file is incorrect.

Stop Brilliant Software From Hijacking Your PC

by Dave Murphy
ISSN 1535-3613

Since last fall, Brilliant Digital Entertainment has been distributing 3D advertising technology in concert with the popular Kazaa's file-swapping software. Since the legal demise of Napster, Kazaa has picked up much of the MP3 swapping business around the world. A minor clause in the contract for these software applications allows Brilliant to send software updates and modifications to the user's PCs without notifying them. Recently, Brilliant transmitted a modification that will turn each PC that runs Kazaa into a node on Brilliant's network.

In effect, the software patch creates a distributed network out of all the Kazaa users' PCs, the processing power of which Brilliant to tap and use, because the Kazaa users didn't read or understand the licensing contract before they installed the file-swapping program. Brilliant uses the Altnet Secureinstall application, which is bundled with the Kazaa software to create the massive peer-to-peer network.

Here's a snippet of the software license agreement that gives Brilliant permission to hijack your PC, "You hereby grant (Brilliant) the right to access and use the unused computing power and storage space on your computer/s and/or Internet access or bandwidth for the aggregation of content and use in distributed computing. The user acknowledges and authorizes this use without the right of compensation." Users must agree to these terms before they can use the Kazaa file-swapping service.

Dave's Opinion

Wow! This makes Microsoft's strongarm tactics look like a loving hug. I did a bit of digging and found an article on ZDNet that describes how to uninstall the Altnet Secureinstall program without affecting the Kazaa services. Here's a word-for-word excerpt from that article; a link to the complete article is included below.

###
CNET Networks assumes no liability in publishing these instructions, which people may choose to follow at their own risk. As always, it's a good idea to make a backup of any critical files before proceeding.

1. In the Windows Control Panel, select an option called "Add/Remove Programs." One of the options will be "b3d Projector." Highlight this and click the "Change/Remove" button.

You may get a message that the uninstall has been successful. Search your computer for a "BDE" folder, which most likely will be found in the "WinNT" or "Windows" directory. In this folder will be a file called "bdeclean.exe". Run this to finish the first part of the process. Delete the BDE folder.

Caution: An unrelated piece of software called Borland Database Engine also creates a BDE directory. If you think you may have this software installed, or if there is any confusion whatsoever, do not delete this directory.

2. In the "Temp" directory (this will normally be found inside the "Windows" or "WinNT" directory) is a folder called "Brilliant." This contains many files. Delete the entire folder.

3. After performing steps 1 and 2, you will need to locate and remove some additional Brilliant Digital files that have been placed in critical system-level computer directories. CAUTION: Deleting the wrong files could interfere with the normal functioning of your computer. These files will most likely be in the "WindowsSystem" or "WinNTSystem32" folder:

bdedownloader.dll
bdedata2.dll
bdefdi.dll
bdeinsta2.dll
bdeinstall.exe
bdesecureinstall.cab
bdesecureinstall.exe
bdeverify.exe
bdeverify.dll

Delete these files.
###

Call for Comments

What do you think? Leave your comments on the message center.

References

Kazaa
How to: Uninstall Brilliant software
Message Center

Previous issues are on our website at http://itrain.org/itinfo/.

International Association of Information Technology Trainers
PMB 616
6030-M Marshalee Dr
Elkridge, MD 21075-5987

410.567.5366
1.888.290.6200
fax: 801.650.0423
Membership Director: member@itrain.org

Return to ITrain Homepage

http://itrain.org/itinfo/2002/it020404.html
updated April 4, 2002