Hello (wave) , and in the first place thank you very much for your excellent work.
Now, in principle I am not opposed at all to the author of an otherwise freeware program getting some revenue by this kind of means as opencandy or other sponsor can offer, but in the specific case of opencandy I wonder if you could, definitely, state that a) it does not "call home" even if there's not chosen to download an additional program as offered from them, and b) if the software stub opencandy leaves bundled with the original software one wants, yours in this case, can't be used, by a hacking done into the opencandy servers, to instrument a bootnet? Thank you.

[list=a][*]OpenCandy is not a separate program that can be installed. It's a library used by the Dexpot installer do display an advertisement during the setup process. Unless you choose to install the advertised product, no additional software is installed.


[*]OpenCandy is explicitly mentioned in the license agreement at the beginning of the setup.


[*]You can disable OpenCandy by running the installer with the /NOCANDY command line switch.[/list]

The new version installs opencandy without notification or a way to disable it.

[url=http://www.opencandy.com/2011/03/04/the-story-behind-the-opencandy-and-microsoft-adware-debacle/]The Story Behind the OpenCandy and Microsoft Adware Debacle[/url]

:dex:,

please re-download the setup from our website.
It won't raise the alarm.

Commercial customers have access to an installer which does not include OpenCandy.

I get that and knew that it was present - didn't mean to make it seem like a complaint just more of a heads-up that it's being flagged. I was curious about whether or not it is included in the licensed version.

:dex:,

OpenCandy is aware of the issue. They're already talking to Microsoft. By the way, Microsoft is one of their advertisers, so there's no reason to complain about malware.

Is this bundled with the licensed version? I understand needing to generate revenue for free software.

Malware detection says that Dexpot is bundled with "OpenCandy" adware:

http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/Threat/Encyclopedia/Entry.aspx?name=Adware%3aWin32%2fOpenCandy&threatid=159633

Summary
Adware:Win32/OpenCandy is an adware program that may be bundled with certain third-party software installation programs. User-specific information, including a unique machine code, operating system information, locale (country), and certain other information are sent to a remote server without obtaining adequate user consent.