Hotspot Shield creates a virtual private network (VPN) between your laptop and the wireless router.
This impenetrable tunnel prevents snoopers and hackers from viewing your email, instant messages,
credit card information or anything else you send over a wireless network.
Which means you remain anonymous and protect your privacy.
This software is mal-ware and at least Spy-ware.
-Avast! complains about it using the email port to send encrypted messages.
-It puts advertisements over every web page.
-If you have a script blocker on your browser it complains and stops pages from loading.
-It attempts to push all search requests to Ask.com and other search engine pages will get frequent 502 Bad Gateway errors.
-Some users with children on the computer have complained of porn advertising.
-In their service application files is this:
"[HssDrvMP.ndi]
Characteristics = 0x29 ;NCF_NOT_USER_REMOVABLE | NCF_VIRTUAL | NCF_HIDDEN
CopyFiles = " and it is very hard to remove.
-You could decrease your security from malicious code server side because an anti-malware product is stopped from seeing the proper IP address of the server you visit. You have to trust Anchorfree.
(See Malware bytes staff response:
http://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?showtopic=115537)
-It is hard to remove (although this last version has improved) and can take a huge amount of time to properly remove all it's parts. This is symptomatic of a malware product. See what this user had to go through to remove the product in 2011: (
http://www.techspot.com/community/topics/hotspot-killing-my-machine-3x-kobeface-deleted-16h-fighting-2ltr-coffee-help-wanted.163519/)
-It is a private company specializing in advertising and data mining. All it's clients data packets are filtered through it's servers where the data can be mined and sold to other companies. I would rather send my packets across the open backbones with SSL and use programs that encrypt their data before sending where the shear volume of packets increases anonymity.
-Lastly and the most telling: the uninstaller uses a modified version of the Au_.exe/Bu_.exe/Cu_.exe trojan. I saw these processes show up when I started three uninstall processes of Hotspot Shield last night when it took minutes to respond to the first call from Revo Uninstaller to perform it's uninstall. I got a cold shiver down my spine. Revo had already moved into it's own scan for software removal by the time Hotspot decided to put up a large page asking "Can We Help You with 'Uninstall' option hidden somewhere in the lengthy paragraph. Maybe the ZLOB.AXS trojan is useful as an uninstaller but there's got to be better code for uninstalling your product.
I haven't had a virus scare in 3 years but after STUPIDLY allowing the new Trillian chat version to install Hotspot Shield my computer has been running mal-ware and virus scans from 3 providers for 12+ hours now.
Hotspot shield has had virus warnings from various AV products over the years and as close back as 2011 was as hard to remove all it's code as any virus and maybe they have cleaned up their act now but I would stay away from a company who's purpose is to mine my browsing habits, puts up adverts I might find offensive, reduces my access to some pages on the web, slows down my browser, disconnects from the internet randomly, is hard to remove, makes it harder for my anti-malware products to do their job unless it was absolutely necessary to view something not allowed from my country.
Even so there has got to be better proxy solutions.
Sorry, Bob3160 your other recommendations look cool and I'm going to try some. This product gave me a scare and I had to say something and give my reasoning. Thanks for all your dedication to the Avast! community!
