I try to avoid software thats end of life but occasionally I get stuck with a few programs that just don’t have any updated versions or are tied to a piece of hardware that I need to use. LCDC is software designed to run little LCD displays you can buy for your computer. I have one in particular thats over 3 years old now but still runs great. However it hasn’t been updated well ever.
Today I took to scanning my PC and discovered that some of the plugins for LCDC were infected. I decided to check the web site http://www.lcdc.cc/downloads.htm for updates, it didn’t appear off hand that any were actually updated, but it does appear that some are not infected and others still are.
Continue reading 'LCDC Plugins Infected With Malware'»
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What more can I say than that. If you have noticed wdfmgr.exe in your process list, one would say you were recently upgrading or installing Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player 10 seems to be getting the lion’s share of a beating for this exe’s integration into our desktop environment., as it is called the Windows User Mode Driver Manager one would think it came with a Microsoft product. Not necessarily.
I was curious about this tool since I had some non-related strange behavior I was working on and I decided to upgrade install
Winamp (almost as regular as Microsoft…sheesh). During the install it started bitterly complaining that I was not running the latest version of (speak of the devil) Microsoft’s WMP 10.
!?!?!? WTF !?!?!?!?
As I was about to post this on some forum [I decided not to post their name] that I tried to post to, and had issues. So instead I’m posting it here below.
[In comment to the importance of this executable running on a fresh boot]
I dunno.
I am not running Windows XP SP2, still SP1. I reverted after upgrading due to issues with certain tools.
I have not upgraded WMP since installation, and do not use it. Well occassionally, but it is not my default player, Winamp is.
I did just upgrade to the latest version of Winamp (5.13) and during the install the most bizarre thing happened. I received a error saying I did not have the latest version of WMP installed (10) and it suggested I stop, and install it, then return to the Winamp installer.
!!! What ???
No, I told it to continue, and then it wrapped up and asked to reboot.
Fine, however after the reboot I noticed this wdfmgr.exe in my process tree. I determined quickly that this was some MS crapware, but what is it’s true purpose. Is it the driver police come to watch my windows (yaaa) or just another stupid process to interfere and otherwise hinder my computer enjoyment (booo)?
I wanted everyone to know that even (gasp) Winamp installs this baby.
\r\r
So, did Winamp actually install portions or did windows media player detect the changes and intercept the install and upgraded anyways (since I was upgrading winamp…) or had I already agreed to this during a regular Microsoft patch?
In this case it was all Winamp. They actually are installing this. I would attribute this tool then to AOL and NOT MS. BUT… The name is so conveniently linked to typical crapware that’s purpose is subjective to the user and or system. But I cannot find anyone who will state this is not Windows stuff. Well I didn’t get it via Microsofts web site. Why isn’t this disclosed? Is this another case of mistaken identity? How can we trust software that is not maintained as we think it should be? What if my version of Winamp had been tampered with?
What if wdfmgr.exe is it a nicely named trojan run amok 
Since I’ve now observed this behaviour on 3 machines in the same fashion I’m pretty sure this is a ‘for real’.
Now, will the real MS please stand up?
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