Microsoft Spyware

yware

tecChannel reverse-engineered Windows Update to find that it can spy on other installed applications. It is unclear whether it actually does spy though. Although an article at The Inquirer claims as much.

They are offering a utility that you can run yourself to spy on the spyware. You have to pay 1.99 Euro for the full article and get the software included. A summary can be found for free though at The Inquirer.

“The information can pass on to Microsoft a list of all of the software installed on an individual’s computer, including software manufactured by other manufacturers.”

There is a slashdot story as well.

An article update shows a dump of what a hardware configuration looks like being sent to Microsoft.