Dear Paul:

As Bob is away, I'm handling his blog.

Perhaps we should be somewhat flattered that you think we've created spyware that can evade the best detectors; but seriously, we simply don't create or install spyware. Period.

Still, we appreciate your taking the time to pose the question.

Nima

Go Daddy may not be involved in spyware removal, but they sure are involved with installing their own spyware on computers. I can't get rid of the Go Daddy default page that comes up every time i type one word into firefox's search bar. Go Daddy has spyware that eludes even the best of detectors including microsoft and spyware blaster. I can't stand them.

Thank you for your valuable information. I’m presently completing my Diploma in information communication technology. One of my papers I’m doing requires me to research Anti-spyware software and what common users think about it.

THNKYOU for you information Brent.

Bob, First let me thank you for the services you are providing. I'm new to godaddy and so far, I love it.
I cannot in any way agree with you that IE is at all even sufficient for web browsing. In my experience, it has always been a second rate piece of software, and I am not anti-Microsoft. I consider them to be some of the "good guys", not the evil monopolistic empire that most of my associates speak of. I use Windows by choice. I've tried several Linux distros, and even though I liked them, I choose to stick with Windows. Like you, I have used it for so long that I am just Comfortable with it (although Xandros is certainly easy to learn and use, and of all the Linux's I've tried, my favorite), and being geek for life, I don't really mind the patches and updates. Actually, I would not trust software that never had a patch or update.
Regardless, I understand you are comfortable with IE because you have used it for a long while. I have installed And Set Up several hundred copies of Firefox over the last 5 months. Not even once has anyone said they wanted to go back to IE.
The basic Firefox download is rather sparse. The first time I tried it out, I didn't like it either. Seemed too barren of any of the new and innovative features I had heard so much about. And tabs? Just seemed to either get in my way or confuse me. After I took the time to browse the extensions, choose and install the ones that seemed appropriate to me, and use them for a day or so, I knew that Firefox was indeed more special than any other software I had ever seen for internet use. The barebones Firefox download produces a product that, visually on your screen, seems lacking. Once fully customized to your preferences, it becomes something unlike anything I have seen in over 20 years of computing. Extensions like Quicknote(note taking), Scrapbook(elegant web page saving), ForecastFox(weather.com), Translation Panel(exactly what it says), Spoofstick(anti-spoofing for websites) and FoxyTunes(controls your mp3 software) are just a few of the general extensions I have running constantly inside of Firefox. Instead of another fairly useless toolbar, I have the things I want, that I decided to have, without someone across the country deciding for me. It makes this browser Mine. Live RSS feeds, a calendar that rivals Outlook, a clock constantly counting down to a time I need to remember, geez, even the Department of Homeland Security alert status. I have all these things, and more, available at first glance. My browser is never cluttered. I get No popups. I can zoom in on images. I can enlarge text. Gee whillakers, what more do you want? And will Microsoft Ever have it for you? Both are questions I can't answer. And only you can answer the first one.
Don't wait for FF 2... try it out again now, download the extensions you think you might want. Change the appearance with a new theme (I sorta like the Noia Extreme theme). Check it out. Be sure to get the IE View extension for y...

cute girl, really really bad commercial.

Who in the world ido you see as your market with the motorcycle guy and a pretty girl? do you have a lot of cycle guys buying and managing domains. very weird. please get a new ad agency.
oh well, i like your company. I'll try to forget i saw that awful commercial.
thanks for listening,
Lyn coley

Is there any REAL chance that the NTIA will reverse it's decision concerning ".US" domains (in your HONEST opinion) ? I have already sent a protest email to my congressmen (House & Senate) and signed your petition.
What else can I do, beyond signing your petition? I consider the NTIA's decision to be identity theft.
Further, is there any chance of creating a domain called ".USA" ? ( a 'dot USA' would be great).
I am very concerned that my domain + personal info at 'www.PETEGODDARD.US' will end up in the "WHOIS"database.
How much would it CO$T me (through GoDaddy) to drop 'petegoddard.us', making it free again, and acquire the domain 'petegoddard.NET' in its place?
Please (REALLY, PLEASE!) contact me via 'mailto:pete@petegoddard.us'
THANKS! GoDaddy is just great! I am also telling all my fellow Internet friends to sign-up with GoDaddy!
Sincerely,
Pete Goddard (a GoDaddy subscriber)
Columbia, SC

Awwww come on Marry - let's think about that... the reason why Mac's don't have viruses, spyware etc. is because NO ONE [the hacker community etc...] wants to bother programming for a machine that is only roughly 5% of the market share and probably shrinking. The MAC platform has a very limited use and market share in the Print industry. Yes...Mac can be used to design website, code etc..BUT when it come down to the nuts and bolts.. PC's run the Internet and Microsoft is the wind beneath the wings! [Even Bob, sold his Apple II for a PC!!)

(Notice, that Microsoft has invested in Apple and then STOPPED support for the Mac Browser! Read this: http://www.macworld.com/news/2003/06/13/explorer/ )

So Mary, sell that Mac before it becomes a paper weight!

"I am very happy that Go Daddy is not in the antispyware or virus detection business."

Perhaps you should reconsider:
http://www.1source4.info/0504-gt6-o ...ck-auctions.wmv
This movie and a DNS lookup of the popper (directbuy.biz) shows this affiliate, from Australia, hosting through GoDaddy, is advertising through the parasite called Zango (aka 180 Solutions).
By doing this, the affiliate writes a cookie and claims sales credits that are a result of the great placement OverStock themselves have earned at Google for the term "overstock auctions".

Your company's customers include webmasters using your services to take unearned credit from others - like the movie above.
AND, you also have tons of honest customers [webmasters, who do affiliate marketing and use GoDaddy to host (like me!)] that are being stolen from by adware / parasiteware / spyware.
Both of these aspects will affect GoDaddy's customers, and therefore GoDaddy itself.

Please look at these other abuses:
http://www.1source4.info/0504-271-googl e/google.html
http://www.1source4.info/0504-xd3 -uscis/uscis.html
http://www.1source4.info/0504 -39r-msn-dell/msn.html
http://www.1source4.info /0504-ehh-ftc/ftc.html
http://www.1source4.info /0504-km9-sba/sba.html

You may also want to know that they pop-up ads to visitors at GoDaddy as well.

Here's an affiliate forum where we're discussing these unauthorized third-party popup ads:
http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t =56231

I hope to hear you change your mind about getting GoDaddy involved in this issue. It's important to your business and to your customers!

Well... IE simply works... and the others have yet to develop them selfs in order to be as good as IE.. that simple!

This is in reply to the reommendation to use Microsoft "free spyware. If you value your privacy and want to see other software continue to exits do not use Microsoft's bundled products if you can help it at all. To use their bundled products supports monopoly. Its that simple. You would not buy a car and lease the engine from the manufacturer but you allow yourselves to be taken captive by microsofts OS which is the equivalent to the engine in your car. Your car wont work without an operating system any more than your computer will. Bundled [free products are the road to hell] because an OS with bundled systems of the OS suppleir wants to use them to the exclusion of other competing produts and makes it hard to use them by not working as well or as easily with competing products. Its an unfair advantage MS should not be allowed to have.

Consider the fat that it costs about as much to buy a new computer from Dell $399 with a free flat panel upgrade as it does to buy a copy of windows XP. How can that be you say. Simple, MS is giving the OS away to gain control of the market [already has 90% or so] so that it can control what other software runs on their OS [i.e. the stuff they will then sell you]. If the steel company sold steel the way microsoft sells their OS [virtually free if you buy a new car but almost as expensive as the car if you buy the steel separate, the WTO would ban the practice. It is not good to let anyone company or governemnt agency control all of anything. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely
Just my HO

Be well

See my blog for comments on buying security from Microsoft. Microsoft Anti-spyware is better than nothing but it uses a flawed research methodology. Each end user is enrolled in SpyNet that automatically reports back to Microsoft on new spyware discovered. Very prone to false positives and subject to spoofing.

Bob,

Would you consider a free/discounted barebones web hosting service for open source projects? There are many projects(mine included), which is just a set of plain HTML pages.

Ben Litchfield
http://www.pdfbox.org
(in process of being transferred to godaddy.com)

If this is the best you can say, please rethink your recommendation.

>> The key thing to remember is that <<
>> Microsoft AntiSpyware is free. <<

If you have a firewall installed and configured correctly and your email scanner quarentines or otherwise protects you against offensive email attachments, then you can configure everything that's free from Microsoft so you won't get bit. In that case, you won't need AntiSpyware software from Microsoft or anybody else, be it paid or free.

Many past problems have resulted from people complacently installing and running free software from Microsoft. Let's hope nobody uses the AntiSpyware network this installation creates to spread a new type of infestation throughout the Internet.

Only PCs with Microsoft OS get infected my friend, only PCs. My Mac has no such problems, no viruses, no pop-ups, no spyware.

Argh.. come on Bob, you're killing me.

Describing IE as "a fine piece of engineering that only keeps getting better" is the equivalent of saying "Windows 98 is a great OS that gets better".

MS deserves kudos for putting out a good browser and maintaining it.. years ago. They're now guilty of crushing the competition, owning the market and in turn abandoning it (until we see 7.0 now released). I'd rather you had just said you like IE because you're used to it. I personally commend the folks at Opera, Mozilla and anyone else who steps into the browser ring when nearly everyone else would just as soon allow MS to continue to dominate unchallenged.

It's that systematic attack and dominance of the browser market only to then ignore it that concerns me about MS stepping into other areas of "free software". I judge any company off of what they do (or did) rather than what they say they're going to do.

In that regard, I enjoyed Hakon Lie's (CTO for Opera) open letter response to Bill Gate's committing to interoperability. While many may not agree with the edge to the response, you have to agree he does have multiple valid points.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/11/hakon_on_ms_interroperability/

I'm not anti-MS, however I believe companies should support their products and I believe in doing what you say you're going to do.

BTW, I enjoyed the superbowl commercial(s). Congrats on the success and unexpected response from them.

"The key thing to remember is that Microsoft AntiSpyware is free."

Well, "free as in beer" anyway...

All,

I'd like to point out a very interesting read over at http://www.windowssecrets.com/050127/. Brian Livingston and crew poured over some numbers generated by a Eric Howes, a University of Illinois instructor. I won't belabor the point because the article is well written and pretty self explanatory, but the upshot is, you get better results running two apps and even then you get only 70%.

Another note for those who choose not to follow the link, MS did what it does best - aquire that which they can't do. MS bought Giant Antispyware's product and repackaged it. That doesn't diminish it's value, just an observation.

Anyway, I thought I'd share with those who may not have been familiar with this newsletter.

Keep up the good work and thank you for the sacrifices you made so that I can say what I want and not have to worry about who might be listening.

-Brian.

I have nothing against Microsoft or Microsoft products when they work.

But Bob, don't you think that competition in the security market is useful and should be encouraged for no other reason than to keep the 'ecology' varied?

Consider a group of people that have been inoculated against flu viruses A, B, and C. They're doing great, but as soon as flu virus D comes along (which nobody was expecting), everyone's felled.

Having multiple spyware and anti-virus vendors makes it more likely that they'll come up with 'inoculations' for a broader spectrum of problems. If everyone's using a Microsoft product, that makes it easier for malware writers and crackers to target the product's vulnerabilities. See Internet Explorer.

That said, I'm glad MS is taking steps against viruses and spyware. Let's see how they do.

Hey Bob,

I've got a few domains with you and like all the service that I've received so far, thanks for that.

Regarding your comments "I also think it’s a fine piece of engineering that only keeps getting better" and your talk about the upcoming virus protection releases. I have to say that is only microsofts lax testing and quality control that have allowed the virus and spyware situation to progress to the horrible place where it is today. I.E. is just the biggest attack vector for the bad guys out there. Its been this way for years and its only now that people have been leaving in droves to the competition that MS is finally attempting to do something. What are they doing? So far it sounds like a lot of catch up, well see if they even get to the point where they start to innovate.

This doesn't sound like the corporate behavior or technical innovation that you talk about in your blogs and presumably respect.

Josh

Bob,

On the subject of "Free", I started looking about 4 years ago for a way to build my own website(s). I was paying someone to update the ever changing pictures of product etc in the fast moving fashion apparel biz. You know the drill one little change, time issue, cost etc. So I did not want to build a site from the ground up, but knew I liked "Flash" with what little I knew about the sites I had. I went out and searched for "template" sites in fact I bought your website builder...never used it for some reason. I looked and looked and they all seemed the same, cookie cutter looks that you just dropped a few graphics and pics in and thats pretty much all you could do.
Same is the fact today with online store "build it yourself sites"

I found something very intresting, a company (not in the US), I won't mention their name as it might kill the post, if a conflict with you, which I don't believe it its...I wish you did have this product ...I would love to use it from you.

Well, this company started out offering "FREE" build it yourself online flash sites, crude tools but you could do just about anything layout and design wise. By the time I found them they were charging a flat fee for everything per year based on Megs of storage, hosting etc is included. Today they have released new online sitebuilder softwear that will pretty much hang with anything done in the back room by the big time flash guys. I haven't switched over most of my sites as several features are still on the way. My old stuff looks pretty "school Kid" next to whats coming and I have built a few pages with it on remote sites most of my sites built with early softwear builder.

They have 100,000 's of customers with sites up and most of the online folks I run into have never heard of them. One thing about what they did, they offered from the beginning
a non-cookie cutter product that let us use it to the max and in somecases stretch its potential a bit.

The moral of the story is not that different from someone that sells domains and online products at great prices and builds a great company...it brought lots of customers into something that they either were afraid of or thought they could not afford, I used to do my domains with the hight price guys in the beginning (opps!!! just saw you ad on CNN ) and their management tools were hard to use, I lost a few good domains because as you know in the beginning they made it hard to transfer to GoDaddy or someone else designed to make it hard at a time when products were being priced at what the market would bear as always is the case. We all like to create and given the tools to learn and build and get better we all will, even the "do it yourselfers".

Have a great week,
JoeKini

Bob, I’ve been continuously watching your unprecedented entrepreneurial growth over the past few decades; and find myself amazed time and time again, at you and your companies non-stop perseverance of developing quality software and Internet related products. Not to mention, that you sell them with the average consumer’s budget and computer skill set / needs in mind. Plus, every time I’ve contacted your 24/7 free customer care center, I’ve been always been afforded first-class customer service and I am politely informed of complementary products just released that match-up with my past purchase history. Bob, the last customer care representative I spoke with was named Angel White. She is an asset to your company and successes.

Bob, I’d like to ‘thank you’ for being true and standing up for what you believe in; regardless of what any person has to say. You’re an independent thinker, who stands up for what you believe in, in life and in business. You have taken some big risks; that some folks question. But, I’ve been on your side, rooting you on for greater success. And, the entire world has to offer. You’re truly one of a kind. Keep on rocking and doing what you do.

Thank you for provide the World with wonderful, easy-to-use Web based products!

Bob, you’re a super star! Keep up the excellent work!

I personally prefer Microsoft's Internet Explorer
While I like and support the open source movement, quite often I prefer to use Microsoft products even though I have to pay for some of them. I personally prefer to use Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The reason I use Internet Explorer is because I’ve become used to it. I also think it’s a fine piece of engineering that only keeps getting better.

Bob, that is exactly what those who propogate the spyware and virus definitions rely on, complacency. The last real update to IE was several years back. The Firefox movement is agressively pursuing FF 2.0 (with a March release date for the next major step). Granted it will take you a week or two to learn FF, but you won't go back. Starting with the form field spelling extension: you type your blog entry, right click, choose spelling, and many of the little typo's that are sneaking there way into your blog are found and removed. The ability to bookmark a folder of sites, and then open them all at once in tabs, on and on it goes. FF is simply put a better product at this time.

Anybody who is using IE, given the current security flaws is simply helping the bad guys. It really is that simple. And with the finally coming announcement that IE will release 7.0 before Longhorn breaks, people say ahhh, but what they forget is that they can use it only if they upgrade to windows XP, because it won't be supported on NT, 2000, ME, etc.

I agree that competitive pressure is good. One of the ways we help to foster that pressure is by using the best tool we can lay our hands on. I dare you to use FF for two weeks. Explore a couple of the better extensions. I doubt you will go back. I understand why you have yet to switch, but you should. Go on, I dare you!

Hi, Bob! First of all let me say that GoDaddy.com is the best! I have been a NetSol VIP customer since the very early days, but I am slowly converting all my domains (as they come up to expire) under GoDaddy.com... I love the fact that I can manage things on-line and the price is REALLY right! Also, you get the domain "out there" much quicker than NetSol.

Anyway, I am a big Open Source advocate... and I LOVE FireFox! I also am impressed with M$ Anti-Spyware... however, I believe the "fine print" says that they will be charging for it once it is out of beta. That is a shame! Maybe they will change their mind.

I agree that IE has adequate features, but the tabbed browsing in Firefox is a great habit to get addicted to ....

Bob,

Loved everything you've done with the company so far, including your business ideaology, personal thoughts, etc. I too support open source, and I too prefer IE over FireFox because I've been too used to the functionality of it.

Haven't followed up on Microsoft's AntiSpyWare, but thanks for the heads up.

George

Just because a software is "free" does not mean that it is truly free. By this I mean "free as in freedom", as is the philosophy of the truly free software movement (also referred to as Libre Software). This is explained in great detail at <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html</a>.

It all comes down to the license that the software uses. Microsoft has spent quite a lot of time creating what is referred to as FUD (fear, uncertainy and doubt - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FUD">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FUD</a> around truly free software projects such as the above-mentioned Linux as well as many others.

I would also like to point out that "open source" really only means that you can see the code - it does not guarantee that you have the right to rework the code, make improvements, change it for your own purposes and then redistribute it - sell it even if you want! There is a very large difference between "Open Source" and "Free (or Libre) Software".

Free is not a matter of price - it is a matter of freedom, of being able to make certain choices with the software you use.

I would, finally, like to point out that even the almighty Firefox (and yes, I am using it right now to type this) is not truly free software - yes, you can download and use it for free, but the license is the Mozilla Public License, not the GNU General Public License or an acceptable equivalent. read about it here: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Public_License">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Public_License</a> This does not mean it is not great software, it is just not truly free as in freedom.

So when you say "free" you mean "free as in price", not "free as in freedom". There is a very large fundamental difference here.

Thanks for allowing people to express themselves freely here, Bob (if I might call you Bob I own over 120 domains with you and am glad that you have created this area for expression.

Mozilla is just about "pop up proof" at this point as far as I can tell, I installed it and use it for everything except browser email. The only downside I see is with HTML in your email and other email programs.

Maybe just like Mac users, I not have to clean and block almost every webpage in certain sectors of business.

Joe

Have you actually downloaded and tried Firefox? I understand being happy with IE, but one wonders if you have even tried out Firefox or any other web browser.

It is important that a website meets compliancy requirements as well as be viewable similarly in the most popular browsers, and GoDaddy is no exception. It is likely Firefox will reach 10% market penetration by the end of this year. If you have not at least used it, I think it would be about time to try it out at the very least. How can you compare any product with any other product without actually trying both of them? Otherwise, it is just supposition of how "superior" a piece of engineering IE happens to be.

Have a Blessed Day

Bob - i'm confused - you support the open source movement, yet back microsoft? i smell a rat. i hope the recent exposure didn't change anything. i love the old bob and godaddy.com, but i would also mention the following sites containing FREE apps that microsoft would love to squash :

http://www.secretmaker.com/
http://www.lavasoft.com/
http://www.ccleaner.com/ccdownload2.php

these cleaners are tried and true by real geeks like me, and they're real!!!!